Under the gate of Xingshan, in front of Ziyang Street, there is a lively scene. At the beginning of the National Day long holiday, this year’s newly promoted national 5A-level tourist attraction Taizhou Fucheng Cultural Tourism Zone in Zhejiang Linhai City attracted a large number of tourists to come to experience the fusion of the cultural charm of the thousand-year-old city and the smell of fireworks in the world.
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Zhejiang Linhai Ziyang Street lively scene. All pictures were taken by Xinhua News Agency reporter Weng Xinyang
The millennium street embraces the new trend
In front of the Wynn century-old wooden pole scale store, various craft scales have attracted many tourists. Cai Xuezhen, a shopkeeper in her 60s, holds a small hammer and beats on an old mottled wooden table, making wooden scales on the spot.
”Many tourists are interested in old craftsmanship and will watch me make scales and listen to me talk about craftsmanship.” As the fifth generation of the store, Cai Xuezhen stays on Ziyang Street, passing on the store and scale making skills that have been open for more than 160 years.
Linhai Ziyang Street, built in the Three Kingdoms period, has a total length of about 1080 meters and is the central axis of Taizhou City. Stroll along Ziyang Street, where the bluestone paved road is as old as it was, with brick walls, wooden rafters and mud tiles complementing the surrounding bustle.
Millennium Taizhou Mansion, full of street cultural people. As a national historical and cultural city, Linhai, a thousand-year-old city, shows its vitality in the natural blend of book gas and fireworks.
Under the Xingshan Gate, a group of young people were attracted by the improvised singing of the guitarist and sat around to listen. Tourists passing by are also attracted by the melodious melody of this ancient city, and from time to time raise their mobile phones to take photos and videos.
In front of the century-old seaweed cake shop, there was a long queue. This local snack has a thin skin and a lot of filling, a crispy taste and a rich aroma. Freshly baked nori cakes can be smelled at the entrance of the street.
Every few steps ahead, you can meet Zhang Xiujuan’s paper-cutting, watch science museum and other historical museums; The owner of the shop opens a shop downstairs, and upstairs is the residence, which forms part of the scenic area together with tourists; Residents of the ancient street moved a chair to sit in front of their homes, chatting with tourists…
The ancient street embraces the trend. Among the old shops on Ziyang Street, there is a “18R” coffee shop that introduces the traditional snack elements of Taizhou Fucheng, and launches creative coffees such as egg white sheep’s tail latte, grass paste coffee, and white water tofu latte, which are popular among consumers.
”The integration of the old and the new is not to throw away the old things, but to amplify their respective characteristics and make them more acceptable.” Lin Yueyang, founder of the coffee brand, said that creative coffee accounts for 60% of the store’s total turnover, and can sell up to 2,000 cups a day during the peak holiday period, far more than the well-known coffee brands across the street.
According to Linhai Cultural Tourism Group, Ziyang Street is rich in business formats, 60% of which are economic formats, of which 25% are traditional cultural shops and 35% are newly introduced young businesses.
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Zhejiang Linhai Taizhou capital city wall.
The “Great Wall of Jiangnan” travels through ancient and modern times
The city wall of Taizhoufu, which winds more than 5,000 meters, is known as the “Great Wall of Jiangnan”, which can be traced back to the Eastern Jin Dynasty and has a history of more than 1,600 years. From the Range Rover Gate, along the ridge of Beigu Mountain to Yanxia Pavilion, straight to the east bank of the Lingjiang River, extending to the western foothills of Jinshan Mountain, the “Jiangnan Great Wall” is built along the mountain, overlooking the river, majestic and beautiful.
Many details on the walls are eye-catching: some of the stone tiles are engraved with the names of the kilns, some with the date of manufacture, and some with ji or number symbols. The “inscription bricks” spanning from the Song Dynasty to the Republic of China period depict the unique historical memory of this thousand-year-old city.
”Without excessive human intervention, it is often the best protection of cultural relics.” According to Peng Liansheng, director of the Linhai City Cultural Relics Protection Institute, the judgment of the cultural heritage value of the Linhai City Wall also needs to reflect the epochality and allow it to naturally leave a mark of the times.
Just on the side of the ancient city wall, the green brick Dewa’s “Looking at the Book” comes into view. The small building of the bookstore is integrated into the surrounding quaint buildings and is not obtrusive. Pushing the door in, on the ground floor is a bar serving coffee and light food, and on the bar stools are young people sitting in pairs. On the second floor is the reading area, with a variety of types of books on the wood-colored bookshelves and large floor-to-ceiling windows that let in natural light.
”The moral of ‘look again’ is to stop and look again.” Xie Ranyu, founder of the bookstore and a post-85 youth, said that sitting in the bookstore you can see the Great Wall, and you can also see the bookstore on the Great Wall, and look at and think about the Great Wall that solidifies the cultural and historical accumulation of Linhai – “reading the Great Wall” is the design concept of the bookstore.
In July this year, Taizhou Fucheng Cultural Tourism Zone was approved as a national 5A-level tourist attraction. The “Jiangnan Great Wall” gathers the power of youth with a new look, attracting more and more young people to live and start businesses in Linhai.
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Zheng Xianhong, the inheritor of “Linggen straw weaving” on Ziyang Street in Linhai, Zhejiang, is weaving a fan.
The charm of the ancient city is lively
Walking into the “Linggen Straw Weaving” shop on Ziyang Street, the house is full of various straw crafts such as fans, baskets, straw hats, handbags, vases and so on. The wooden structure of the hall house and the faint smell of grass create a warm and nostalgic atmosphere for the small shop.
”We are a family craft and have always insisted on using wick grass as a material.” Zheng Xianhong, the owner of the shop and the inheritor of Linggen straw weaving, squatted on the ground and weaved unfinished fans, and there were several green and slender cord grasses in the sink at the door.
From straw weaving and paper cutting, to the making skills of sheep rock and wooden scales, from yellow sand lions, Linhai lyrics, to the Qi Jiajun city tour performance, the various historical relics of the thousand-year-old Taizhou capital city Linhai are not old things lying in museums, but the inheritance of integrating ancient and modern and “living” in the present.
Since September 2004, the Linhai municipal government has carried out protective repairs to the Ziyang District, during which only a small number of residents have moved out, and no high-rise buildings have been built in the old street. At present, in Linhai, there are still 28,000 original residents living in the capital city of Taizhou, including Ziyang Street.
”It is the simplest solution to empty and rebuild the ancient city, but this will only leave an empty shell, and there is no market charm.” Wang Rongjie, director of the Linhai Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Tourism and Sports, said that between “relocation” and “stay”, Linhai chose to leave residents behind, and put forward the concept of “sharing hosts and guests, traveling and living” to achieve the integration of scenic areas and create “living scenic spots”.
construction of the Taizhou City Wall Museum; Call on the citizens to “I will give a brick to the famous city, and ten thousand people will repair the ancient city wall”; promulgated and implemented the Regulations on the Protection of the City Wall of Taizhou Prefecture; May 10 every year is designated as “Taizhou City Wall Protection Day”… The protection and development of Linhai Ancient City not only pays attention to the restoration of “shape”, but also highlights the inheritance of “god”.
The reporter learned that through the implementation of the “Millennium Ancient City Rejuvenation” plan, Linhai Taizhou Capital City now has a total of 15 theme museums, 12 intangible cultural heritage exhibition halls, more than 60 traditional shops, and more and more intangible cultural heritage items have returned to the public’s vision. (Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Yu Jiaxin, Huang Shubo, Fang Wenyu)
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Responsible editor: Han Bingyu