In Xi'an City, streets and alleys named after "so-and-so city" such as Xiyang City, Dongyang City, and Luoma City are basically the designated trading markets that were standardized in the past, and everyone who goes to Xi'an City to buy things will go straight to the corresponding markets.
West of South Main Street and east of South Guangji Street, there is a not-so-wide north-south street called Zhuzhen City. It was renamed Revolution Street in 1966 and restored to its original name in 1972.
The north entrance of Zhufang City opens on West Street, facing the Gulou Gate, one of Xi'an's landmark buildings, and through the Gulou Gate Is the most prosperous and famous street in Xi'an - Huimin Street (North Courtyard Gate).
Above: Xi'an Drum Tower
The south entrance of Zhuzhen City is the powder alley leading to South Street to the east, the South Courtyard Gate Street to the south Guangji Street and Wuwei Shizi to the west, and it can also be said that the south is from the South Courtyard Gate to the north to the West Street.
One street in the middle of the street, south to the east, is West Wood City. To the north of West Wood City is the Bell Tower Community all the way to West Main Street. It's big inside, and in addition to the many residential buildings, there are many cheap and affordable small shops.
On the west side of the road, there is a street to the west that is Mafangmen
When it comes to Bamboo Fence City, we must first tell you what bamboo fence is.
Bamboo fence (piece) is a bamboo fence made of adult moso bamboo or nan bamboo split into two or three centimeters wide bamboo pieces, which were generally used as scaffolding boards or simple temporary partition walls in the past.
The biggest advantage of bamboo fence is that the material source is wide, the weight is light, the price is low, the assembly and disassembly are simple, and the disadvantage is that the spacing of the support rod frame required is dense and the strength is poor.
Many of the non-load-bearing walls in xi'an built in the 1950s and 1960s were first made of pine wood to make a dragon skeleton, and then nailed bamboo fences on both sides of the keel skeleton, and finally used mud or ash to make partition walls to reduce weight and reduce costs.
Like the adjacent East and West Wood Markets, Bamboo Fence City was originally a monopoly market formed by merchants selling bamboo products such as bamboo fences.
With a total length of 417 meters and a width of 13.5 meters from north to south, Zhuyu City is a small street. However, its age is not small, in the Tang Dynasty, the location of Zhuzhen City was the official selection of the east side of Chengtianmen Avenue on the central axis of Chang'an Imperial City, which is equivalent to the current Central Organization Department. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Zhaozong was taken hostage by Zhu Wen and moved to the capital Luoyang, and it was only after the residents gradually formed here that the residential alleys were gradually formed.
In the Ming Dynasty, after the expansion of Xi'an City to the east and north, before the Bell Tower was moved to the east, the north and south streets of the Drum Tower were the most important north and south streets in Xi'an. Bamboo fence city, which is famous for selling bamboo products such as bamboo fences, was probably formed during the Ming Dynasty. According to historical records, in addition to the earliest bamboo fence city, there are also porcelain city and whip city, of which the bamboo fence city is the largest and most famous, so people call this street bamboo fence city.
Above: One of the few bamboo shops on the streets of Takeshi City taken on March 1, 2021
In the Qing Dynasty, the north and south of the Drum Tower were distributed in shaanxi and even the northwest region of the two highest military and political institutions, the south and the north, especially after the Eight-Nation Alliance entered Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi fled with the emperor and the Manchu Dynasty Wenwu Xi hunt to Xi'an, which was initially in the south courtyard of the Nanyuanmen Street in the west of Zhuzhen City, the Shaanxi-Gansu Governor's Palace, at that time there was only one south gate on the southern wall of Xi'an City to enter and exit the city, and the officials of the South Courtyard Gate went to the North Courtyard Gate in the north and the mancheng from Zhuyuan City.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Xi'an was designated as the capital of the Republic of China and renamed Xijing, and the Xijing Preparatory Committee had been using the standards of the capital to transform Xi'an City at that time. Because it is close to the most prosperous street, the south courtyard gate and the east-west main road - West Street, Zhuyu City has become the most important downtown in the core area of the city at that time, and has been inherited until after the founding of the People's Republic of China.
From the Ming Dynasty to the founding of the People's Republic of China, Zhuzhen City slowly developed into a bustling commercial street with very concentrated shops and markets in Xi'an. The high-gated households on both sides of the street are next to each other, which can be described as either rich or expensive, and ordinary people can only be afraid.
In addition to the bamboo products shops, there are several well-known long-established brands in Xi'an. Turning south from West Avenue into Zhuzhen City, you can see the "Darentang Chinese Medicine Store" on the east side of the street, followed by the "Afanggong Art Cinema" and the "Fan Ji Bacon Meat" at the intersection of Mafangmen.
Speaking of Zhufang City, most old Xi'an people still remember the east of Beikou Road in Zhuzhi City, in 1932 Mr. Zhou Boxun created the Afang Palace Grand Theater, which is one of the oldest cinemas in Xi'an, the earliest screening is a silent film, equipped with a phonograph, the old Xi'an people generally call it the Afanggong Cinema. By the 1990s, as the earliest regular cinema built in Xi'an, the Afang Palace Cinema was still famous. In the memory of some old residents, as long as there is a good movie or a new movie released, it is always full, and if you want to enter the Afang Palace Cinema, you often need to "entrust people" to buy tickets.
Fan Ji bacon, a long-established Xi'an restaurant in the east of the north section of Zhugu City, is one of the most representative Xi'an specialties and is now one of the most famous and influential shops on this street. Coupled with the history of the South Courtyard Gate before, Fan Ji is almost a century-old brand in Xi'an.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Zhuyu City was very prosperous, and people outside the city had to come to Zhuyu City to buy daily necessities such as brooms and dustpans. Nowadays, time has changed, and there are only three or four shops on the entire street that still sell bamboo products, and there are very few links between the bamboo market and the bamboo products business. In the 1980s, there were stalls selling bamboo products everywhere on both sides of the road, and later after the city's urban appearance was improved, the street vendors moved into the storefront, and the city environment was better, but the business was far worse than before.
Above: Bamboo products in bamboo shops in Zhuyu City Taken on March 1, 2021
As a once unique commercial street, there are not many old streets in Xi'an That can continue the commercial tradition of bamboo ware from the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and the Republic of China to the old streets in Xi'an City.
Many of the residents of Takeshi City are business people who have been dealing with bamboo utensils for generations. Listen to the memories of some elderly people nearby: Before liberation, the bamboo craftsmen on the street of Bamboo Fence City had to pay tribute to the gods and put up a stage to perform on the twenty-third day of the first month. It used to be easy to put down roots here, or to be an apprentice, a worker, or to run a small business to support your family.
Boss Wu, who is still opening a shop in Zhujing City, has been doing bamboo products business for four generations in Zhujing City, and he took over the shop from his uncle in his 20s, selling some bamboo products and starting to process it himself.
What surprises me is that the Spring Festival has not yet passed, in the bamboo fence city of a bamboo products shop at the door I also saw a bundle of thin bamboo poles, familiar with Xi'an folklore people must know that during the Spring Festival bamboo poles, sugar cane are the uncle's family to send lamps to the nephew when the most common things, bamboo fence city there are merchants are still willing to do this kind of non-profit business, it can also be seen that the owner of this shop is a businessman who is keen on traditional folklore, knowing that it is not profitable to insist on doing.
Unfortunately, after the twentieth century, with the improvement of the level of social economy and world architecture and industrialization, bamboo fences have gradually been replaced by bamboo frame plates, steel frame plates, iron bamboo fences, etc., and other bamboo products have also been replaced by various industrialized products, with fewer and fewer customers, bamboo fence city has slowly declined, many people have no choice but to change their careers, it can be said that the current bamboo fence city is no longer the veritable "bamboo fence city".
Takeshi city is once again remembered because after the introduction of multi-member lanes on the eastbound motorway of West Avenue in a certain year, less than three people on the bus had to pass south from Takeshi City and then go east around the bell tower. Now that sign is still hanging on the West Street Zhuba City North Exit, passing vehicles less than three members must pay attention to the detour from Zhuyu City, must not drive directly to the east, even if you want to go to the Bell Tower! Lest the police uncle salute you!
Well, about The City of Bamboo Fence, I will say here, what else do you know about the history and current situation of Bamboo Fence City, welcome to leave a message in the comment area and share it with more people.
I am Huang Kun, a native of Xi'an, "Huang Kun Says Xi'an" is about my personal understanding and understanding of Xi'an, as a Xi'an person born in Xi'an, I plan to take "Huang Kun Says Xi'an" as the theme, through video and graphics to introduce the history of Culture and people's lives in all aspects of Xi'an, hoping to let more people understand Xi'an through their own efforts, more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of Xi'an!
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