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| Tunxi Ancient Town & Street |
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At the foot of the Mt. Huangshan, in the bend of Xin'an River, lies
the beautiful mountain town called "Tunxi ". The "Tunxi
Ancient Street" can be found in this old city. The street starts
in the west at Zhenhai Bridge, a stone arch bridge built during
the Ming Dynasty, and ends in the east at the "Memorial Archway."
Its total length is about 1.5km and the sides of the street are
laid with slab stones. There are hundreds of old but well preserved
rows of shops, evoking a bygone era in buildings that are simple
and elegant. It is a commercial street that is only for pedestrians.
The merchants from the Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian provinces
jostle each other in a crowd that resembles the picture "The
Spring Festival Along the River". An ancient Western-European
architect once visited the old street and said that he had found
"The Eastern Ancient Rome."
First built over 700 years ago, during the Song Dynasty (960-1279),
the street is flanked by some buildings from this period. More noticeable
are the buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911),
during which time the "Tunxi Ancient Street" became a
distribution center for goods and materials to Huizhou The shops,
workshops and residences have continued to maintain the characteristics
and operational layout of ancient stores such as "shop in the
front and workshop or house in the back" Most of the buildings
are only three stories high, stone-based and brick-laid. They are
decorated with small green tiles, wood carvings in the Hui style,
ancient shop signs, and red-lacquered with double eaves on the roofs.
They are simple and elegant, magnificent and clean. The pavement
is 5 to 8 meters wide, laid with large red flagstones. Whether you
are wandering along the old bridge, visiting the fish beside the
river, finding shoots of bamboo on the slope, or standing under
a tree and listening to the birds whistle, it is easy to rest and
attain mental tranquility by getting back to the nature.
Shops and stalls sell an interesting mix of antiques and knick-knacks
including ink stones, brushes, local teas, Mao badges and advertising
posters from the 30s. There are also many small food vendors and
some excellent dumpling restaurants. The shop names in the ancient
street have a lot of culture meanings, which shows that the merchants
in Huizhou are scholar-merchants. Many of these shops carry more
than a hundred years of history, such as "Tongderen" (Medicine
Shop), "Tonghe" (Steelyard Store), and "Chengdexin"
(Sauce and Pickle Shop). These stores continue to use the same methods
of production, display, and operation as they did in ancient times. |
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