Development and Planning of Xiangfan North Street

199 1 year, in order to welcome the first Zhuge Liang Cultural Festival and the National Conference of Famous Historical and Cultural Cities to be held in Xiangyang (commonly known as "one festival and one meeting"), Xiangyang Municipal Government decided to transform North Street into a cultural and commercial pedestrian street that matches the ancient buildings such as Xiangyang City Wall and Zhaomingtai and imitates the architectural style of Ming and Qing Dynasties. It is said that North Street is the longest antique pedestrian street in China.

In 200 1 and 2007, the municipal government successively established Xiangcheng North Street Regional Reconstruction Project Headquarters to reconstruct or maintain the drainage pipe network, street view and traffic environment of North Street.

Today, North Street has more than 200 owners and more than 300 facades, making it an ancient and prosperous street in Xiangyang. Xiangcheng North Street is positioned as a commercial and cultural pedestrian street, mainly imitating the buildings in northwest Hubei in Ming and Qing Dynasties. Horsehead walls, cornices, simple and elegant doors and windows are one of the important symbols of Xiangyang as a famous historical and cultural city.

In order to maintain the style of North Street, the city planning department has compiled a comprehensive environmental improvement plan for Xiangcheng North Street, and all advertisements, plaques, signboards, facade decorations, ornaments and hanging objects that are inconsistent with the plan will be removed.

In order to effectively protect the famous historical and cultural city, the municipal party committee and municipal government strive to make North Street the most attractive cultural block and tourist attraction in Xiangyang. North Street is located in the center of Xiangyang-north of Cross Street. With the advantage of being located on the north-south axis of the ancient city and close to the Han River, North Street was once the most prosperous block in Xiangyang City. "Since the Tang and Song Dynasties, North Street has been the central block of Xiangyang City." Li Zhi He said that there are not many records about the prosperity of North Street before the Qing Dynasty. According to his inference, North Street is close to Hanshui River, and water transportation is the main mode of transportation in ancient times, so it is unreasonable that North Street is not prosperous.

In the early days of the founding of New China, except for some small shops dealing in daily necessities, the streets of North Street were rather shabby. North Street was renamed Yan 'an North Street in the early days of the founding of New China, and people still call it North Street. In August, the name of North Street was restored 1979. In the 1960s and 1970s, the municipal government simply repaired the pavement of North Street. "Since it is an ancient city, there are naturally ancient streets and lanes." Bi Kezhong believes that Xiangyang, as a famous historical and cultural city, needs not only the ancient city wall, but also a certain historical block to be worthy of its name. Therefore, when the National Congress of Famous Historical and Cultural Cities decided to hold it in Xiangyang, it became a matter of course for the municipal government to repair North Street.

In order to welcome 1993 Xiangyang's "One Festival, One Meeting", the municipal government started ten key projects, including maintaining the ancient city wall, dredging the moat and building a theme park around the city. "The renovation of North Street was the first of the famous urban construction projects in that year." Dong Liquan said that the restoration project of North Street in that year was the largest in terms of investment and construction period.

1991June, Xiangyang municipal government held a meeting on the construction of a famous historical and cultural city, and the restoration and reconstruction of North Street became an important topic of the meeting. The municipal government requires all units to unify their understanding and carry forward the spirit of "we can overcome difficulties". The renovation of North Street and the relocation of residents must be started before 1 991July1.

It can be seen from a historical document of the Municipal Urban Construction Archives that the restoration of North Street involved 19 units. Not only the pavement, water supply and drainage, street lamps and greening of Wuzhong Lane and Gulou Lane near North Street are planned to be transformed, but also the cultural protection units such as Zhaomingtai, Fu Shan and Shanjia Ancestral Hall are planned to be transformed and restored. Zhaomingtai, located at the southern end of North Street, is a cross-street building, and it is impossible to verify when it was completed. The name of the building has been changed to Zhaomingtai, Wenxuan Building, Gugaozhai, Shannan East Road Building, Nanping Building, Zhennan Building and Bell and Drum Tower.

According to "Wanli Xiangyang Mansion Historical Relics", "Zhaomingtai, in the county, is very ancient." Xiao Tong, the son of Liang Wudi in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, was born in Xiangyang and studied here, hence the name Zhaomingtai.

During War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Xiangyang City was occupied by the Japanese army and its buildings were destroyed. 1954, the municipal government built two rooms on the stage and gave them to the municipal library for use. /kloc-in the summer of 0/973, the southeast corner of Zhaomingtai collapsed. In order to ensure the safety of pedestrians, Zhaomingtai was demolished.

199 1, when the municipal government decided to repair North Street, it requested to rebuild Zhaomingtai.

The designer of the Yellow Crane Tower and the famous designer Xiang designed Zhaomingtai into a three-story attic with high platform and double eaves. The ticket hole of Zhaomingtai spans the entrance of North Street, and the plaque of Zhaomingtai upstairs is inscribed by Zhao Puchu, the former president of the Chinese Buddhist Association and a famous calligrapher.

After the Zhaomingtai was completed, it was 34 meters high, and a three-story attic was built on the platform according to the Wei and Jin styles. The whole building is magnificent, becoming the landmark building of Xiangcheng North Street and the tallest building in Xiangyang at that time. In the process of reconstruction of North Street, the municipal government invited famous domestic experts in cultural relics protection and experts who are proficient in ancient architecture design, and determined three principles of reconstruction of North Street in Xiangcheng (namely, the original architectural pattern remains unchanged in history, the building volume and height remain unchanged, and the architectural methods and materials of Xiangyang's traditional famous houses are followed), and it is required to repair the old as before.

Bi Kezhong said that there is a partition wall above the eaves 1 m between the single buildings in North Street, which is called the wind-fire wall. If there is a fire, this wall will prevent the fire from spreading and play an isolation role. "North Street is the longest antique pedestrian street in China." Bi Kezhong believes that the reconstruction of North Street reflects the local characteristics of simple, heavy and exquisite architecture in northwest Hubei, which is completely different from Liulichang in Beijing, Confucius Temple in Nanjing and Song Cheng Street in Kaifeng.

After two years of construction, at the end of September, 1993, the restoration project of North Street was officially completed. It is understood that 1995, the planning and design of North Street won the first prize of excellent urban planning and design in Hubei Province; In the same year, he won the Excellent Urban Planning and Design Award of the Ministry of Construction. Due to the long history of North Street, many underground "treasures" were excavated in the process of repairing North Street. At that time, Li Zhi, a teacher from Xiangyang No.5 Middle School, often wandered around the construction site after class and collected a large number of tiles and tiles found in the construction process.

"I just think these things are valuable." Li Zhi and said that in those days, some places dug deep, and some actually dug seven or eight meters deep. Many underground things were dug up and scattered on the construction site.

Li Zhihe told reporters that after he found out the origin of these "treasures", he labeled them in different categories and collected them. According to Li, during the restoration of North Street, he collected nearly 10,000 pieces of Xiangyang cannon, bronze statue and Yuan blue and white porcelain, and built the history museum of Xiangyang No.5 Middle School on this basis.

A few days ago, the reporter walked into this museum and saw that there were more than 100 ancient shells in it. "This proves that Xiangyang is a battleground for military strategists," Li Zhi said. These shells were left by the Yuan Army when it attacked Xiangyang City.

At present, these "treasures" play a role in the history teaching of Xiangyang No.5 Middle School.

comment

Dong Liquan, senior city planner, 199 1- 1993 served as the head of the planning and design group of the office of Xiangyang Historical and Cultural City Construction Committee, and participated in the planning and design of North Street.

Bi Kezhong, former head of the Cultural Relics Section of Xiangyang Municipal Bureau of Culture and Sports, participated in the repair and restoration of many cultural relics in North Street, such as Zhaomingtai, Fu Shan and Shanjia Ancestral Temple.

Li Zhi and the Retired History Teacher of Special Education in the Fifth Middle School of Xiangyang City, Hubei Province.