An "old street wind" blew all over Wuxi
Whether it is Nanfangquan Old Street full of fireworks, Dayao Road Old Street with a sense of story, or Dongting Old Street where you can taste food along the way, they all show the unique charm and historical heritage of Wuxi
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Another old street in Wuxi, want to be on fire!
With me, take a walk in the old streets of Wuxi~
This old street is suddenly on fire!
Today, Xiaobu recommends an old street for you - Dongting Old Street
Wuxi Dongting, a thousand-year-old town, is known as the "giant town of the southeast township".
From "Gou Wu" to Longting, and then from Longting to Dongting, this land has been Zhong Lingyuxiu since ancient times, and there are many talents, the famous poet Li Shen in the Tang Dynasty, the bachelor Hua Cha of the Hanlin Academy during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, and the famous modern folk musician Hua Yanjun and other celebrities are all from this.
The local area also has the remains of historic sites such as the Bachelor's Workshop, Zijingguan, and Yingfu Bridge, and the thousand-year-old accumulation has created a strong cultural heritage and pride in Dongting.
The picture shows Ming Wah Bachelor's Workshop
Until today, there is a road in Dongting called "Bachelor's Road", which is what we often call "Dongting Old Street".
This old street is a wordless recorder of the life of several generations of Wuxi people, and all traces are deeply engraved in the bricks and tiles of the old street, so that people who love the old seem to return to the past every time they think of it.
In the past, most of the transportation in Jiangnan relied on waterways. The prosperity of Dongting Old Street also started from the Yingxiang Bridge (commonly known as Daxi Bridge) on Dongting Port and the Yingfu Bridge (commonly known as Dadong Bridge) on the tributary of Dongting Port.
Yingfu Bridge, according to legend, was first built by Huacha after retiring to his hometown with family wealth, and later due to the convenience of waterways, the population gathered, and gradually formed a prosperous market and village on both sides of the bridge.
In the early days of the Republic of China, this place was once one of the main gathering places of Wuxi East silkworm seed industry. According to the old man's recollection, in the old days, when it was the season of picking cocoons, farmers from ten miles and eight townships would pick up the cocoons to the purchase station by the Yingfu Bridge designated by the commune to sell silkworm cocoons.
The wall of the small building next to Yingfu Bridge is still printed with the words "Dongxing Silkworm Seed Manufacturing Field".
Historical materials also have relevant records: around 1949, Dongting to the southwest corner of the former residence of the West Bridge as the center, according to the water and build a market, the east pavilion port river north for the north street, to the south for the south of the house, ancestral hall Bang north and south of the river respectively West Street and Heng Street, East Street stands on the north bank of the moat river.
Excerpted from "Dongting Town Chronicles", 2003
Later, in the urban construction of the 70s and 80s, the ancestral hall and moat were filled, and the original Hengjie, West Street, and East Street were built into today's Bachelor's Road.
Nowadays, in the eyes of Wuxi people, Dongting Old Street in the real sense is the shops along both sides of Bachelor's Road.
This street, which occupies the most core area of the Dongting plate, has a very good geographical location, close to the subway station, and extends in all directions. There are all kinds of lively small shops here - pharmacies, hairdressers, lottery shops, copy shops, clothing stores......
People always like to look for the old flavors that have disappeared for a long time on this old street......
Agui wonton, which has been operating hard for decades, is the most eye-catching snack sign on this street and the legend of Wuxi's grassroots cuisine. The skin is thin, the meat is thick, the taste is delicious, a mouthful of wontons and a mouthful of soup, between the lips and teeth, it lasts for a long time. Whenever people get here, they always have to go around to satisfy their hunger.
Qingqing cake dumplings are opened next to Agui roasted wheat, and dozens of dumpling fillings are placed at the door, and business is booming. The owner, Xiao Li, is in his thirties, and when he was young, he worked in a well-known pastry shop in Yangshan, so the pastry dumplings here are authentic Yangshan old tastes, and many old customers have accumulated over the years.
Ah Mei soup dumplings, the main soup dumplings, as well as wontons, sweet wine stuffing, zongzi, rice wine and other snacks, all of which are made by the proprietress every day, this is 20 years.
Mr. Jiu's roast duck is also a well-known old restaurant in the old street. Because he has been making roast duck for too many years and has sliced countless ducks, the boss is familiar with every part of the duck.
There are also old shops that have been operating on the street for many years, lo-mei, chicken flatbread, egg cakes...... Everywhere is filled with the fragrance of worrying about the stomach, and the taste hidden in the memory captures the stomach and heart of Wuxi people at any time.
Today's Dongting Old Street, the flashiness of thousands of years has been precipitated, and the fireworks in life linger calmly in the streets and alleys, and the old and new are a different kind of beauty.
In order to restore the prosperity of Dongting's water town, at the beginning of 2022, the "Blue Bay 1917 Cultural Tourism Block" project reshaped a new "Dongting Old Street" on the west bank of Yingfu Bridge.
Entering, it is a prosperous neighborhood where the flow of people and thousands of merchants gathers, and retreating, it has become a homely, warm and ordinary fireworks in the market.
A street, years of history, memories of generations. After the baptism of time, many stories have happened here.
public transport
Metro: Take Line 2 and get off at Zhuangqiao Station, walk about 500 meters to Dongting Old Street;
Bus: There are many bus stops around Dongting Old Street, Dongting Old Street Station, Jinfu Nanyuan Station, Zhuangqiao Station, Bachelor Road (Xinguang Road) Station, Dongting (Cuizhuyuan) Station, etc., there are many lines, 6 Road, 106 Road, 713 Road, 715 Road, 788 Road, etc.
Do you have an unforgettable "old street" in your heart? Leave your story with the old street in the comment area
Source: Wuxi Bobao, Xishan Release, Xishan Archives, Wuxi Bobao Life
Editor: Wuxi Publishing Studio