These old streets, like armchairs in the city, allow people to have a rest and enjoy a moment of leisure time. At this time, they can look back in the light and breathe the elegant air accumulated in history with the mind of a new era.
Time is like a grindstone, polishing the characteristics and brilliance of different cities.
At the beginning of this year, four old streets were planning a new life. The renovation of Zhu Min Road in Xinpu District and Li Anyun Old Street in Lianyun District has been included in the 20 13 urban construction key project, and the timetable has been listed. The revival of the ancient city of Haizhou has been going on, and a street of the Six Dynasties in Cheng Nan is also full of vitality with the construction of Xinhai New District.
Our newspaper has set up a column "Walking in the Old Street to Keep the Memory of the City", inviting you to walk in the Old Street together. Today, when we walk in Haizhou Middle Street, we can find the memory of this city, its concern for the old streets, and the actual changes of the old streets.
If you walk slowly on the streets of Haizhou ancient city on a sunny afternoon, you will have an illusion of time travel. In this ancient city with thousands of years of history, every place is branded with traces of history. Haizhou ancient city is the predecessor of Lianyungang, where the "sea" in the "Longhai Line", the main artery of railway traffic in the central and western regions, comes from. In the long history of Haizhou ancient city for thousands of years, not only many places of interest have been left behind, but also the streets all over the city are unique. Stepping on the central axis of the ancient city paved with bluestone-Zhongjie, the courtyard wall with gray walls and gray tiles on the street is full of vicissitudes and exudes a strong charm. Old streets and lanes bear the history of a city, record the pride and regret of the city, and also cherish people's memories and dreams. Every story about the city is inseparable from the old streets and alleys. They used to be the blood of this city, and they were connected with the people of this city. While witnessing the storms of the times, they also felt the vicissitudes of the years.
Haizhou, called Kuang County in Qin and Han Dynasties, was founded in the 11th year (AD 5 12) and in the 7th year of Wuding in the Eastern Wei Dynasty (AD 549). Since Qin and Han Dynasties, Haizhou has been the political, economic and cultural center of Qinghai-Jiangxi-Guan Shu area and even the wider surrounding areas.
In the ancient city of Haizhou, a pattern is formed with Zhongjie as the center and Dongjie (East Gate to Bell and Drum Tower), Zhongjie (Bell and Drum Tower to Cross Street) and Xijie (West Section of Cross Street) as the main axis. The north-south main axis is South Street (Cross Street to Xishi Bridge) and North Street (Xishi Bridge to North Gate).
The 375-meter-long Middle Street, which starts from the Bell and Drum Tower in the east and ends at Cross Street in the west, was once in its heyday in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and was also the birthplace of the Dagang dream. Nowadays, Lianyungang stands on the coast of Haizhou Bay with the majestic posture of 100 million tons of ports, and Shen Yunpei, a celebrity in Haizhou, has contributed a lot. Shen Yunpei was born in 1854 and died in 19 19. He is a native of Haizhou. He was a scholar in Guangxu of Qing Dynasty for twenty years. He has successively served as imperial academy Jishi Shu, right councilor of Ministry of Agriculture, Industry and Commerce, right assistant minister of postal service, minister of postal service and right assistant minister of official department. He was a famous official in northern Jiangsu at that time.
19 16 years, longhai railway connected to the east of Xuzhou. On the issue of railway access to the sea, Shen Yunpei had a serious disagreement with Zhang Jian, another industrial tycoon at that time. Shen Yunpei advocated that the Longhai Railway should be built in Haizhou, while Zhang Jian advocated that the railway should be built in Nantong.
With the efforts of Shen Yunpei, the eastern section of Longhai Railway was built in Hong Men, Haizhou, which became an epoch-making event in the economic history of Haizhou. Since then, Haizhou is no longer a seaside town, but a new starting point on the China railway traffic line. In 24 years, Lianyungang port was opened. At that time, the port office of the Dutch contractor moved from Nanjing to Xie Jiayang House.
The dream of Dagang originated from the ancient city of Haizhou, which has made the four strategic opportunities of Jiangsu coastal development and the regional cooperation demonstration zone between the east and the west of the country superimposed in the port city today. There are eight lanes in Zhongjie, whose names are familiar to Haizhou people: Yinger Lane, Tang Xiang Lane, Guanmiao Lane, Kongxiang Lane, Huangmiao Lane, Confucianism Lane, Wangxiang Lane and Jiangxiang Lane. Shops and temples along the street are also gathered here: Haizhou Confucian Temple, Shengqing Palace, Tiancheng Pharmacy ... This is the gathering place of context, wealth and contacts.
Speaking of context, I have to mention Haizhou Confucian Temple. Haizhou Confucius Temple, also known as Confucius Temple and Shixian Temple, was built in the fourth year of Zhenguan in Tang Dynasty (AD 630) and was used as a temple dedicated to Confucius. Gong Xue in Haizhou (A.D.1041-1049) is one of the earliest Gong Xue in China. In the 10th year of Jiaqing in Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1805), the layout of the Confucian Temple in its heyday was formed: the temple site reached Ji Cheng in the south, Xinjian Road in the north, Huangmiao Lane in the east and Confucianism Lane in the west. At that time, the Confucian Temple, with the Chenghuang Temple in the east and the Daci Temple in the west, was the most magnificent and largest building complex among the three major places of worship for Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in the center of Haizhou ancient city.
Today's Confucian Temple was built by Zheng Xueweng in Haizhou during Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty. The Confucian Temple takes the main entrance as the central axis, and the east-west street in front of it divides the buildings on the central axis into two parts: north and south. At present, among the buildings in the ancient city of Haizhou in the Qing Dynasty, Jimen, located in the courtyard of Haizhou Central Kindergarten (formerly Zhongdajie Primary School) in Zhongdajie, is well preserved, and it is the seat of the ancient Haizhou Confucian Temple. Although the halberd gate has experienced hundreds of years of wind and rain, it can still be seen from its thick walls, thick wooden columns and solid beams that when it was built, the materials were exquisite and meticulous.
At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Haizhou became the political, economic and cultural center of the sea area, with an important geographical position. "Jianghuai in the south and Qilu in the north" became a famous county in Huaibei.
"Wealth pulse" means that merchants along the street gather here. Shops such as Tiancheng Pharmacy and Shengqing Palace Teahouse in Xinpu Backstreet have sprung up here. And Gangcheng Industry also made a fortune from here. Oil paper mills, power plants, agricultural and sideline products ... are all sold all over the country from Houhe Wharf, and then go to the world.
The so-called "connections" means that the ancient city of Haizhou has five surnames: Yin, Ge, Shen, Yang and Xie. These five residents all live along Zhongjie Street. For example, Xie Jialou opened a shop at home and enjoyed a high reputation in the local area. There is an old saying in Haizhou City: "Yangjiayuan is Xiejialou, and Master Shen monopolizes Nanshan Head". The Yangjia Garden, which is as famous as Xiejialou, is now a tile-roofed house, but the villa in Xiejialu Courtyard in Zhongjie is fortunate to be preserved. Xie Jiayang's residence was designed by Dutch and built by Qingdao people. Built at the same time as the office building and bell tower of Lianyungang Railway Station, it is now the office of Haizhou Public Security Bureau. During the prosperous period of Kanggan in Qing Dynasty, with the development of economy and culture, Buddhist temples, Taoist temples and temples dedicated to gods spread all over Haizhou, and even the saying of "Nine Temples and Eighteen Temples" appeared in the late Qing Dynasty. There are three religions in a street: Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism, which are very rare in other parts of China.
At that time, the bustling central street area was in Ma Lukou, and from east to west, it was followed by Chenghuang Temple (Taoism), Confucius Temple (Confucianism) and Daci Temple (Buddhism). The former site of Chenghuang Temple is in the cinema and the food factory behind it. Its former site is in the east of the Bell and Drum Tower. Destroyed by war at the end of Yuan Dynasty, it no longer exists.
Daci Temple is located at the eastern end of Cross Street in Haizhou City, formerly known as Dabeijiao Temple, commonly known as Big Temple. The temple was built in the third year of Song Jiayou (AD 1058). 197 1 demolished the whole temple building and built Gulou middle school (later Haizhou middle school dormitory) and cultural center. Residents nearby can no longer hear the sound of morning bells and drums and the melodious chanting of Sanskrit. Only the "eight-character square" in front of the mountain gate tells people about the solemnity and prosperity of the temple in the past and always reminds the older generation of memories.
Haizhou has always been an important town and historical city in Huai Bang, with many cultural relics and historic sites. Time flies. After the war and catastrophe of the last century, the ancient city walls, state capitals, gardens, academies, temples and ancestral halls gradually disappeared from our sight, and we can only glimpse them from old photos. Most of the existing ancient buildings in Haizhou are incomplete and few are intact.