Beihai old street

·This is a century old street, which was built in 1883. On both sides of the street are unique Chinese and Western arcade buildings.

·Along the street are the former sites of British, French and German consulates, the former sites of German Senbao foreign house, the former sites of Catholic nunnery, as well as medicine hall, wine shop and tea shop, which witness the prosperity of Beihai.

·In the old street, the old people shake the big Pu fan to enjoy the cool by the door, and the peddler turns the shrimp cake in the oil pan with chopsticks. Their eyes are as calm and serene as the deep and long old lane.

·Now it has become a commercial street, selling all kinds of goods, as well as spicy snails, shrimp cakes, pig's feet powder and other local delicacies.

Beihai old street

Zhuhai Road is an old street with a history of nearly 200 years. It was built in 1821 and was called Shengping street when it was first built. It is only 200 meters long and 4 meters wide. With the continuous development of various historical periods, it has become an old commercial street with a length of 1.44 km and a width of 9 M. along the street, there are Chinese and Western arcade buildings. Most of these buildings have two to three floors, which are mainly influenced by the western style buildings such as consulates built in our city by Ye Ying, France and Germany in the late 19th century. Most of the windows on both sides of the street are of roll arch structure. There are carved lines on the outer edge of the roll arch and the top of the window column, with smooth lines and exquisite workmanship. Different styles of decoration and relief on the wall near the street form two groups of air sculpture corridors in the north and the south. The arcade part of these buildings facing the street is not only the extension of the road to both sides, but also the extension of the pavement to the outside. People can walk under the arcade to protect themselves from the wind and rain, as well as the sun. The square columns of the arcade are thick and heavy, which is quite the style of ancient Roman architecture.

origin

Beihai old street generally refers to Zhuhai Road. It was formed around 1927, but its origin can be traced back to the early 19th century. Since then, a number of western buildings have been built in Beihai. After more than half a century of cultural integration, the old arcade street that we have seen has finally formed. These arcades are not a simple copy of Western architecture. From the deep cultural roots, what flows in them is the blood of the splendid civilization of the Chinese nation and a beautiful crystallization of the collision of eastern and Western cultures.

Before 1927, Zhuhai Road used to be the most prosperous commercial district in Beihai, with many shops. The shops in the middle section mainly deal in silk and satin from Suzhou and Hangzhou, the shops in the east section mainly deal in dried seafood such as squid, sand worms, shrimps and dried fish, and the shops in the west section are close to Waisha port. All the shops are engaged in fishermen's supplies such as ropes, fishing nets, fishhooks, fishing lights, windsurfing and boat nails. With the passage of time, Zhuhai Road has gradually lost its former prosperity. In addition to the rarity, there are a few shops operating fishing gear, other shops have almost become folk houses, and the street buildings are aging. However, because Zhuhai Road is still intact, it is still known as the "Yearbook of modern architecture" by historians and architects. Shu Yi, as like as two peas of Lao She, thinks that Zhuhai road is the same as the old national treasure street in Singapore. It is recommended that our city protect this valuable street.

Mr. Rhett, a British architectural expert, believes that the historical and cultural value of Zhuhai Road is of great significance not only to the North Sea, but also to South China, China and the world. Pierre Burke, mayor of Montreal, suggested that Beihai apply to UNESCO to protect Zhuhai Road as a world cultural heritage. Unfortunately, this street has been damaged.

History and development

Zhuhai Road in Beihai, Guangxi, with its long history and special architectural style, attracted the attention of Chinese and foreign experts and scholars from 1980s to 1990s. The road was built in the late 1920s. Its completion was related to the upgrading of Beihai system at that time, and experienced a tortuous process.

Before March 1926, Beihai was under the jurisdiction of Jinghai District, Hepu County, Guangdong Province. In the same year, the Guangdong provincial government successively set up municipal preparatory offices in six township level commercial ports, including Foshan, Chencun, Beihai and Meilu, directly under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province. In March 1926, Beihai was officially approved to set up the "municipal Preparatory Office of Beihai independent city" (hereinafter referred to as the Municipal Department), with five branches of general affairs, public security, education, health, finance and public works, separated from Hepu County.

In order to keep up with the development of the situation, the Urban Services Department has decided to renovate most of the main streets and alleys except Shaji street, focusing on the back street (the former name of today's Zhongshan Road) and the main street (the former name of today's Zhuhai Road). From west to East, there were Daxi street, Shengping street, Dong'an street, Dongtai street and jielongqiao street. Among them, Dongtai street and Donghua Street are "rich merchants", and it is easier to raise money to build streets. Since June 1927, the municipal office first demolished the two streets and built them according to the plan, which took one year to complete.

At that time, Beihai's commerce declined for various reasons. The main reason is that Guangzhou Bay (today's Zhanjiang City) is a French leased land, and "goods are imported without tax". As a result, the merchants from Anpu, Shicheng, Hudong and other places who have been purchasing goods in Beihai all come to Guangzhou Bay to buy goods, resulting in the cold business in Beihai. To this end, in order to reduce the economic burden of Beihai, Chen Mingshu, a member of the Southern District Rehabilitation Committee of Guangdong Province, submitted a petition to the Guangdong provincial government to "abolish Beihai and Meizhou and turn them into police stations." The reason is that "Beihai is not rich at all. It's business in the city. Because of the financial chaos inside and the influence of Guangzhou Bay outside, Beihai's business is declining. Businessmen are operating at a loss in the 19th century, and the people are struggling. How can it add to the burden Now the city has an annual income of several hundred yuan and a monthly loss. It's not enough to maintain its original state. How can we spare the strength to engage in construction? It's better to take the market system and merge it with the county government to lighten the burden of the local government According to Chen Mingshu's petition, the Guangdong provincial government abolished the Beihai Municipal Department in November 1928, "administratively merged the county police bureau" and "set up the second branch of public security engineering" in order to reduce the organization and revive the economy.

In fact, apart from the above reasons, the abolition of the Urban Services Department had something to do with the corruption and inaction of some of its principal officials at that time. For example, the first Commissioner of the Urban Services Department, Chen Chunxi, took office only 10 months in March 1926. Because of his "corruption, perversion of the law, and his notorious deeds", he caused a demonstration in Beihai by tens of thousands of people, chanted the slogan of "down with corrupt official Chen Chunxi", and called the higher authorities to remove him. Chen submitted his resignation to the provincial government at the end of the year and finally collapsed.

At the beginning of January 1927, Zhou Changyin, who took over the post of commissioner, failed to take up the post for some reason. Lin Shi, the Deputy officer of the 11th division in Beihai at that time, acted as the Commissioner in Qing Dynasty. Before long, Commissioner Zhou Changyin finally took office, but on April 27 of that year, he was impeached by the public for corruption and bribery. The Beihai Municipal Services Department has only been established for more than two years. A total of four commissioners have taken office, two of whom are corrupt officials. It is difficult to reverse the passive situation of Beihai economy.

After the Municipal Services Department is abolished, the police station shall exercise the functions and powers of the former Municipal Services Department. At the end of 1928, Dongan street, Shengping street, Daxi street and Jielong bridge were expanded. At this time, some shops violated the rules, cut corners and did not build according to the requirements of the original master plan, which made the pavement buildings on the street uneven and even dangerous buildings. Therefore, the police station promptly posted the notice of "banning illegal and unauthorized buildings", saying that "the construction of the pavement in the urban area, for example, must be reported by drawing, issued with a license and hung in front of the door before construction If you still dare to play, you will be severely punished for violating the regulations. " Due to the police's effective control, the later extension project of the main street was successfully completed at the end of 1930.

After expansion, jielongqiao street and Dongtai street were renamed Zhuhai east road; Donghua street was renamed Zhuhai middle road; Dong'an street, Shengping street and Daxi street were renamed Zhuhai West Road.

With the abolition of the Urban Services Department, Beihai's economy has gradually recovered. According to the records of China's seaports compiled by Wang Zhen, the trade of Beihai seaport was the most prosperous between 1929 and 1937. During the year, 566 ships were imported and exported, totalling 669096 tons, with a total trade value of 3370000 yuan. In 1936, 429 seagoing vessels, 431728 tons, were imported and exported. Another 192 Hanoi vessels, 38208 tons.

The Urban Services Department was abolished less than three years after its establishment. When Beihai was upgraded to an independent city, it was like a flash in the pan. In spite of this, Zhuhai Road, as a product of that short period of time, has become a representative building of Beihai old street. When people visit this old street, they can also feel its former beauty and prosperity.

The great development of old street culture

In October 2009, the first Beihai old street culture and art festival held by Beihai Municipal Tourism Commission, Beihai Tourism Group Co., Ltd. and Beihai old city culture and Tourism Investment Development Co., Ltd. started from October 2 and ended on October 5. The main activities include the opening ceremony of the festival on the morning of October 2, and the launching ceremony of watercolor paintings, strange stones, seashells, ancient boat wood and Ming and Qing furniture. The specific contents are in Beihai old street life information There are more related activities and content introduction on the portal; Beihai teaching and creation base of School of architecture of Central Academy of fine arts, Beihai teaching and creation base of Academy of fine arts of Tsinghua University, Beihai old city creation base of Beijing Academy of calligraphy and painting, Guangxi Liaison Department of China International Cultural Communication Center, Beihai workstation of national research center of famous historical and cultural city of Tongji University were unveiled; on the evening of October 3

Chinese PinYin : Bei Hai Lao Jie