The Qijiang River carries a rich cultural history and contains the potential of urban development. In Zhongshan, the urban layout around the Qijiang River is constantly advancing.
Qijiang Park, transformed from the former site of the Yuezhong Shipyard, is like a gem set on the banks of the Qijiang River.
The transformation of the Qijiang River waterfront landscape project will build the area along the Qijiang River into an ecological urban landscape belt integrating commercial, cultural leisure, entertainment and other functions, forming a new "one cloth with water" scenery.
Qijiang Park retains the history and memories in the mind, and recreates the historical context space of Zhongshan in the process of design and construction.
"The Old Garden Remembrance Of the Old Picture" (partial) is provided by Deng Zhenling
■ Editor's Note
Turning over the history of the world, great cities are always accompanied by water. In the era when human beings lived by water, the story of the big river and the big city is not uncommon in the history books.
The Qijiang River, which runs through the central city of Zhongshan, has a history of thousands of years. The Millennium Qijiang River is the origin of Zhongshan's urban civilization, the birthplace of Xiangshan culture, the main front of industrial civilization and urbanization, and also the starting point for Zhongshan's future participation in the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, from the river era to the marine era.
From the concept of Qijiang New Town in 2012 to the construction of the "3+4" major platform in 2021, looking back at the past 10 years, QijiangHe has always been the core of Zhongshan's urban development. Under the background of the construction of "dual districts", Qijiang New Town has been given the role and construction of the city's future new living room.
In July this year, Zhongshan launched the comprehensive improvement action of the Qijiang River, proposing the governance goal of "changing the river, clearing the water, fixing the embankment, greening the shore and beautiful scenery" to improve the comprehensive urban environment of the Qijiang River. The Qijiang River carries a rich cultural history and contains the potential of urban development, and protecting the Qijiang River is of great significance to the economic and social development of Zhongshan. The urban layout around the Qijiang River is constantly advancing. The return of urban development to the origin of the Qijiang River is an inevitable move for Zhongshan to reshape the core competitiveness of the city, and it is also a new starting point for development in the new era. This issue of Nanfang Daily Zhongshan Observation launched a series of reports on "Qijiang Asking Water", paying attention to the past, present and future of Zhongshan Mother River, and sorting out the ecology, people's livelihood and urban construction of Qijiang River.
Starting from the Qijiang River, Zhongshan is looking for a new path to the sea.
On the banks of the Qijiang River, the archway with the plaque engraved "Tianzi Wharf" stands facing the river, and the front is written: "The ancient monuments explore the source of the Pearl Water Civilization in one vein, and the relics inspire the children of Xiangshan to compete for a thousand sails."
The tianzi wharf rebuilt on the original site is a rare aggregate perspective when we gaze at Zhongshan. On one side of the pier, Qijiang Park, which was transformed from the Guangdong Central Shipyard in the 1950s, is engraved with mottled traces of the city's industrial growth; on the other side, the Qijiang Bridge, which has been towering for half a century, together with the 108-meter-high colorful Ferris wheel, creates a unique sense of time and space. Near the pier, the commercial ruins scattered along the river are the zhaoqi of Zhongshan's modern commercial civilization.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, traffic was smooth and commerce and trade were concentrated; in modern times, the West has gradually learned from the East, and overseas Chinese have gone to the ocean; reform and opening up, the spring breeze has risen, and industry has flourished. The Water of the Qijiang River, in the blowing of the historical tide, shows its unique cultural texture.
From the reform and opening up to the construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, in more than 40 years, industrialization and urbanization have advanced rapidly, the urban appearance has accelerated and iterative changes, and a new methodology and development logic have promoted the development of the city to the east. Qijianghe, which has gradually shed its special status in the fields of transportation, commerce, and industry, has always occupied a unique position in the spiritual field of Zhongshan people.
What did the Qijiang River bring to Zhongshan? The answer lies in the hearts of every Zhongshan person.
● Written by: Southern Daily reporter Liao Han Lei Haiquan Photo: Southern Daily reporter Ye Zhiwen
Cross rivers
Zhongshan Shiqi, Baishuijing Street is bustling day and night. The cultural sites found here push the history of Shiqi as a living place for human beings to the late Neolithic period.
Today, the modern city of Zhongshan is moving from its river age to the ocean age. In the long history of history, the geographical term "Fragrant Mountain" refers to an isolated island in the Lingling Ocean most of the time.
A thousand years ago, Zheng Yu, a Xiangshan man in the Tang Dynasty, wrote "Pan Shi Qi Hai", using "Taishan first extinguished the fog, and the Qi Sea was diverting." Yupu Yang lai flute, Hong Kui wing to go to the boat" the words describe the scenery of the Qi Sea.
After the Yuan Dynasty, Xiangshan Island began to be connected by the mainland. More than 800 years ago, Xiangshan was established on the east bank of the Qijiang River. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the shoreline of the Pearl River continued to push southward, the development of mountainous hills continued to increase, and Xiangshan County was gradually connected with the surrounding areas by land and water. By the Qing Dynasty, a large area of the sea around Xiangshan had basically emerged from the water.
The isolated island fragrant mountains on the Lingling Ocean are integrated into the coastline of the mainland. After the great geographical changes, Xiangshan became a unique connection point between the mainland and the ocean.
But the memory of Qihai is still preserved in the customs and sayings of Zhongshan. In the memories of Deng Zhenling, who was already old, the Shiqi people still called the Qijiang "sea" as a child - to meet with their playmates to play in the Qijiang River, to report to their families to "go to the beach"; to take the "Huawei Ferry" to Guangzhou for business with their father, it was also "going to the sea".
It is an understanding that transcends the boundaries of rivers. In the history of China's urban development, the rivers that feed the city and create the city are the coordinates of a city. But for Zhongshan, which evolved from the island, the Qijiang River, which can go to sea in both the north and the south, is more like a way for Zhongshan people to explore the world.
In the change of the vicissitudes of sangtian, the Qijiang River and the Shiqi culture coexist with the same name. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the Qijiang River went east to Guangzhou and west out of Macao, connected with the two major rivers of the East River and the West River, running through all corners of the world, which was the center of the "waterway radiation" in the Xiangshan area, and gradually connected the modern memory of The Xiangshan Mountains and the East and the overseas Chinese.
A north-south inland waterway feeds an outgoing mountain.
"In history, Zhongshan has experienced the fusion of the vicissitudes of the sea and mulberry fields, experienced the impact of many waves of immigration, and encountered many collisions of Chinese and foreign cultures. The difference is that what each impact brings is not economic recession and social turmoil, but the prosperity of culture and the progress of social civilization. Hu Bo, chairman of the Zhongshan Federation of Social Sciences, said in the preface to his new work "A Brief History of Zhongshan".
In the era of prosperous waterway transportation, the rushing Qijiang River has become a hotbed of cultural collision and integration, and gradually constructed the geographical and cultural context of modern Zhongshan.
From the former "Shiqi Sea" to the current Qijiang River, the historical resort of Xiangshan has completed the transformation of geographical identity from sea to land; from the current Qijiang River to the future Pearl River Estuary, the modern city of Zhongshan is realizing a leap from the perspective of development from rivers to oceans.
Qishui Shangtao
On the back of the archway of Tianzi Wharf, another painting is written: "After the drum wave flying boat asks who is willing to fall on the tide, raise the sails to see me day by day to see that I dare to be the first in the world."
The urban riverfront is the breeding ground for urban commercial reproduction. On the banks of the Qijiang River, the once thriving land and water transportation belt heated up Shiqi, making it gradually the birthplace of zhongshan's modern commercial civilization.
Walking down the Qijiang Bridge and crossing Fengming Road, Sun Wen West Road, known as Ying'en Street in ancient times, has a series of eras - in the 1990s, this architectural complex that combines Western classical architectural styles and Nanyang Arcade characteristics became the first cultural tourism pedestrian street in China.
On the pedestrian street, the Xiangshan Commercial Culture Museum, built on the site of the General Chamber of Commerce of Shiqi Town, is the first commercial culture museum in China. Looking back more than a hundred years, in 1905, the Xiangshan Chamber of Commerce, which was established opposite the Great Temple on Sun Wen West Road, became a symbol of the development of modern commercial culture in Zhongshan. The "eighteen" shops in the Ming and Qing Dynasty Iron City formed a modern commercial group in the 1930s - Shiqi Town Chamber of Commerce, Yongle Hotel, Tianzi Wharf, HSBC Qianzhuang, Sihao Hotel, Tsui Xiang Yuan, Luo Qisheng Tobacco, Damiaoxia, Hongqi Theater, Anzhan Noodle Shop... The boats on the Qijiang River have witnessed the history of Zhongshan being famous as a commercial port.
During the hundreds of years of commercial exchanges, Zhongshan people have shined. During the same period, the first Department Store, a Chinese-run department store, was opened in Shanghai by Ma Yingbiao, a Zhongshan Shachung ren. Subsequently, Yong'an, Xinxin and Daxin were founded one after another, and the four major department stores became famous in Shanghai Beach, all of which were the handwriting of Zhongshan people.
The Qijiang Bridge, rebuilt in the 1970s, bears witness to another business legend. Unlike the former commercial prosperity that belonged to the east bank, Zhongshan began the vigorous development of the hotel industry in the 1980s, and Zhongshan International Hotel and Zhongshan Fuhua Hotel successively rose in the west of Qijiang Bridge. The reform and opening up has brought about a wave of commercial development, and friendship stores, overseas Chinese stores, Fuhua shopping malls, Fuhua hotels, international hotels, Qijiang Food Street and other large and small commercial bodies and restaurants have sprung up.
At the end of the 1990s, Zhongcheng Department Store was officially opened, and through the Zhongcheng Pedestrian Bridge, the Zhongken Commercial Circle on the west bank of the Qijiang River was connected to the Fuhua Commercial Circle on the east bank, becoming the largest commercial circle in Zhongshan at that time. During this period, the commercial grand scenery on both sides of the Qijiang River won the title of "Zhongshan Tsim Sha Tsui".
Each era has a different business form and business theme. The Ferris wheel rises on the banks of the Qijiang River, and the gears of the times are turning.
In 2014, Xingzhong Plaza was completed; in 2015, Zhongxin Department Store announced its closure. With the elimination of small-scale and scattered shopping malls, the commercial landscape on both sides of the Qijiang River is still in the afterglow of the old glory, waiting for a new round of remodeling.
The rise of industry
To the west of the Zhongshan Bridge, Qijiang Park was transformed from the Yuezhong Shipyard in the 1950s. It is not only a record carrier of Zhongshan's industrialization process for more than 70 years, but also a strong imprint of urban morphological changes.
Qijiang Lighthouse, commemorative railway tracks, old ships, gantry cranes – Qijiang Park preserves the history and memories in the mind, and recreates the historical context space of Zhongshan in the process of design and construction.
In the era when land transportation was not yet developed, the powerful water transport function of the Qijiang River not only supported the commercial prosperity on both sides of the river, but also promoted the early industrial development of Zhongshan. From the west bank of the Qijiang River, cross the Zhongshan Bridge, go up the river, along Nanji Road, Fengming Road, Qingxi Road all the way to the north, through the Xingzhong Square business circle and old residential areas, the juvenile era of Zhongshan industry began from the Qijiang River. From the era of planned economy, the "Ten Fleets" of Zhongshan Industry, represented by municipal state-owned and collective industrial enterprises, have mostly come out of here.
In 1978, the total industrial output value of zhongshan area was less than 500 million yuan, but the Qijiang River had accumulated the foundation for industrial development. The Renmin Bridge (present-day Zhongshan First Bridge), Anlan Road, Changdi Road (present-day Xingzhong Square), Qingxi Road, and HuanchengDutou (now part of the South District) were the industrial concentrations of that era.
In the 1960s and 1970s, a number of agricultural-type industrial enterprises were born along the Qijiang River in Zhongshan. Among them, the Second Agricultural Machinery Factory, located at the foot of the east bank bridge of zhongshan first bridge, was once one of the key enterprises of the Guangdong Provincial Machinery Industry Department. In 1978, the Department of Machinery Industry of Guangdong Province held the province's agricultural machinery repair technology innovation exhibition based on the Second Zhongshan Agricultural Machinery Factory, which lasted for half a year and attracted more than 20,000 visitors from all over the country to come to study. The "Zhongshan-4" type walking tractor and the "Zhongshan-120" rice combine harvester produced by the factory are the excellent products of the ministry of the state and are one of the main forces of mechanized rice harvesting in the south.
Also on the banks of the Qijiang River, Yuezhong Shipyard, which was once one of the five major shipyards in China, has become the "mother machine" of Zhongshan's industrial development with its strong metalworking ability and machinery manufacturing ability. Until the 1990s, The Guangdong Central Shipyard was the largest factory in Zhongshan.
In 1983, after Zhongshan withdrew from the county to set up a city (county-level city), the development of state-owned enterprises entered a climax, and chimneys were lined up along Changdi Road, Qingxi Road and Dutou in The Southern District. The Pearl River Bridge soy sauce produced by the Shiqi Sauce Factory at the end of Changdi Road is sold all over the world; the Tsui Xiangyuan Food General Factory was located on the Changdi Road on the banks of the Qijiang River; not far from Anlan Road, the predecessor of zhongshan washing machine factory, Zhongshan County Shiqi Agricultural Machine Repair Factory is located here. Here, the technicians of the agricultural machinery factory removed an "unknown object" from a scrapped foreign ship and successfully developed the first single-cylinder washing machine in China, which was the prototype of the powerful washing machine that later spread its reputation throughout the country.
Until the early 1990s, the Qijiang River was still full of boats from all over the country to pull goods, and the phenomenon of "stuffed boats" occurred from time to time, and the prosperity of factories and the busyness of water transportation were spectacular.
Zhongshan Industry has gone through the youth and youth era, and the traffic artery of the Qijiang River has gradually completed its historical mission. The land transportation network is maturing, and the industrial center of Zhongshan is gradually shifting. In the 21st century, the factories on Qingxi Road have mostly moved out.
The chimneys that once lined the riverside have disappeared for many years, but people can still find traces of the early industries in the old town of Shiqi - Yuezhong Shipyard, Shiqi Distillery, Zhongshan Machine Tool Factory, etc. Old factories and old equipment fade away the use function, and record the years of passion and burning with the symbols of urban industrial culture.
The old garden is reminiscent
For more than 20 years, Deng Has lived on the seventh floor of an old neighborhood in the East End. On the balcony on the top floor, he built his own studio and planted his favorite flowers and trees. Around the small building, the towering commercial residential buildings have risen in large numbers in the past 20 years, but they cannot stop the breeze that should belong to Deng Zhenling.
In 1989, Deng Zhenling, who had been away from home for 30 years, returned to his hometown. The Jiuqu River that runs through Shiqi has disappeared into history, and the Taiping Road that spans the years is changing with each passing day, and people no longer live by the water, and Deng Zhenling is no exception. In 1999, Deng Zhenling began retirement.
After retirement, he was physically and mentally free, and his mind became more open-minded. Nostalgia became increasingly strong, and Deng Jinling decided to draw the old scenery of Xiangshan with his pen. The old garden cannot be the same, but it can be achieved in the frame of the painting to achieve the return of the old garden in the heart.
The imagery associated with the Qijiang River has always remained in Deng Zhenling's heart. In "The Summer Rhyme of the Nine-Curved River", Deng Zhenling depicts an old dream of a water town in the heart of a child: every midsummer evening, Deng Jinling, returning from school, crosses the suspension bridge, runs into Shiqiren and Dongli No. 52, takes off his shirt and jumps into the Jiuqu River behind the house with his neighbor's playmate. Small sampans carrying fruits and vegetables and small commodities slowly sailed by, and the occasional shout of boats passing by. When the arcade building, which combines Chinese and Western architectural characteristics, rises to smoke, the liquor store on the other side lights up at night, and the children playing ashore amid the call of their elders.
Thanks to his father's profession, when he was a teenager, Deng Jinling took the "Huawei Ferry" from tianzi wharf many times to travel to the provincial city of Guangzhou via the QiJiang River. This is a popular water transportation since the beginning of the 20th century - the hull of the "Huawei Ferry" is made of wood, has no power itself, and mainly relies on steamships, which are called "drag heads" and "electric pickpockets" by zhongshan people, dragged by a long cable.
"Huawei Ferry" has a total of two floors, each floor is set up with two sleepers, each bunk has a small window, a boat "Huawei Ferry", can accommodate 400 people to travel. In the evening, the "Huawei Ferry" departs from the Tianzi Wharf of the Qijiang River, heads north along the waterway, and arrives in Guangzhou the next morning. Through the small window, Deng Zhenling saw the vendors on the bank of the Qijiang River, the boats on the river and the hot boat porridge, and also saw the customs and customs of Xiaolan, Shunde and Guangzhou.
20 years ago, Deng Zhenling spent one year and eight months to complete a 23-meter-long scroll of custom paintings, "The Old Garden Remembers the Old Map". Different from the elegance of the literati's "Qijiang Evening Look", Deng Zhenling insisted on reproducing the old-style Qijiang with "grounded" pen and ink. The streetscape reproduced by paintings such as "Reminiscences of the Old Garden" of more than 20 meters and "The Evening of the Year" of more than 10 meters is known as the Zhongshan version of the "Qijiang River Map" because of its large scale, many people involved and vivid images.
Over the era of industrialization, which is not long or short, the city has expanded to the east, real estate has risen, high-rise buildings have grown upwards, the traffic road network has been densely woven, and the rivers have become increasingly silent. In the paintings that Deng Zhenling is admired by people, there is a generation of Zhongshan people's spiritual nostalgia.
Qijiang River is the unique carrier of this nostalgia.
Rush into the sea
Today, the Qijiang River has gradually lost its special status in the fields of transportation, commerce, industry and other fields, but it has been carved into the cultural fabric of the city as a cultural symbol.
When the "new living room of the city" of Qijiang New Town rose, Qijianghe, as a cultural coordinate, also embarked on a new journey of cultural tourism.
In 2011, the Waterfront Landscape Project of the Qijiang River, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution as an opportunity, connected the important nodes of the "two sides of the strait" through the "one river", and built the area along the Qijiang River into an ecological urban landscape belt integrating commercial, cultural leisure, entertainment and other functions, forming a new "one cloth with water" scenery.
In 2017, OCT Group signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement with zhongshan municipal people's government to prepare for the Zhongshan Happy Coast project along the Qijiang River. In 2020, OCT Group announced that it will make use of the natural ecological landscape of "two banks of one river" and the natural advantages of the rich water system to combine Zhongshan's unique history and culture of Xiangshan with the waterfront landscape to create a "Xiangshan Bund" in Zhongshan, presenting a unique waterfront experience that embraces historical culture, natural landscape and fashion trends.
"The slanting light of the clouds hangs on the waist of the tree, and looks at the orchid outside the gate of Dengying. The tide of people coming and going has faded, and it is difficult to shake the ancient stone qi. "Historically, the Qijiang River has the reputation of "Shiqi Late Crossing" and "Qijiang Evening Lookout", and there is the prosperity of "Chimneys" and "Hundreds of Boats Competing for The Stream", and now, it is writing a new story of "Zhongshan Bund" and "One Cloth with Water".
Over the past thousand years, Xiangshan Island has gone from the ocean to the mainland, achieving the temperament of "blending rivers and seas" in the Qijiang River, gradually refining and internalizing the spiritual characteristics of the Zhongshan people; after nurturing the agricultural civilization and industrial civilization, as Zhongshan City moves from the river to the ocean, what role will the Qijiang River play?
The Zhongshan people already have the answer in their hearts. Like Deng Zhenling, Zhongshan people have always loved rivers, which are the power of the times that flows in front of people's eyes day after day. In the past, it had thousands of lights on both sides of the strait and the prosperity of industry and commerce, and it was once lined with chimneys and polluted; in the future, the Qijiang River, as a spiritual and cultural causeway, will be transformed, upgraded and reshaped in a higher cultural and ecological vision, and rush into the sea with the hope of a new generation of Zhongshan people.