深圳故事｜古老的信使：赤湾烟墩

古老的信使：赤湾烟墩

The ancient messenger: Chiwan beacon tower

烽火台，俗称烽堠、烟墩，是我国古代重要的军事设施，可以通过点燃烟火来传递军情。在深圳也有这样一座烽火台，它就是位于深圳市南山区西南角小南山顶的赤湾烟墩，又名小南山烽火台。它曾在深圳抗击倭寇、海盗的历史中发挥过重要作用。

Beacon towers were important military facilities of ancient China. By lighting fires on the tops of the towers, military messages could be transmitted. The beacon tower in Shenzhen, the Chiwan beacon tower, is located in Xiaonanshan, Nanshan District. Also known as the Xiaonanshan beacon tower, it played an important role in Shenzhen’s fight against pirates.

 

清康熙版《新安县志·防省志》曾记载官兵在此抗击海盗的事件：“（嘉靖）三十年，海寇何亚八率彝人入寇东莞所，千户万里守南山烟墩，遇贼战死。后指挥使李茂材率官兵剿之。”南山烟墩就是现在的赤湾烟墩。

Shenzhen’s fight against the pirates was documented in the defense volume of the Kangxi edition of the “Annals of Xin’an County,” which stated that in 1551, pirates invaded the Dongguan fortress. Wanli, the military leader at the time, defended against the invaders at the Nanshan beacon tower, which is now the Chiwan beacon tower.

赤湾烟墩

The Chiwan beacon tower.

赤湾烟墩建于明洪武二十七年（公元1394年），海拔280米，烟墩呈圆台形，高约6米，上部直径6米，下部直径11米，顶部中间凹陷。墩台的护坡是用石块和砖块砌筑而成的，砖块的规格与南头古城的明代城墙砖一致。

In AD 1394, with its own height of six meters, the Chiwan beacon tower was built on a mound 280 meters high. The upper part is six meters in diameter and the lower part is 11 meters in diameter. The revetments of the beacon tower are made of stones and bricks, and the specifications of the bricks are the same as those of the city wall bricks of Nantou Ancient Town that was built during the Ming Dynasty.

 

自古以来，赤湾片区的地理位置就非常重要。清嘉庆版《新安县志》曾收录了新安县进士蔡学元所撰《重修赤湾天后庙记》：“赤湾，地滨大海……凡出使外国，与占城（今越南）、爪哇、真腊（今柬埔寨）、三佛齐（今菲律宾群岛内）诸国入贡，悉经于此。”赤湾一带是我国与各国往来交流的必经之路。

Since ancient times, the geographical location of the Chiwan area has been important and was the only route for foreign exchange. According to “The Restoration of the Goddess Temple” written by Xin’an County scholar Cai Xueyuan, whenever people from Champa Kingdom (what is now Vietnam), Java Island, Chenla (what is now Cambodia) and  Samboja Kingdom (which now belongs to the Philippines) came to pay tribute to the emperor, they had to pass through the Chiwan area.

 

赤湾烟墩的地理位置与形势也极为险要，它与冈墩、伏涌墩、嘴头墩、赤岗墩、鳌湾墩均隶属于东莞守御千户所（即深圳市南山区南头古城）。站在墩台上，极目眺望，南可览内伶仃岛、伶仃洋，东可望至深圳、香港元朗一带，西面的珠江口和北面的前海、福永海及南头古城、后海等尽收眼底。因此，赤湾烟墩是东莞守御千户所所辖最重要的一个烟墩。

The Chiwan beacon tower, which was affiliated with the Dongguan Shouyu Battalion (which is now Nantou Ancient Town), is in an extremely advantageous geographical location. Standing on the tower, you can see Neilingding Island and the Lingdingyang Estuary in the south, Shenzhen and Yuen Long of Hong Kong in the east, the Pearl River Estuary in the west and Qianhai, Fuyong sea, Nantou Ancient Town and Houhai in the north. Thus, the Chiwan beacon tower was the most important beacon tower under the jurisdiction of the Dongguan Shouyu Battalion.

 

1988年7月，赤湾烟墩遗址被深圳市政府公布为“市级文物保护单位”；2001年，南山区政府对它进行了重修。如今，人们徒步至小南山山顶，依然能在一片绿意中登上赤湾烟墩，瞭望整个赤湾及周边海域，怀古追远。

In July 1988, the Chiwan beacon tower site was announced as a municipal-level protected historic site by the Shenzhen Municipal Government. In 2001, it was restored by the Nanshan District Government. Nowadays, people can hike to the top of Xiaonanshan and climb up to the Chiwan beacon tower.