Guangzhou Street (9 endings) always roams between history and the future.

Figure/text: The earth leans on the river.

Streets belong to history and the future. How short the "street now" is, we often haven't had time to watch it carefully, and those street views have become history. Guangzhou Street is like this-as a historical street, every corner here has a historical imprint, and as a future street, every landscape here is a metaphor for unknown changes.

Being in the streets and alleys of this southern city, we are destined to capture and feel the present between history and the future, and always wander in every moment.

In ancient Guangzhou, most streets meandered naturally along the terrain, and they were always not too wide. The layout is also characterized by changes and irregularities according to local conditions. Except for a few official roads and bustling commercial streets, the rest are usually narrow. Streets are a vibrant part of the city. At first, the traffic in this city depended more on the dense waterway network. Later, with the increase of horses and wheeled vehicles, artificial streets appeared one after another. Streets develop with the development of the city.

During the decades from the first year of Kaiyuan in Tang Dynasty to the first year of Xing Dynasty, Guangzhou authorities renovated and repaired the urban area many times, vigorously promoted brick houses in ordinary houses, and at the same time transformed the square city and widened the streets. Today, Zhongshan Road and Beijing Road are the main streets in the east-west direction and the north-south direction respectively. At this time, the store has begun to take shape. There is also a "dining room" near Jinguangta Road in the west of the city where foreign businessmen live.

In the Song Dynasty, Guangzhou continued the practice that began in the Tang Dynasty, and more actively encouraged citizens to burn bricks and make tiles. Brick and tile building materials are widely used in ordinary houses, brick and tile houses are widely promoted, and urban buildings and streets have taken on a new look. In the walls of the three cities of China and the West, and the city of Wild Goose Wings in the East and West, you can see scattered brick houses, wooden structures and even bamboo buildings along the slightly curved and narrow streets, which were common street scenes at that time.

Most buildings along the street are very low. However, in downtown areas and neighborhoods near city gates, there are more and more buildings with different shapes and huge volumes. On the basis of the original Lou Hai in the Tang Dynasty, the Shuangmen Gongbei Building, the Haishan Building where the city's shipping company is located, and the Liurong Tower rebuilt in the Northern Song Dynasty have a large number of pavilions and pavilions, which are isomorphic with the Yuewangtai, Yuehua Tower and Huaishengguang Tower preserved in previous dynasties, forming the streets and urban skyline of ancient Guangzhou. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Guangzhou's urban areas were constantly expanding, the city walls spanned Yuexiu Mountain, and the streets were constantly evolving. During the period from Kangxi to Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty, the blocks around the west of the city were further developed, and netted streets were built. The "xiguan big house" with the characteristics of the late Qing Dynasty gradually formed along the street, which became a unique street view in the west of the city.

Streets effectively expand the city's ability to gather material resources, so there is always a conventional product of urban life, that is, the market. In Song Dynasty, Guangzhou had two inner ports: East Australia and Western Australia. Dong 'ao, located in Haohao, Imashimizu, is a salt transshipment terminal in Guangzhou, and Western Australia, located near Nanhao Street, is a foreign trade terminal. Both places have prosperous trade and busy streets. Large markets such as rice market, flower market, tea market, fish market, fruit bar, vegetable bar and oil bar appeared one after another along and near the streets in Ming Dynasty. Adjacent to Pan Hao Street, which is rich in jade belts, the south of the city has developed into a trading place for exotic groceries at home and abroad, and is known as the "department store". It can be seen from the evolution of urban areas that many markets are always closely related to streets like other elements of the city.

Another factor, that is, the temple, a sacred place for citizens to perform sacrificial ceremonies, is also closely related to the street. In a sense, cities and streets all start from these permanent holy places. The formation of streets is not only for traffic, but also for trading, and also for the surrounding residents to gather to worship and place their gods. The religious life in Guangzhou has a long history. There are five jungles such as Guangxiao Temple, Liu Rong Temple, Haimin Temple, Hualin Temple and Big Buddha Temple, as well as a large number of large and small temples such as Wuxian Temple, City God Temple and Sanyuan Palace all over the city and along the street.

The relatively narrow road paved with masonry, as well as the compact houses, markets, temples and pavilions on both sides, also constitute the evolving landscape structure characteristics of Guangzhou ancient street.

With the advent of the global historical era, Guangzhou has begun the process of urban modernization, and urban streets have also begun the modern evolution. At the beginning, the urban trunk lines commonly known as roads were mostly 13- 16 meters wide. The construction of these modern streets began in the 1980s at 19. 1886 When Zhang Zhidong built Tianzi Wharf, a road about 1.5 km long was built nearby, which became the beginning of modern streets in Guangzhou. ①

At the beginning of the 20th century, when the Pearl River levee from Donghaokou to Shamian was built, a new street with a length of nearly 1000 m and a width of 16 m was built along the levee, including three sections: East dike, South dike and West dike. This street along the river has a wide road surface and sets standards. Later, the width of 13- 15 meters was built, namely, Dongdi No.2 Road, Nandi No.2 Road and Xidi No.2 Road.

19 18 Guangzhou demolished the city walls and gates, and built new streets with the length of 10 km and the width of 25-33 meters, such as Taiping Road, Fengning Road (now Renmin Road), Yuexiu Road, Wanfu Road, Taikang Road and Dexuan Road. This first large-scale municipal construction project in Guangzhou moved more than 4,000 shops in a short time, which opened the climax of modern Guangzhou New Street construction. Baiyun Road, a tree-lined avenue with asphalt pavement, was built in 1925 with a pavement width of 50 meters, which became a model of the street at that time. By 1928, the city has added 62.6 kilometers of streets. After that, we will continue to promote planning and construction, focusing on urban life and commercial development, taking into account the traffic in suburbs and industrial areas and the access roads in and out of the city. The layout is roughly checkerboard-shaped.

In 1930s, Chen was in charge of Guangdong and Guangzhou, and the municipal construction was further accelerated, and all the urban main roads were updated into modern streets. 1932, the draft "Guangzhou Urban Design Outline" unified the standards of urban streets, stipulating that the administrative trunk roads are 30 meters wide and the residential and industrial trunk roads are 25-30 meters wide. During this period, 24 streets including West Lake Road were built, and thousands of inner streets in the city were also sorted out. 1936 The total length of new streets in the city reached 138.8km, reaching 1949? 228 kilometers, the speed and scale of Guangzhou's modern street construction was in the forefront of China's major cities at that time. Importantly, these streets and their networks constitute the basic urban framework of modern Guangzhou, and are important material and visual symbols of Guangzhou's urban modernization.

Contemporary urban construction in Guangzhou has greatly changed the street conditions in Guangzhou. 1949 After the liberation of Guangzhou, Haizhu Bridge District, Xidi District and Huangsha District were rapidly rebuilt. With the recovery of urban economy, Guangzhou has gradually formed an overall development layout including the central area and the peripheral area, in which road construction has become the focus of urban construction and developed rapidly. At this time, the streets of Guangzhou have both traditional colors and modern characteristics.

Especially after the reform and opening-up, on the basis of the rapid expansion of the original streets and cities in the urban area, Guangzhou streets have entered a period of modernization and rapid expansion, and a number of standard and spectacular main streets, such as Guangzhou Avenue, Tianhe Road, Huangpu Avenue, Tiyu East Road, Tiyu West Road, Kang Wang Road, Zhanqian Road and Zhannan Road, have been newly opened, as well as many huge street networks such as Wuyang New Town, Zhujiang New Town, University Town, Baiyun New Town and Asian Games Town. At the same time, Dongfeng Road, Jiefang Road, Zhongshan Road, Xingang Road, Wushan Road, Jiangnan Avenue and other important sections have been widened and reconstructed, and the physical facilities of these streets have been completely updated.

In 2005, the total length of roads in Guangzhou exceeded 5100km, which was 22.3 times higher than that of 228km in 1949. An unprecedented modern street system has emerged. What's important is that after decades of development, Guangzhou streets have entered the three-dimensional era from the traditional planar "road era", with the organic combination of footbridges, elevated roads, expressways, rail transit and BRT expressways. It constitutes a new landscape of urban streets in this period.

In fact, when Guangzhou's urban streets entered the modernization period, the urban streets in western countries also experienced rich and complex evolution, and formed an equally rich, complex and quite mature street paradigm. Interestingly, at that time, shops and houses along the street with public colonnades appeared one after another in Guangzhou, closely arranged into arcades with corridors. This arcade only echoes the arcade street that was widely used when Rome standardized its street standards more than 2,000 years ago.

It is believed that the design and technology of modern urban streets originated from the street standards and pavement law in ancient Rome. These written laws, which can be traced back to BC 100 years ago, stipulated that the minimum width of streets in ancient Rome was 4.5 meters. There were no rules in the street before, and the houses on both sides were short and small. Later, those towering cylindrical houses appeared in large numbers, arranged in dense rows like arcades in ancient Greece. Ancient Rome confirmed this style and stipulated that the maximum height of these buildings along the street should not exceed 20 meters and should not exceed 6 floors. According to the standard, the streets of ancient Rome were paved with basalt slabs. On both sides of the street are paved sidewalks, usually made of stone. The width of the sidewalks on both sides is about half the width of the street. This ancient Roman city street with elevated sidewalks is the historical prototype of modern city streets.

In the course of urban street design and planning, urban scholars Kerr Southworth and Ivan Ben-Joseph co-authored The Formation of Streets and Towns, lewis mumford's History of Urban Development and Cliff Mountford Ding's Streets and Squares. There are detailed and in-depth discussions. With comprehensive reference to these discourses, we can briefly outline the development and evolution of a world city street.

After the disintegration of the Roman Empire, many ancient Roman cities declined, and the situation of urban streets deteriorated day by day. In cities including Rome, Bologna, Naples and Paris, street space is occupied by private buildings and roads are in chaos. At this time, the growing strength of the merchant class showed its strength and demanded to improve street traffic.

/kloc-During the Renaissance in the 3rd century, European urban planning experts such as Alberti and Palladio once again emphasized the perfect street layout, which aroused people's attention to urban street construction. Although Alberti praised the wide and straight streets for making the city more magnificent, he strongly praised the winding streets. In medieval European cities, streets were usually not wide and slightly curved, with sharp turns and gentle slopes along the terrain. At that time, the street was mainly the traffic line and daily activity space for pedestrians, and the traffic of vehicles was secondary. Narrow streets can make outdoor activities more comfortable in winter, while in the south, people can be protected from the sun and rain.

Albert wrote a thorough defense for this winding street, thinking that the street is still winding like a river, which will make the city more remarkable, with safe, intimate and potential aesthetic functions, both pleasant and healthy. Later, many urban historians believed that there was nothing more fair than these evaluations in the analysis of medieval urban streets. Palladio, on the other hand, appreciates the streets with colonnades on both sides, thinking that such streets can not only let residents concentrate on what they want to do, but also be free from the interference of weather changes, which conforms to the principle of beauty.

At this time, those straight streets with pure geometric shapes are also quite attractive. Among them, Loire Street in Genoa, Italy, which was built in the fifties and seventies of 16, is magnificent and immortal. This street in the early Renaissance is lined with magnificent mansions with different styles but arranged at the same distance on both sides of the paved street about 8 meters wide. Piorgio Vasari, a Florentine, thinks this is the most magnificent street in Italy, and the famous Uffizi Street he designed and built is very similar to it.

Later, on the basis of Roman streets, the French introduced relatively light and solid street standards; The British paved the streets low and flat, and the sidewalks were separated by kerbs and raised relatively, so they were called "modern" streets. /kloc-during the 0/7th century, Americans also began to standardize the pavement of urban streets. There are also picturesque suburban streets, straight and orderly streets with no interest, and streets with a sense of freedom to return to the Middle Ages.

The arrival of the motor vehicle era has accelerated the profound evolution of urban streets, although many people once held an exclusive attitude towards this revolutionary means of transportation, and then gradually accepted it. With the appearance of automobiles in cities, European and American countries have launched comprehensive street planning, trying to shape more standardized and standardized technical urban streets that adapt to the era of motor vehicles and have perfect spatial order.

Cities all over the world are expanding rapidly, especially London, Paris and new york. In those huge cities, the streets are wider, not only with magnificent new buildings, coffee shops, office areas, hotels and department stores, but also with Parisian avant-garde buildings and new york-style skyscrapers. At the same time, Paris-style boulevard or Vienna-style greenway around the city appeared, with trees planted on both sides or in the middle. After that, a large number of new street forms such as overhead roads flying in the air, huge overpasses and multi-lane expressways appeared.

Among them, there are both criss-crossing linear grid street patterns popular in the early 20 th century; There are also American urban planners Stan and Wright's Landborn urban street based on the concept of British garden city-a quiet residential street model that breaks through the restrictions of grid streets and is connected with green space; There are also elevated streets in a park-like environment, which were designed by British urban planner le corbusier according to American grid cities.

Since 1970s, the concept of enjoying the street has promoted a new revolution in the street design of residential areas, which initially produced the Houlle street model designed and built by Dutchman De Bohr. (4) This model unifies traffic and residential activities in the same space, and its design feature is that streets are regarded as residential public spaces, and traffic is not encouraged to be unimpeded; Pedestrians and cars enjoy the road, but pedestrians have priority and can walk around the street for entertainment; There is no strict distinction between roadway and sidewalk; Vehicle speed and driving are limited by natural obstacles and curvature. Houlle's idea soon became the basis for the implementation of street sharing in Europe, Japan, Israel and other countries, and formed a "joint street system" which has a continuous leading influence in street construction in various countries.

In the United States, the concept of excellent streets has gradually changed. In the past, the development of wide streets, urban expressways and parking lots consumed a lot of land and objectively formed a large number of idle street spaces. Since the 1990s, many cities have launched the "Street Slimming Plan", which has greatly reduced the width of streets and promoted the moderate narrowness of streets.

……

The evolution of cities and urban streets has a long history, rich and complex. Every historical era has a corresponding city, and streets record the history of the city in a material way. Every street is not only a product of history, but also a carrier of history. History keeps accumulating in the streets, leaving the mark of different times. Even after a long period of time, these traces will still remain and appear in some way, whether it is a building, a street stone, the shape, structure, scale, atmosphere of the street, or even some imperceptible traces of time. History is deeply dissolved in the street, and the winding street is a solidified river of history.

We walk on the streets of the city, just like wandering in the long river of history that has passed quietly. Often inadvertently in a corner, corner or eaves, suddenly read about the history and past lives of the city, and realize the sense of historical solidification and existence of the street. This is an extremely important feeling that the street gives us.

In Guangzhou, not to mention the famous streets, just an ordinary street is enough to make people feel the existence of a long history. Liu Rong Road, for example, goes south along the road. In the dense residential buildings on both sides, you can first see the Liu Rong Flower Pagoda, which was built in the third year of Liang Datong in the Southern Dynasty (AD 537) and rebuilt in the first year of Yuan You in the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 1086). This 57-meter-high tower, together with the whole ancient temple in Liu Rong named after the inscription of Wang Bo, a poet in the early Tang Dynasty, is elegant and solemn, which makes people feel as if they had returned to the Tang and Song Dynasties. Further south, the west side of the street is the old Nanhai County community where Nanhai County was located in Ming and Qing Dynasties. There are a large number of Nanyang-style overseas Chinese buildings and the former site of Ta Kung Pao newspaper, which were built in the 1920s and 1930s. On the east side is the administrative office of the prefect's office in the mid-Ming Dynasty, and it is also the seat of the Guangzhou General's office that commanded the soldiers stationed in Guangdong during the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. Now, a red general office gate has been rebuilt here. In the south near Jiangjun West Road, contiguous buildings with obvious western style mark modern urban communities.

Similarly, entering from the left bank of the Seine River in Paris and strolling along St. Michel Street is like a historical journey. You can see the remains of ancient Rome on the east side of the street. The Gaul-Rome Bath, built in the 3rd century AD, is located in Clooney Museum, which contains a large collection of medieval artworks. This museum, originally a medieval residence, was built between 1480 and 15 10. In particular, the mound of Saint Genevieve, named after the patron saint of Paris, always reminds people of the city during the Roman occupation; The nearby Clovis Road is reminiscent of the historical glory of French King Clovis who defeated the Romans to establish France. Nearby are the world-famous Sorbonne University, built in 1253, and the Pantheon, built in 1764, for Voltaire, Rousseau, Hugo and other great men to sleep in. On the west side of the street, there is the Luxembourg Garden built in the17th century, from which you can walk to the magnificent Luxemburg Palace. St. Michel Street is considered as a commercial street, but the inherent attributes of the street as a historical carrier have not changed. It has always been condensed with historical trends, showing a traceable historical context.

Many important and unique historical street scenes always crept into our hearts at a certain moment a long time ago. It occupies a corner in the depths of memory. When we walk in the future, we suddenly encounter this street view, or encounter a similar landscape, and our memories are suddenly awakened and immersed in the recognition and thinking of this street view. This kind of recognition and thinking is actually that we know ourselves better. At this time, we know that these things in the street have been hidden in our consciousness, and it is so important to us.

The most powerful street view is often not a single isolated point, but a continuous image stream in the linear space of the street, just like what we see on Liu Rong Road in Guangzhou or Saint Michel Street in Paris. One of the important reasons why streets full of historical buildings and relics are attractive is that it embodies the beauty of the continuous winding and changing linear space of streets.

Sometimes, the street gives people a wonderful feeling: when we first came to a place, we felt so familiar. Those buildings, windows, gates, balconies facing the street and arcades at street corners all seem to have been known for a long time. Even the atmosphere in the street is kind, as if our life has been linked with it. Have we known each other for a long time, and those images have long been hidden in our consciousness? Or do we use our impressions to recall the imitation prototype of the old street? We can only conclude that this has something to do with history. This street is so mysterious.

There is no doubt that streets are full of vitality because of people's activities. It is history and life, as well as our memories and emotions, that give life to the mystery of the street. The street profoundly explains where and how we came from. If we cherish history and life, and cherish our memories and feelings, then we should cherish the city and its streets.

(Written in Liu Huahu Pang)

■ Notes

(1) See A Brief History of Guangzhou edited by Yang Wanxiu and Zhong, Guangdong People's Publishing House1March 9961P388; ; Zhang Zhongli, editor-in-chief of Southeast Coastal Cities and China Modernization, Shanghai People's Publishing House, July 1996 1 P270.

(2) See Zhang Zhongli's Southeast Coastal Cities and Modernization in China, Shanghai People's Publishing House, June 1996, p 27 1-272; A Brief History of Guangzhou, edited by Yang Wanxiu and Zhong, Guangdong People's Publishing House 1 March 19961Edition P482.

(3) See [America] Michael Southworth, Ivan Soben-Joseph, Li translated The Formation of Streets and Towns, China Building Industry Press, September 2006, 1 edition, P 15.

(4) Dutch, meaning "a garden like a jungle". The Formation of Streets and Towns by Li See Hong Ling was translated by Michael Southworth and Ivan Soben-Joseph. China Building Industry Press, September 2006, 1 version, P 1 12.

■ This article may feel unfinished, because it is the first chapter of the original text, with about 20,000 words. The remaining main content is to analyze the changes of urban streets and further describe Guangzhou streets. In order to avoid the file being too long, these remaining parts may be sent separately at an appropriate time.

■ At the completion of this street series, I would like to thank my old colleague and the photographer who provided beautiful photos (1-8 series photos are all provided by Ms. Yang). Ms. Yang likes "street photography", taking pictures of small places, small people and telling stories with images. She has used these techniques to tell such ordinary stories, such as London: Turn a blind eye, San Remo: Lost elegance, and Vienna: There is a kind of coffee called melancholy. Without her cooperation, the whole planning of this Guangzhou street graphic series could not be completed. Her exquisite and unique video works greatly add color to this series. I would like to express my sincere thanks!

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