If today's Wanhangdu Road from Changshou Road to Caoyang Road is a somewhat special road, you may think that I am playing a mystery, what will be special about the road?
Ten thousand voyage ferry road view
Yes, this section of Wanhangdu Road, like all roads in Shanghai, except for a slight arc, there is a 966 bus terminal in the west of the road, a Caojiadu Catholic Church, the Blue Waterfront Famous Garden, Changning 88 Center and a few shops along the street, there are no other special buildings and scenery, where can this road be special?
Changning 88 Center
Today's Changshou Road, Changning Road, Wanhangdu Road intersection
Jinwanhangdu Road View (at the entrance of the Azure Waterfront Community)
Jinwanhangdu Road View (Caojiadu Catholic Church)
But slowly, if you look closely, you will find that the street number along the north side of this section of the road is marked "Wanhangdu Road Back Road XX"; The street number along the south side of the road is "Wanhangdu Road XX".
Scene of Wanhangdu Road (Wanhangdu Back Road on the left, Wanhangdu Road on the right)
The street number of the back road of Jinwanhangdu
The street number of Wanhangdu Road
Although the word difference is different, it undoubtedly shows that Wanhangdu Road and Wanhangdu Road are two roads, since they are two roads, why is there no obvious dividing line or spacer in the middle? At the east end of the road, there is a sign of Wanhangdu Road, which seems to indicate that there is only one road here, "Wanhangdu Road". So everything seems a little puzzling, so from this point of view, this section of the Wanhang ferry road is really "special".
Song Ji Restaurant on the back road of Jinwanhang Ferry (now where Huxi Film is located)
Scene of Wanhangdu Road (left is Wanhangdu Back Road)
Caoyang Road Bridge
In fact, as early as 2006, there was a partition between Wanhangdu Road and Wanhangdu Back Road, and the spacer was the old house in the residential area, and it was with the building that the city had a road.
In the past, the junction of Wanhangdu Road and Wanhangduhou Road
Wanhangdu Road is a road from south to north, and from east to west along the south bank of Suzhou River, built in 1864, originally named Jisifeier Road, in 1943 it was renamed Fanhuangdu Road, and in 1964 it was renamed Wanhangdu Road, which is a homonym of "Fanhuangdu Road".
The southern end of Wanhangdu Road became prosperous as early as the concession period because it was close to the Huashan intersection of Nanjing West Road, and the famous "Paramount Ballroom" was its "landmark".
After that, Wanhangdu Road expanded all the way to the north, crossing Changning District from the starting point of Jing'an District to the triangle of Changning Road, with a total length of about 4831 meters. Just after Wanhangdu Road crossed Changshou Road, Suzhou Creek (formerly known as Wusong River) shifted northward, thus forming a larger "basin" here.
There was originally a dirt road along the south bank of Suzhou Creek, commonly known as Wusong River Bank Road. In 1920, the dirt road was renovated, and because the two ends of the road were connected to Jisifeier Road (Wanhangdu Road) in an arc, it was called Jisifeier Back Road. Later, with the name change of Jisifeier Road, it was successively called Fanhuangduhou Road and Wanhangduhou Road.
Wanhang Duhou Road sign
On the north side of the west section of Wanhang Duhou Road, on the Suzhou River, the original ferry port was called Caojiadu. Since 1900, the two sides of the strait have formed the Caojiadu Market, and Wanhangdu Road has become one of the passages of the market that year.
Map of the surrounding area of Wanhangdu Road and Wanhangduhou Road in 1948
The east exit of the road is one of the corners of the commercial center Caojiadu Wujiaochang, where the shops along the street are adjacent and the market is prosperous, once known as "Shanghai's West Little Shanghai". Bus No. 13, 54, 94, 316, 319 and other buses pass by, and the traffic is like a dragon all day.
1948 map around Wanhangdu Road and Wanhangduhou Road
Huxi Cinema is located on the north side of the east end, along the north side of the road there are Shanghai silk spinning factory, Shanghai inland shipping bureau aviation administration office, etc., as well as Fusenli, Lao Gongweili, Huaxingli, Xiudri. On the south side of the road, there are Lichengli, Ningkangli and the original wool workshop of Shanghai First Woolen Factory (the former site of Lida Flour Mill). Further back, there are also Sanguan Hall, Jiangnan Rice Mill, Caoyi Primary School, Hongfeng Flour Mill, Hongfeng Warehouse and so on.
It can be said that this section of Wanhangdu Road and Wanhangdu Back Road are two roads full of urban civilian fireworks. In the feature film "Under the Bridge" shot by Shanghai Film Studio in 1984, the heroine Qin Nan lived here. Nowadays, people can still vaguely see the style of the road after the Wanhang ferry road in the past from the few shots at the beginning of the film.
One of the shots of the movie "Under the Bridge": Under the bridge is the road scene after Wanhang Du
In fact, Wanhang Duhou Road originally had a "special" place, that is, it was the "boundary road" between Putuo District and Changning District, so the north of the road was under the jurisdiction of Putuo District, and the south of the road was under the jurisdiction of Changning District, and there were "two governance" all the way.
Map of the vicinity of Wanhang Duhou Road in 2006 (the dotted line is the dividing line between Putuo and Changning)
After 2006, with the major renovation of Caojiadu Commercial Center, the old houses that were originally separated between Wanhangdu Road and Wanhangdu Back Road were all demolished, and Wanhangdu Road and Wanhangduhou Road were integrated into a wide and short arc-shaped road.
Wanhang Du Road View (Right is the Road View after Wanhang Du)
Wanhang ferry road scene (actually the road scene after Wanhang Du)
Wanhang Du Road View (Right is the Road View after Wanhang Du)
Wanhang Du Road View (Right is the Road View after Wanhang Du)
But the north of the road still belongs to Putuo District, the south of the road belongs to Changning District, or perhaps to preserve history, although the architectural styles on both sides have long been turned upside down, but the respective house numbers have not changed, and the road names on the house numbers have not changed.
The street number of the back road of Jinwanhangdu
The street number of the back road of Jinwanhangdu
Today, Wanhangdu Road retains the south side, Wanhangdu Road retains the north side, and half of the two roads remain, but because the "wall" in the middle has been removed, it is actually a road, so the map after 2012 only has the sign of "Wanhangdu Road", and the intersection only has the street sign "Wanhangdu Road".
Map of the area around Jinwanhangdu Road
But this is actually a contradiction, the big street sign is "Wanhangdu Road", but the small door number is "Wanhangdu Back Road", which will cause a certain sense of distress to people who are not familiar with the road conditions here or outsiders.
When someone wants to find "Wanhangdu Road Hou XX", he must first look for Wanhangdu Back Road, and when wandering around Changning Road and Changshou Road, he can't find Wanhangdu Back Road, and many maps have disappeared from the signs of Wanhangdu Back Road. But if you don't pay attention, you will find that "Wanhang Duhou Road XX" is on a certain street sign behind you.
Jinwanhang Duhou Road Street sign (now Huxi Cinema)
This situation may be unique on other roads in Shanghai, right? Maybe it will change in the future, but the reality today is that the street sign of Wanhangdu Road is gone, but the house number of the original Wanhangdu Road is still retained, which will bring cognitive "confusion" to people, so it is not "over" to say that this section of Wanhangdu Road is a "special" road.