Qianhuang Town, Yangqiao ancient town, Wujin District, Changzhou City, Jiangsu Province

Yangqiao town

Yangqiao ancient town is located in Qianhuang Town, Wujin District, Changzhou City. It is named after "Nanyang bridge", a single hole stone arch bridge in the south of Yangqiao street. It is a typical water town in the south of the Yangtze River. It is the only millennium old town in Jiangnan that has not been fully commercialized, so the original ecology of the ancient town is well preserved. One hundred years ago, the ancient town of Yangqiao was full of merchants and developed trade, with a number of theaters, teahouses, hotels, pawnshops, temples and rich merchants' houses, which has rich historical and cultural heritage.

survey

The old houses in the ancient street surrounded by water on three sides cover an area of nearly 30000 square meters, covering an area of more than 360 mu. At present, there are five 730 meter long old streets with Chinese classical charm, including Yangqiao North Street, South Street, East Street, Qiaonan West Street and Qiaobei West Street. Nanyang bridge, Zhuangji bridge, Xie bridge, Wudong bridge, dongxihong bridge and other six ancient bridges with a long history are located in them. There are also six well preserved temples and ancient buildings, and more than 600 mu fishery base. The long blue brick road, the deep alleys, the ancient houses built by the water, and the ancient bridges in various forms are all full of the characteristics of Jiangnan. According to relevant experts, Honglian temple, the base of Honglian religion in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, is located here. Due to the relatively small impact of war in history, most of the historical sites such as Taiping temple, Baoding temple, baihutang, guanfangge and the Tang Dynasty ancient temple "Wanfu Temple" are well preserved, and the whole Nanyangqiao ancient street after vicissitudes basically maintains its original appearance of antique. Every Chinese New Year and festival, "Yangqiao tune 36 lines" folk show is always staged in time, attracting tourists from all over the world to watch. Yangqiao ancient town is a water town in the south of the Yangtze River.

Historical and cultural street

Yangqiao old street block, also known as Yangqiao historical and cultural street, is located near Xili River, northwest of Caoqiao and southwest of Yun Village, Qianhuang Town, Wujin District, Changzhou City. The protection area is 18 meters to the east of dingjiatang and East Bank of zhujiabang in the East, 18 meters to the south of zhangxianbang in the south, 10 meters to the west of guanyinbang in the West and 18 meters to the north of muzhaiyuan in the north, with an area of about 4 hectares. Yangqiao old street block is a historical and cultural area with rich Ming and Qing architectural relics, cultural landscape and revolutionary struggle history, with the old commercial street around Yangqiao as the core and yangqiaobang (also known as zhangxianbang) as the extension. There are more than 10 natural villages in this area, including Zhuangji village, qianzhujiatang, houzhujiatang, dujiatang and dingjiatang. The territory is surrounded by yangqiaobang, zhujiabang, dujiabang, guanyinbang, xinjiebang and other rivers and streams. On bishuiqingxi, there are Nanyang bridge, Zhuangji bridge, Hongqiao bridge, Taiping Bridge (also known as Xieqiao), Dongyang bridge, Xinyang bridge, Xinhong bridge, xintaiping bridge and other classical and modern bridges of different sizes. Many houses are built near the water, forming a group of pillow river people, small bridges and flowing water, which has the natural landscape of Jiangnan Water Town with both garden color and poetic flavor.

Cultural history

The history of Yangqiao town began in the Southern Song Dynasty. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, it has become an important town of Changzhou Prefecture, a province in the south of the Yangtze River. It reaches Taihu Lake and Gehu Lake in Changzhou Prefecture from east to west, and Jintan County in Zhenjiang Prefecture from east to west. It is the only way to Changzhou City in the north, Yixing County in the South and Huzhou City in Zhejiang Province. In the middle of the Qing Dynasty, Yangqiao town became the market and trade center of the junction area of Yanghu county and Yixing County in Changzhou. A large number of merchants gathered here, building gardens and buildings adjacent to each other. Its prosperity once surpassed that of Yixing County, so it was called "the first town of Taihu Lake". At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, although some towns gradually emerged in the surrounding areas, the business prosperity centered on Yangqiao old street was still more than HUTANG town. From the East, West, South, North and other old streets with Nanyang bridge as the center, the remains of classical buildings and components can still reflect the prosperity of that year. According to local people's recollections, there were more than 100 shops in this area, including restaurants, silk cloth shops, North and South groceries, Chinese medicine, wooden shops, bamboo wares, silversmith shops, fishing shops, meat shops, dyeing shops, troughs, tofu shops, carpenters' shops, teahouses, snack shops, and even cigarette shops (opium shops), including Tongrentang drugstore, baihutang teahouse, dingjiatang grain shop, and Chen Wanlong tobacco shop Shop, Quansheng dowry shop, Rongguang Inn and other time-honored shops are famous. The opening of theaters and the creation of secondary schools in the town were earlier than those in the surrounding towns. At that time, the waterway transportation was very convenient. Every day, ships from Changzhou and Wuxi to Yixing and Liyang and irregular ships were berthed at Yangqiao wharf. Up to now, countless remains of niubikong rope stones between the well preserved stone revetments with a length of more than 1000 meters have witnessed the scene of ships being crowded at that time. In order to prevent thieves from committing crimes, the old street is equipped with fence gates which are open during the day and closed at night, and full-time watchmen are employed to patrol the reporting points. Yangqiao was also an important area in the Anti Japanese war. From 1940 to 1945, most of the New Fourth Army and guerrillas used the Yangqiao area as a channel between Yixing and Wujin. This area is the main contact springboard of the underground organization of the Communist Party of Wunan. Now No. 24, Jinqiao Nanxin village, NaNTU West Street, Nanyangqiao, is the former site of Nanyangqiao underground transportation station of the New Fourth Army of Taige Prefecture Committee of the Communist Party of China. In May 1945, Dai Rongkun, an underground member of the Communist Party of China, who was in charge of the transportation station, was killed in Caoqiao by Japanese aggressors. with the passage of time, the development of highway traffic, the rise and prosperity of the towns around Yangqiao, the decline of Yangqiao in remote areas, the prosperity of the old streets gradually withdraw from the historical stage, and become people's memory. However, the traces of the prosperity of the old street are still there. There are more than 27000 square meters of old houses on the old street, which covers an area of more than 360 mu. The granite strips and green brick pavement on the street are still the same. There are also well preserved dingjiatang dingzhai, baishuizhuang, muzhaiyuan, the former site of Nanyangqiao underground traffic station of the New Fourth Army of Taige prefectural committee of the Communist Party of China, Nanyangqiao, Taipingqiao, etc., which belong to the newly announced cultural relics protection units in Changzhou. There are also stone inscriptions of rebuilding Yangqiao stele in Qing Dynasty, Wenchang Pavilion of Guanwang, baihutang teahouse sites, classical Shiliang Zhuangji bridge and Donghong bridge built in Qing Dynasty. They were built in Ming Dynasty and rebuilt in modern Baoding temple and Taiping temple. It is said that the temple in the famous "huoshao Honglian Temple" is on the east side of Nanyang bridge. A few years ago, a stone Scripture building with lotus pattern was unearthed, which is its relic. There are more than 500 well preserved classical residential buildings in the area, such as dujiatang and zhujiatang. Such a rich and colorful historical and cultural connotation, as well as the picturesque charm of the superior environment of the landscape, is rare in Changzhou. Wujin District has decided to invest hundreds of millions of yuan to carry out comprehensive planning, gradually repair and development, and invited Yixing to join hands to rebuild an ancient town of "Zhouzhuang" in Changzhou. On February 26, 2008, the Municipal People's government announced that it was the second batch of historical and cultural blocks in Changzhou.

Construction Reform

In the early days of the people's Republic of China (1949.10.1-2002.4.23), the people's Republic of China was founded on October 1, 1949. Wujin County has 15 districts, 188 townships and towns: Yuncun district (former yellow District): Caoqiao Town, zhaiqiao Town, Yuncun Township, Yangqiao Township, Dacheng Township, Lingtai Township, former yellow Township, Zhengbei Township, Zhengping Township, Nanzhai Township, Huangyan township; in May 1950, Yuncun district was renamed Qianhuang District, and Mashan District was renamed Xue district Nanyan District, Nanzhai, Yangqiao, Huangyan Township and Caoqiao town of Yuanyun Village District are classified as Xueyan District, Shengdong and Fangqian township of Minghuang district are classified as Qianhuang district. On April 23, 2002, with the approval of the State Council and the provincial government, Wujin City at the county level was abolished and Wujin District of Changzhou City was established. Wujin District governs HUTANG, Qianhuang, zhaiqiao, Caoqiao, Panjia, Lijia, Luoyang, Yaoguan, Henglin, Hengshanqiao, Jiaoxi, Zhenglu, Niutang, Nanxiashu, Benniu, Zou District, Buyi, Xiaxi, Jiaze, Huangli, Xueyan, Furong, Dong'an and other 23 towns in Wujin City. The former seven towns of Wujin City, including Xuejia, Anjia, Weicun, Luoxi, Xixiashu, Xiaohe and Menghe, are under the jurisdiction of Xinbei District of Changzhou City. On March 24, 2007, after the adjustment of administrative divisions, Caoqiao town (formerly Caoqiao Town, Yuncun Township and Yangqiao township) was merged into Qianhuang town.

geographical position

Yangqiao ancient town is located between the West Taihu Lake (Gehu Lake) and Taihu Lake, which respectively leads to Taihu Lake and Gehu Lake in Wujin, Changzhou, and Jintan, Changzhou. It is the only way to Changzhou City in the north, Yixing and Huzhou in Zhejiang Province in the south.

Chinese PinYin : Jiang Su Sheng Chang Zhou Shi Wu Jin Qu Qian Huang Zhen Yang Qiao Gu Zhen Yang Qiao Zhen