Stroll around Xuding Old Street and marvel at the leisurely old town style

Xuding Old Street, located on the north bank of Pengjiang River, has a special place in the hearts of Jiangmen people – it is regarded as the origin of Jiangmen\’s city, and all Jiangmen stories are written by This expands. Over the past 600 years, Xuding Old Street has witnessed the vicissitudes and prosperity of the city of Jiangmen, and therefore carries a rich historical and cultural heritage. Nowadays, this old neighborhood is no longer as lively as it used to be, but it has gained a bit more charm due to its vicissitudes of life, allowing people to appreciate the memories of the streets and lanes of the past in the midst of busy urban life.

Once gave birth to the prototype of Jiangmen City

Xuding Old Street is not a street. Geographically speaking, Xuding Old Street roughly includes the core area of ​​​​the origin of Xuding City, Baisha Center The cultural area and the North Street industrial heritage area. Among them, the Xuding City Origin Core Area is the most representative of Xuding Old Street.

According to records, at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the ancestors of Jiangmen opened a market on Penglai Mountain – \”Jiangmen Market\”. Since the terrain is low-lying and prone to flooding, people began to build bluestone ladders, and eventually a 33-step bluestone ladder was built. This 33-step bluestone staircase was the Shuibu in those days. At that time, people came by boat, disembarked here, and went to the highest point of Jiangmen Market, namely Xuding Street, to do business. According to records, when Jiangmen Market was first formed, all walks of life were doing business here. It was very lively, but the order was chaotic. Later, after renovation, a special sales area was formed.

In the 16th century, Xuding Street had developed into a prosperous commodity trading market. By the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, Jiangmen had become an important distribution center for materials in western Guangdong. By the late Ming Dynasty, the Jiangmen River continued to narrow and turned into land, forming the \”New City\”, which is now the Lianping Road, Xingning Road, and Xinshi Road area. With the economic development, Xu Street continued to expand. By the Qing Dynasty, \”Xuding\” had become the political and commercial center of Jiangmen, giving birth to the prototype of the city.

\”Ten steps and one thatched rafter, it is neither a village nor a shop. Pedestrians miss the food in the restaurant, and birds passing by avoid the smoke of the market. The sun is shining on the red cloud island, and the fish are turning over the yellow leaves of the river. Anyone who wants to know is not allowed to get on the boat that takes advantage of the market. \” Mr. Chen Baisha, a great scholar of the Ming Dynasty, once wrote a five-character poem \”Jiangmen Ruins\”, which vividly recorded the prosperous scene of Jiangmen Ruding Street.

The ancient charm remains intact

Nowadays, Xuding Street, which was once bustling with people, has long been quiet, but you can still feel the former prosperity here by climbing up the stone steps. Walking into the Xuding neighborhood, the old streets and alleys are filled with pictures of old Jiangmen from yesterday. Old houses with green tiles and red bricks, people watching in twos and threes under the shade of treesOld people calling, motorcycles passing by occasionally… Here, you can say goodbye to the hustle and bustle of the city for a while, calm down and experience the leisurely old city style.

Today\’s Xuding Street includes Jingguo Street, Chicken Selling Place, Yuqing Lane, Taining Lane (Gangwa Land), Jielong Lane, Southeast Street (獍 Street), Anlong Lane (Pig Street) Zaixu), Honghua Society and other places. These old place names that are still used or often mentioned are both simple and interesting, exuding a strong historical charm and local characteristics.

Yuqingli, located in the middle of Xuding District, is a group of buildings. It is said that it was built from 1913 to 1917. The interior layout of each building is consistent, and the houses are built with uniform exterior design and lane specifications. , with a total of more than 30 houses, is the earliest \”high-end residential area\” in Jiangmen in modern times. Time flies, and after a hundred years of baptism, the \”Yuqingli\” blue brick house, which once symbolized wealth and glory, is still standing here as a witness of history, but with its mottled walls and dull wooden roofs. The door reminds visitors that this is a century-old house. Every wall, every brick, and even every door here has its own story.

It will be built into one of Jiangmen’s urban cores

The once prosperous Xu Street will inevitably become dilapidated over the years. Fortunately, after the government’s renovations in recent years, the Xuding Old Street The \”old man\” finally put on new clothes. Nowadays, the dilapidated pavement has been replaced with bricks and stones, and the once damaged and dilapidated walls have become brand new and clean, making people feel refreshed.

What people look forward to is that in the \”Draft of Urban Landscape Design for the Main Urban Area of ​​Jiangmen City\” announced this month by the Jiangmen Municipal Natural Resources Bureau, Xuding Old Street was mentioned, and it is expected to usher in new developments. opportunity.

According to the \”Draft\”, the overall landscape structure of this design is \”one axis, one vein and one network\”. Among them, \”one vein\” is the thousand-year city vein, which is divided into \”one main and four branches\”, representing 600 Baisha Village-Xuding Old Street, which has a long history, is an important part of the main line. In addition, the \”Draft\” also proposes to create five overseas Chinese cultural paths. \”Xu Street Nostalgia Road\” is one of them and will become an important member of Jiangmen\’s overseas Chinese cultural avenue.

This page is coordinated by: Nandu reporter Zeng Yujun. This page is written by: Nandu reporter Luo Yunzi. Correspondent Liang Yongchao Li Weijie