During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Nanchong expanded its city along the river, and the streets near the Jialing River were called River Street, of which River Street was divided into Upper River Street, Middle River Street and Lower River Street. On April 18, the reporter found that with the development of the city, although the entire river street has been replaced by Binjiang Avenue, the memory of the river street is still deeply hidden in the hearts of many Nanchong people.
Once River Street, now the third section of Binjiang Middle Road
In the old days, River Street was noisy and bustling
At 7:00 p.m. on April 18, Pu Minggang, a citizen who lived in Kong xuan street in Shunqing District, walked north along Binjiang Avenue to the Baita Jialing River Bridge. Standing on the bridge, he faces the third section of Binjiang Middle Road, and the prosperity of the entire Binjiang Avenue can be seen. At this point, his mind drifted back to decades ago...
"I was born in the 1950s, and compared to now, the banks of the Jialing River were a completely different scene: there was no Binjiang Avenue at that time, and the three sections of Binjiang Middle Road were now called River Street in the past, and River Street was divided into Upper River Street, Middle River Street and Lower River Street, of which Upper River Street was also called 'Sanfeng Street'." Pu Minggang told reporters that Shanghe Street is the current section of the street from the mouth of the model street to the mouth of Xiaodongjie, Zhonghe Street is the street from xiaodongjiekou to dadongjiekou, and Xiahe street is the street from Dadongjiekou to Kongjiejiekou. He is an authentic "Nanchongwa" who grew up eating the water of the Jialing River on the river street. At that time, River Street was connected to Yuwang Street, Waixiao North Street and other streets and alleys; further on, there were Guoshan Street, Great North Street, Model Street and streets such as Changsheng Lane and Shui Alley. From the river street to the riverbank, there are upper and lower passages, and the shops on the shore are connected to the shops and workshops, and the trading is very lively. Along the street, there are also rice markets, vegetable markets, etc., where the people in the city buy and sell new rice and seasonal dishes. Shop workshops, plaques hanging high; various items, a variety of varieties. The people of the city, coming and going here, a school of folk customs paintings.
It is understood that around the 60s of last century, the Jialing River cargo ships come and go, The River Street is on the Side of the Jialing River, many cargo ships will dock on the dock near the River Street, so the River Street gathers a lot of people who are begging for a living on the dock, and also gathers all kinds of vendors, and the sound of shouting and selling every day such as "copying hands", "river prawns" and "pot helmets" is always heard. "Among the many vendors, the most famous is 'Xie Liang Powder', which has something different from grinding and stirring to seasoning and flavoring." Pu Minggang said: According to the older generation, in the late Qing Dynasty, above the sand dunes on the banks of the Jialing River, there were two cold powder sheds: the greenhouse was surnamed Xue, known as "Xue Liang Powder"; and the small shed was the "Xie Liang Powder" created by Xie Tianlu. At that time, the Xue family operated cold spin spindle cold powder; Xie Tianlu family, they operated hot food slice cold powder. Later, after the two sides married and merged their skills, they unified "Xie Liang Powder" into a shared signboard. Why is there a "Sanfeng Street" here?
River Street is divided into Upper River Street, Middle River Street and Lower River Street, why is Upper River Street also called "Sanfeng Street"? It is understood that in the early years of the Hongwu Dynasty of the Ming Dynasty, there was a Beijin Building near the Jialing River in the current Shizixia Street, and the common people called it the Jianglou. The word "over" in the "river tower" mentioned here is not the meaning of the passage, and the river tower is not used as a building to facilitate the passage of the people; the word "over" here is the meaning of "watching", that is to say, when the building was first built, the main purpose was to stand upstairs to watch the scenery of the Jialing River.
According to the "Nanchong County Chronicle", Zhang Sanfeng, a Taoist master, traveled to Nanchong Shunqing and specially climbed the Beijin Tower, and left a poem on the Beijin Tower: "Whoever summoned me to shudi to travel, Beijin Lou won yueyang Lou." Smoke fans and sand banks fishing songs, water around the river city for years to harvest. Thousands of miles of smoke and waves are surging day and night, and the thousand-story white pagoda is floating in ancient and modern times. Zhuang Huai ascended to the place of infinity, and began to know the first continent in the south. From this poem, it can be read that Zhang Sanfeng came to Sichuan to travel, and was attracted by the Beijin Tower, and after climbing the Beijin Tower, he was touched by the beautiful scenery of the Jialing River and the ancient pagoda; the smoke and sand bank, the beautiful scenery of the fishing song in the evening, and believed that the Beijin Tower in Nanchong was better than the Yueyang Tower in Hunan.
In 1921, the Beijin Building was burned down, and the people of Nanchong donated money one after another, and used the proceeds of the funds to build a "Sanfeng Building" in the location of the current Yangjia Lane near the Jialing River; in 1927, the Sanfeng Building was demolished, and in the same year, a new "Jingjiang Building" was built on the original site of the Sanfeng Building, which was a 5-story brick building, the tallest building in the city at that time. Later, through the fundraising of the local people, the "Sanfeng Building" was built near the intersection of the current Xiaodongjie Street at the south end of Shanghe Street, which was now shanghe Street, because the building was on Shanghe Street at that time, so Shanghe Street was also called Sanfeng Street. In 1956, Nanchong suffered a huge flood that washed away the Jingjiang Building; the Sanfeng Building was demolished in 1958, and later, the entire river street was demolished due to urban transformation.
Fushun boat people bring southern Sichuan folk customs
At that time, there were three piers adjacent to River Street, namely Jingjianglou Wharf, Waixiao North Street Wharf and Zhongdukou Wharf. Jingjianglou Wharf is suitable for mooring heavy tonnage ships, and coal transported from Chongqing Beibei Coal Mine is first unloaded and stacked on the coal flat on the beach of Jingjianglou Wharf, and then dispersed to various coal stations in the city for sale. Most of the boats on the Waixiao North Street pier are transporting daily necessities such as rice, grain, melons, fruits and vegetables, so in the division of functions and labor of the wharf, the Waixiao North Street wharf is a distribution place for daily necessities.
At that time, most of the people living on the river street "begged for a living" on the docks and cargo ships, and most of them were engaged in practicing (porters) or boatmen. When Pu Minggang was a teenager, he also worked as a shipwright apprentice on the dock for two years, and he often saw Li Xing carrying goods on the wooden board step by step with a long wooden bar with bare arms, and they roared the trumpet as they walked, and the wooden planks used for passage rose and fell with the sound of the trumpet. "At that time, every household used firewood as fuel for cooking, and the wood merchants bundled the firewood sold together to make a raft, and when they came down from Guangyuan, the raft stopped at the riverside around River Street, dismantled and transferred the raft, and used the 'back shelf' (one of the tools for carrying goods) to carry the firewood into every household." Pu Minggang said that boats came and went, like flowing water, the sound of trumpets came and went, and the area around River Street was a scene of prosperity. The river street is quiet at night, the merchant ships moored on the river side have horse lanterns hanging on their heads, the patches of barmouth forest on the river side sway with the river wind, and the boatmen and boat owners are also relaxed, drinking wine and eating meat, and the sound of guessing fists and orders is also swaying in the wind.
"At that time, in River Street, there was also a very special group, that is, the Torch Society, which specialized in water transportation, shipbuilding, and ship repair, and the Torch Society was in the area of Lower River Street at that time. Most of the torch society's employees are boat people from Zigong Fushun, who transport coal and grain and other supplies. Pu Minggang told reporters that the employees of the Torch Society have lived in Nanchong for a long time, and they have also brought their living habits into Nanchong, such as eating eels, loach, frogs, field snails, etc., bringing a unique southern Sichuan style to the people of the second half of the city. (Nanchong Daily all-media reporter Zhang Hanyu text/photo)