That day, from the original site of the second steel factory on Huangxing Road, walking north, walking to the corner of Gongjiang Road, I saw a familiar old-fashioned workshop building. I don't know if this building has a name (the house numbers are 601-603 Huangxing Road and 1434-1444 Kongjiang Road), let's call it "Corner Building". It is five stories high, and the floor faces east, southeast and south, and is in the shape of a figure eight. Suddenly, it felt very similar to the Wujiaochang Chaoyang Department Store, which was completed in 1989. No, it should be "sunrise" like it. Although the "Chaoyang" building is nine stories high, it has long been demolished. The corner tower, which is nearly 30 years older than Chaoyang, still stands on The River Control Road today.
Corner tower at the intersection of Huangxing Road, Kongjiang Road
Gongjiang Road, straddling the middle of Yangpu District, was built in 1926. Its road name is not named after a local celebrity, but comes from the Song Dynasty's "Chronicle of the Clouds", "Negative Sea Control River". Compared with the surrounding roads, Gongjiang Road has an ancient rhyme, which is also a bit of a lonely and arrogant, after its completion, in addition to becoming the first "half marathon" turnaround section in 1935, it has been cold and cold. Its sudden "red fire" began in the late 1950s. At that time, Shanghai was building a satellite city on the outskirts of the city, and a new style of workers' living community was popular. This kind of community, which arranges residential houses with shops, schools, hospitals, parks, cultural centers, etc., is collectively called "one street", which is well received by all walks of life. Under the example of "One Street in Minhang" and "One Street in Zhangmiao", "One Street in Controlling the River" came into being. The above corner building is a model of "one street": the upper floor is a residence, and the ground floor is a department store. That shopping mall, the name is "Fengxiang", hardware shoes and hats stationery and daily necessities, everything is available, and customers are full of doors.
Jingnan Middle School and Gongjiang Ercun Primary School were originally located as a bilingual school
In my childhood memories, the three orientations of this corner tower have their own scenery. To the east, after walking through Lane 1200 of Gongjiang Road, you will arrive at Jingyu South Road, where there is a Jingnan Middle School. Chen Sihe recalled in the book "Bleak Years" that in 1967, he was enrolled in Jingnan Middle School, "this school really has no status and influence, and it is also not highly regarded." However, across the wall from Jingnan Middle School, there is a "famous school", The Second Village Primary School of Gongjiang. The kindergarten attached to the elementary school is where I am enlightened. I vaguely remember that every morning, in the radio speaker of Jingnan Middle School, there would be majestic and high-pitched music. Once, in a drawing class in kindergarten, the teacher said in Shanghainese that he would draw "a street in control of the river" today. At this time, I was distracted by the music in the middle school next door, and I didn't understand it, thinking that it was "a spoon for controlling the river". When the teacher unfolded the sample painting, I saw clearly that the "one spice spoon" turned out to be a building! Yes, the corner tower.
The original site of the Kogang Cultural Center is now a budget hotel
To the southeast, it is facing the Kogang Cultural Center. On the "One Street of Controlling the River", it is both a temple and an ark. Movies are placed in the cultural center, and the business is particularly good. On holidays, the ticket window facing north is a golden arch, and as soon as the door opens, a hand holding only a banknote is desperately reaching in. Chen Sihe said he had seen the Soviet film Lenin in 1918 there. And what impressed me deeply was watching the North Korean movie "When Picking Apples". The hero and heroine inside, when they touch it, will shed tears and snot, which makes me unable to understand. In the evening, the square in front of the cultural center is transformed into a "private housing exchange center", and the crowds are crowded and the atmosphere is warm. At that time, there were no real estate agents, and people wanted to change houses, so they spontaneously gathered here to try their luck. The house changer holds a piece of paper in his hand and writes: "20,000 households", the second floor is facing south, 14 square meters, coal guards are common; or: "Shikumen", the guest hall with patio, 25 square meters, there is coal without guard...
Location of the former Xinhua Bookstore
To the south, is a village in Fengnan. At the intersection of Xincun Road, there was originally a ginkgo tree, which was a hundred years old, and its leaves were like umbrella covers, and the three people could not hold it together. This tree was later "moved" into the drama "Family" rehearsed by Shanghai Renyi. In this play, the stage background is "a street", and the storyline takes place under a century-old ginkgo tree. Mr. Hu Wanchun, one of the screenwriters of the play, is a worker writer who came out of the Second Factory of Shanggang and lived in the "One Street of The Control River". According to his description, standing on the balcony of his house, you can see this ancient tree... Unfortunately, I haven't seen it since I can remember. I only remember that on the ground floor of the five-story workshop at the intersection, there was a Xinhua bookstore, which was very small and I often went after school. At the counter, there sat an aunt of a salesman all year round. Her appearance is very similar to the characters in "When Picking Apples", with thin eyebrows and a large face. Maybe it was loneliness, every time she saw me, she shouted: Little fat man, nong is coming? I was probably very similar to her back then. I remember once, I used my pocket money for 2 corners and 9 cents to buy a copy of the Peking Opera comic strip "Wise Tiger Mountain". When she went back a few days later, she told me that the price of the comic strip was set too high, which was not conducive to "popularizing the model play", and the price was changed to 2 corners. The next day, I took the original book to refund, and she quickly stamped on the back cover and refunded me 9 cents. Before leaving the door, she shouted loudly: Little fat man, Nong is rich this time!
This shout, through time and space, is still in the ear. Now, I'm standing next to the original bookstore. Looking up, the inner ring elevated sky, Fengxiang Department Store, Gongjiang Cultural Center, etc., together with small bookstores, disappeared. Only the corner tower, still facing in three directions, silently waiting, affectionate money. It seems to be telling me that "controlling a street in the river" has long been a thing of the past. Today's "Great Yangpu", there are five corners field in the north, and Yangpu Riverside in the south... At this moment, a "blossoming" sentence suddenly surged in my heart: The River Control Road is in my eyes and does not ring. (Zhang Guowei)