Scenic spot north street in Xiangcheng District, Xiangyang City, Hubei Province

North St

Xiangyang North Street, also known as Xiangfan North Street, is located in the center of Xiangyang City, in the north of Shizi street. Connecting Xiangyang ancient city wall in the north and zhaomingtai in the south is a "business card" of Xiangyang as a national historical and cultural city!

Street introduction

Xiangyang North Street, also known as Xiangfan North Street, is located in the center of Xiangyang City, in the north of Shizi street. Xiangyang ancient city wall in the north and zhaomingtai in the south are 860 meters long and 12 meters wide. The special location of the North Street determines that it is an important "symbol" of Xiangyang City and a "business card" of Xiangyang as a national historical and cultural city. With the advantages of being located in the north-south axis of the ancient city and close to the Hanjiang River, the North Street was once the most prosperous block in Xiangyang City.

have a long history

Xiangyang North Street has a long history. It began to develop in the Shang and Zhou dynasties, and was very prosperous in the Tang and Song dynasties. In 2001 and 2007, the municipal government set up the regional renovation project headquarters of Xiangcheng North Street to renovate or maintain the drainage pipe network, road surface and streetscape, traffic environment, etc.

development planning

In 1991, in order to welcome the first ZhuGeliang Cultural Festival and the National Conference of historical and cultural cities (commonly known as "one festival and one meeting") held in Xiangyang, Xiangyang municipal government decided to transform the North Street into a cultural commercial pedestrian street that matches the ancient buildings such as Xiangyang ancient city wall and zhaomingtai and imitates the architectural style of Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is said that North Street is the longest antique pedestrian street in China.

In 2001 and 2007, the municipal government set up the regional renovation project headquarters of Xiangcheng North Street to renovate or maintain the drainage pipe network, road surface and streetscape, traffic environment, etc.

Today, the North Street has more than 200 owners and more than 300 shops, which has become an old and prosperous street in Xiangyang City.

Orientation of North Street

Xiangcheng North Street is positioned as a commercial and cultural pedestrian street, which mainly imitates the architectural complex of Ming and Qing Dynasties in Northwest Hubei. The horse head wall, cornices are well arranged, and the doors and windows are simple and elegant. It is one of the important symbols of Xiangyang as a famous historical and cultural city.

In order to maintain the style of the North Street, the municipal planning department has compiled the environmental comprehensive improvement plan of Xiangcheng North Street, which demolishes all advertisements, plaques, signboards, wall facade decoration, decorations and hanging objects that do not conform to the plan.

In order to effectively protect the historical and cultural city, the municipal Party committee and the municipal government strive to build the North Street into the most attractive cultural district and tourist attraction in Xiangyang City.

Old commercial district

North Street, located in the center of Xiangyang City - north of cross street. With the advantages of being located in the north-south axis of the ancient city and close to the Hanjiang River, the North Street was once the most prosperous block in Xiangyang City. "North Street has been the central block of Xiangyang City since Tang and Song dynasties." Li Zhihe said that there are not many records about the prosperity of Beijie before the Qing Dynasty. According to his inference, the North Street is close to the Han River, and water transportation is the main mode of transportation in ancient times. It is unreasonable that the North Street is not prosperous.

In the early days of the founding of new China, except for some small shops dealing in daily necessities, Beijie street was relatively dilapidated. In the early days of the founding of new China, Beijie was renamed Yan'an Beijie, which is still commonly known as Beijie. The name of Beijie was restored in August 1979. In the sixties and seventies of the last century, the municipal government made a simple repair to the pavement of North Street.

The first project of famous city

"Since it is an ancient city, there should be ancient streets and ancient towns." Bi Kezhong believes that Xiangyang, as a famous historical and cultural city, needs not only ancient city walls, but also certain historical blocks to live up to its name. Therefore, when the National Conference on famous historical and cultural cities was held in Xiangyang, it became a matter of course for the municipal government to repair the North Street.

In order to meet the "one festival and one meeting" held in Xiangyang in 1993, the municipal government launched ten key projects, including maintaining the ancient city wall, dredging the moat and building the theme park around the city. "The reconstruction of North Street was the first of the famous city construction projects of that year." Dong Liquan said that the North Street restoration project was the largest in terms of investment and construction cycle.

In June 1991, Xiangyang municipal government held a meeting on the construction of a famous historical and cultural city, and the renovation of North Street became an important topic of the meeting. The municipal government requires all units to have a unified understanding and carry forward the spirit of "we have to overcome difficulties". The North Street reconstruction and residents relocation project must start before July 1, 1991.

According to a historical data from the Municipal Archives of urban construction, there were 19 units involved in the restoration of North Street in that year. They not only planned to reconstruct the pavement, water supply and drainage, street lamps and greening of Wuzhong lane, Gulou lane and other streets near North Street, but also renovated and restored the cultural security units such as zhaomingtai, Danfu and shanjiaci hall.

Reconstruction of Zhaoming terrace

Zhaomingtai is located at the south end of Beijie street. It is a cross street building. It is not known when it was built. The name of the building has been changed, and it has been called zhaomingtai, wenxuanlou, gugaozhai, Shannan dongdaolou, Nanping Lou, Zhennan Lou, Zhonggulou.

According to "Wanli Xiangyang Fu Zhi · historic sites" records: "zhaomingtai, in the middle of the county city, its trace is very ancient." In the southern and Northern Dynasties, Xiao Tong, the son of Emperor Wu of Liang Dynasty, was born in Xiangyang and studied here.

During the Anti Japanese War, Xiangyang City was occupied by the Japanese army and its buildings were destroyed. In 1954, the municipal government built two rooms on the stage and gave them to the municipal library. In the summer of 1973, the southeast corner of zhaomingtai collapsed. To ensure pedestrian safety, Zhaoming terrace was demolished.

In 1991, when the municipal government decided to repair North Street, it asked for the reconstruction of Zhaoming terrace.

Xiang Xinran, the designer of the Yellow Crane Tower and a famous designer, designed Zhaoming terrace as a three-story attic with high foundation, double eaves and top rest. The ticket hole of zhaomingtai crosses the entrance of the North Street, and the plaque of "zhaomingtai" on the upper floor is inscribed by Zhao Puchu, a famous calligrapher and former president of China Buddhist Association.

After completion, Zhaoming terrace is 34 meters high, on which a three storey loft is built according to the style of Wei and Jin Dynasties. The whole building is magnificent, becoming the landmark of Xiangcheng North Street and the tallest building in Xiangyang City Wall at that time.

The longest antique pedestrian street in China

In the process of North Street reconstruction, the municipal government invited famous experts in cultural relics protection and ancient architectural design to determine the three principles of Xiangcheng North Street reconstruction (that is, the original architectural pattern in history remains unchanged, the volume and height of the building remains unchanged, and the architectural methods and materials of Xiangyang traditional residences are still used), which requires that the old be repaired as before.

Bi Kezhong said that there is a partition wall between each single building in North Street, which is more than one meter higher than the eaves. This wall is called Fenghuo wall. If there is a fire, the wall will prevent the fire from spreading and act as an isolation. "North Street is the longest antique pedestrian street in China." Bi Kezhong believes that the reconstruction of Beijie reflects the local characteristics of plain and heavy buildings in Northwest Hubei, which is quite different from Liulichang in Beijing, Confucius Temple in Nanjing and Songcheng street in Kaifeng.

After two years of construction, the North Street restoration project was officially completed at the end of September 1993. It is understood that in 1995, the planning and design of Beijie won the first prize of excellent urban planning and design of Hubei Province; in the same year, it won the praise award of excellent urban planning and design of the Ministry of construction.

Amoy out a museum

Because the North Street has a long history, so in the process of repairing the North Street, many underground "treasures" have been excavated. At that time, Li Zhihe, a teacher of Xiangyang No.5 Middle School, often went to the construction site to collect a large number of porcelain and brick fragments found in the construction process.

"I just thought these things were valuable." Li Zhihe said that in those years, some places were dug very deep, some even dug seven or eight meters deep, and a lot of underground things were dug out and scattered on the construction site.

Li Zhihe told reporters that after he made clear the origin of these "treasures", he classified them and put labels on them for collection. According to Li Zhihe, during the restoration of Beijie, he collected nearly ten thousand pieces of fragments, including Xiangyang cannon, Guan Gong bronze statue and Yuan blue and white porcelain, and built Xiangyang No.5 Middle School History Museum on this basis.

A few days ago, the reporter walked into the museum and saw that there were more than 100 ancient shells in the museum. "This is the witness of Xiangyang as a place for military strategists." Li Zhihe said that these shells were left by the yuan army when they attacked Xiangyang City.

These "treasures" play an important role in the history teaching of Xiangyang No.5 Middle School.

Related people

Dong Liquan is a senior urban planner. From 1991 to 1993, he was the leader of the planning and design group of Xiangyang historical and Cultural City Construction Committee Office, and participated in the planning and design of North Street.

Bi Kezhong, former head of cultural relics section of Xiangyang Municipal Bureau of culture and sports, participated in the renovation and restoration of many cultural relics and scenic spots in North Street, such as zhaomingtai, Danfu and DanJia ancestral hall.

The fifth grade history teachers in Xiangyang City and Hubei Province retired.

Surrounding traffic

No.1, No.13, No.512, get off at Xiangcheng Drum Tower.

Chinese PinYin : Hu Bei Sheng Xiang Yang Shi Xiang Cheng Qu De Jing Dian Bei Jie