How many streets are there in Chengdu? According to the "Chengdu Streets and Alleys Chronicle", at the end of the Qing Dynasty, there were 438 streets and 113 alleys in ancient Chengdu.
Today, Chengdu's permanent population has exceeded 20 million, more than 4,500 streets, and more than 100 new streets are built every year... Many of the more than 500 ancient streets and alleys have gradually disappeared and forgotten in the torrent of "urban renewal", but there are also many streets and alleys that have re-entered our lives in an unexpected way.
Huaxiba University Road, which has just been upgraded and renovated, is one of them.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="5" > The Huaxi Dam of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon</h1>
If you want to read Chengdu, Huaxi Dam is one of the most unmissable places.
During the Republic of China period, people used "sea" to refer to Shanghai, "on the lake" to refer to Hangzhou, and referring to Chengdu, it was called "Bashang", which is the West China Dam.
Speaking of HuaxiBa, elderly Chengdu people will definitely tell you that it was the first stop for Western culture to spread to western China. For many old Chengdu people, the first time they saw electric lights, phonographs, "foreign horses", cameras, and new things such as going to the ocean and playing foreign balls was in this place.
In 1913, the famous British architectural designer Rong Duyi drew a bird's-eye view of West China Union University
At the same time, Huaxi Dam has always been the land of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
In 1905, the cradle of modern medicine in western China, West China Union University (now West China Medical Center of Sichuan University), was born here, opening the most brilliant and popular era of West China Dam.
Needham, Hemingway, Steinbeck, Federline, and Wen Youzhang have left their figures in Huaxiba. Chen Yinke, Gu Jiegang, Qian Mu, Xu Zhongshu, Meng Wentong, Feng Youlan, Lü Shuxiang, Dong Zuobin, Zhu Guangqian, Zhu Ziqing, Sun Fuyuan, Tong Dizhou, Zhang Hexhui, etc... A large number of domestic celebrities and professors have taught or given lectures on Dam.
Map of West China Union University in 1926
The name of Daxue Road is derived from the establishment of West China Union University. University Road was originally a road in the West China Union University, and as Huaxi Dam became more and more prosperous, this main road gradually developed into a street, and naturally became the first street on Huaxi Dam.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="37" >'s thriving "Lane" in Daxue Road</h1>
The university road is very short, only more than 800 meters, and it can be walked in less than 10 minutes. University Road is very long, in the past hundred years, it has witnessed the vicissitudes of Chengdu, but also under the tide of the times, with the changes of the city, constantly updated and developed.
In the late autumn of 2019, the Leaves of the French Plane Tree on University Road fell in the wind, which also opened the prelude to the organic renewal of Huaxi Dam.
As an important part of the "Nine Squares" in The "Eight Streets, Nine Fangs and Ten Views" of Chengdu, its first opening area is the university section outside the north campus of Sichuan University Huaxi Campus, from Liangshan Hotel in the west to Bayi Building in the east. According to the planning plan, the emergence of this area will organically connect important nodes such as Jinli, Judu, Music Fang, and Wangjiangfang, and build a new travel intention place with "Civilization Street Museum, local new model of creation and open civilization exchange frontier", and build HuaxiBa into a new IP of urban civilization.
Before and after the reconstruction of University Road
It can be seen that the transformation of University Road has taken a lot of thought.
In addition to colorful flowers and lush greenery, the entire block building presents a large area of gray, brick red "Republic of China style" tone. The design of the street extracts many elements of the Huaxi Dam. Whether it is the painting on the wall telling the life of ordinary people in Chengdu in the 1920s, or the "River of Time and Space" that records the history of HuaxiBa at the foot... Both strive to blend in with the West China campus and surrounding residential areas to form a similar temperament.
On the wall hangs a style painting of the life of ordinary people in Chengdu in the 1920s
The "River of Time and Space" Documenting the History of Huaxi Dam
At the same time, many new commercial formats such as bookstores, coffee shops, and art shops have been introduced on both sides of the streets and alleys, making this ancient street not only have the accumulation of traditional culture, but also lose the vitality of youth and modernity.
In the eyes of Deng Changchun, a lover of Huaxiba history and culture, the transformation of Daxue Road has moved the history of Huaxiba from the campus to the street, "People walking on the street, they can touch and understand the history of Huaxiba, which is the biggest significance of the transformation of Daxue Road." ”
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="41" > nowhere to put it</h1>
But there are also those who are not so satisfied with the renovation of University Road.
"I've been in Chengdu for more than 10 years, and the university road before the renovation was one of my favorite roads in the city." Ah Ken, who worked in Chengdu, recalled that although the road surface of old University Road was not smooth, it was very undulating, and every time he passed by, he would imagine himself sitting in an off-road vehicle for a wild adventure; the plane trees on both sides of the street covered the sky, and even on rainy days, they did not need to hold umbrellas, just like being hugged tightly by nature, giving people a lot of security. "I've even been trying to dedicate an article to it. As a result, it dragged on until it was transformed, and it was no longer what I remembered. ”
The remodeled University Road became more lively than in the past, but Ah Ken never went there again, "it was like a secret tunnel that belonged only to himself, and suddenly everyone knew it, and the feeling could never be found again." ”
He also felt the same way as Si Yu, who was studying in West China.
"It's hard to put into words... It feels like the university road is no longer the road of college students, but has become a thorough and thorough internet celebrity road. Si Yu said that in the past, after class, he and his classmates would rush to the north gate to eat casseroles, stilted beef, impostered vegetables, small noodles, Lanzhou ramen... The food on University Road is simply the best consolation after class. After the renovation, almost nothing was left, replaced by expensive and unpalatable Internet celebrity shops.
One of my favorite things to do in the past was to go to University Road to relax, walking under the plane trees in the summer lush foliage on the road covered with shade, the wind can blow the feeling can take away the troubles. "Now don't talk about walking, traffic jams on weekends, Internet celebrities taking pictures blocking the road, walking paths are also full of tables and chairs for businesses, everything has become noisy, but it seems to have nothing to do with me..."
Everyone has a city of their own in their hearts, and each city has its own unique urban texture and development context.
After experiencing a rapid urbanization process, the renewal of Wan "Lane" is leading a new round of urban evolution, and Chengdu is no exception. But just as the birth of all new things is inevitably accompanied by controversy, Chengdu will also encounter some problems in the process of urban renewal: how to protect, how to inherit, and how to reshape?
But fortunately, time will eventually give us all the answers.
We'll see.
Editor: Headlines Chengdu • # Chengdu Eye # Editorial Department (click on the blue character on the left to follow the topic)
*Original Manuscript Please do not reprint