北宋時期的泗州，由於正當汴河北運起點，官私貨物，轉輸繁忙，為南北運河線上的一顆明珠。孰料靖康之亂，北宋滅亡。高宗即位，趙宋國祚始得延續。南宋之初，國土所失約為當時河北與河東十一郡。惟其後金人以高宗為目標，建炎元年至紹興和議前，多次針對高宗駐蹕行蹤發動南侵，且曾渡江直追至明州。如此，金兵鐵騎所過之處，飽經劫掠，兩淮之地面目全非。兵馬倥傯之際，廟堂高論紛陳。在諸備禦策略下，泗州成為戰守要地。紹興和議達成，正式成為邊界城市。本文旨在探討變亂之際的城市變遷，以泗州為例，觀察其如何由一轉輸繁忙的運河城市，轉變成為宋金間的邊城重鎮。

Sizhou, the start of the water transport of the Bian River, rose as a busy city with heavy volume of official and private goods in the Northern Sung Dynasty and looked like a jewel on the north-south line of the canal. Then, unexpected chaos in the Jingkang period perished the Northern Sung Dynasty and Sung Gaozong ascended the throne to establish the Southern Sung Dynasty, which had lost lots of their previous territories including Hebei and Hedong’s eleven prefectures. However, the Jin Dynasty continuously invaded southward. As a result, the basins of the Huai River and the Yangtze Rive bored with serious destructions due to Jin Calvary’s robberies. Finally Sizhou, with strategic important according the officials’ defensive discussions and suggestions during the wartime, officially became a border town after the Peace of Shaoxing. Through a case of Sizhou, this paper aims to explore how a city transformed from a busy spot of the canal into a border town in the Sung Dynasty.