Matou Ancient Town

Matou Ancient Town

Matou Ancient Town is a national AA-level tourist attraction.

Matou has a long history and is said to have taken initial shape as early as the Tang Dynasty. Located on the banks of the Yi River, it enjoyed convenient water and land transportation before the Qing Dynasty, with merchant ships docking and carts and horses staying overnight, hence the name "Matou" (meaning “dock”). Later, for ease of writing, it was simplified to "Matou."

In the 15th year of the Shunzhi reign of the Qing Dynasty (1658), it was part of Dadong'an Township in Tancheng County. In the 2nd year of the Yongzheng reign (1724), it belonged to Xixiang in Tancheng County. In the early years of the Republic of China, it was part of the Second District of Tancheng County and was once called Matou Town. In 1948, it was designated as the 11th District of Tancheng County. In 1954, it was restructured as Matou Town. In 1958, districts were abolished and townships merged, and it was renamed Matou Township. In the autumn of the same year, the Matou People's Commune was established. In 1962, it was renamed Matou District. In the summer of 1971, it was called Matou Commune. In 1984, the political and communal systems were separated, and because it was located in Matou, it was named Matou Town.

Matou is a thousand-year-old ancient town, situated in the western part of Tancheng County on the southern bank of the Yi River. It boasts numerous historical sites and is known as the "Ancient Town." The town flourished during the Tang Dynasty and reached its peak in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Nestled along the Yi River, boats could enter the canal system, traveling as far north as the capital region and as far south as Suzhou and Hangzhou. It has long been an important town in southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu, serving as a commercial hub for trade and goods exchange.

Sun Jiachen, an elderly resident well-versed in the changes of Matou Ancient Town, said that the Yi River shipping route has long been hailed as the “Golden Waterway.” According to documents such as the "Linyi Regional Annals" and the "Tancheng County Annals": the Yi and Shu rivers in the Linyi region run from north to south, and inland water transportation has existed since ancient times. In summer, when the Yi River’s waters are calm and at full channel level, hundreds of stone-bulk grain boats could sail directly into the canal... Upon their return journey, these boats could carry southern goods back up the Yi, representing boundless profit. This shows that at the time, the Yi River navigation allowed direct southbound travel from Yishui all the way to the canal, and onward to Suzhou and Hangzhou.

As the largest shipping dock along the middle reaches of the Yi River, Matou became a bustling hub with countless sails and merchants gathering in large numbers. The thriving water transport also fueled the town’s commercial prosperity. A north-south main street, stretching several miles and paved entirely with bluestone slabs, was lined with numerous shops and businesses. This commercial boom attracted merchants from Linyi and surrounding areas of Shandong, giving rise to merchant groups such as the Weixian, Zhoucheng, Jizhou, Henan, Shanxi, and Huizhou factions. Through years of effort, most of these merchants established their own businesses. Among them, Yuanxingyong, located within the premises of today’s Matou Town Party Committee, was the largest business in Matou at the time, founded by a Mr. Zhu from Weixian. As a flourishing river port along the Yi River, Matou was even referred to as the “Little Shanghai” prior to the 1950s.