Huating Old Street

Huating Old Street

Since ancient times, Songjiang has had a bustling commercial street “stretching ten li from Huayang Bridge in the east to Kuatang Bridge in the west.” The History of Ancient Chinese Architecture notes: “By the Ming Dynasty, the number and exquisite craftsmanship of residential gardens in Songjiang rivaled those of Suzhou, Hangzhou, and Jiaxing Prefecture.”

As part of a major renovation project of the ancient city of Songjiang — Huating Old Street (formerly Zhongshan Middle Road) — it stretches from Renmin Road in the east to Xilin Road in the west, with a total length of 606 meters and an investment of 340 million yuan. It represents the essence of the ancient city’s ten-li-long thoroughfare. The project was overall designed by the East China Architectural Design Institute of Shanghai, featuring stone slab paving. At the intersections with Renmin Road and Xilin Road, there are one eastern and one western memorial archway respectively. The area also includes one leisure park (Maluqiao Park) and five plazas (Moonlit Plaza, Zen Plaza, Commercial Leisure Plaza, Folk Custom Plaza, and Historical Culture Plaza). A number of municipal and district-level cultural heritage sites have been restored, including the Yuan Dynasty Mosque, the Ming Dynasty Xilin Temple, as well as the residences of Yuan Chang, Qu’s Family, and Wang Yeshan. Additionally, 53,000 square meters of Ming- and Qing-style architecture have been constructed, showcasing a charming scene where “twin temples stand facing each other from north to south, ancient houses line the street side by side, groups of antique buildings cluster together, and gardens flourish with lush greenery.”

The four Chinese characters “Huating Old Street” on the memorial archway were inscribed by Mr. Shen Peng, Chairman of the Chinese Calligraphers Association. The couplet on the stone tablet was composed by Mr. Wang Zhenhua, a renowned poetry scholar from the Chinese Poetry Society, and written by Mr. Han Chuan Shi, a calligrapher and editorial committee member of the China Huaxia Poetry and Painting Research Institute. The commercial spaces here are distributed along both sides of Zhongshan Road, varying in size. They integrate seamlessly with the previously built Miaoqian Street and Changqiao Street, and connect scenically with the ongoing renovations of Yuemiao Commercial Street, Fangta Tang-Song Cultural Street, and Songjiang Old Street, forming a cultural-commercial corridor that combines tourism, sightseeing, leisure, entertainment, and dining.

Transportation

Address: Zhongshan Middle Road, Songjiang Town, Songjiang District, Shanghai (the section between Renmin Road and Xilin Road)

Transportation Guide: You can reach Huating Old Street via Songjiang Route 1; take the Song-Mei Special Line (Songjiang – Southwest Bus Station, Meilong) or the Shanghai-Songjiang Special Line to Songjiang Ledu Road Bus Station, then transfer to Songjiang Route 2; take a train (Shanghai-Hangzhou Line) and at the station, use Songjiang Routes 5, 8, or 9 to reach Huating Old Street; at the East Bus Station, Songjiang Routes 2, 3, 4, or 11 can also get you there.

Self-driving Route: Inner Ring Elevated Road – Hu-Min Elevated Road – Xinzhuang Interchange – G60 Shanghai-Kunming Expressway – Songjiang Exit – Rongle Middle Road – North Renmin Road – Zhongshan Middle Road (Huating Old Street). From Huating Old Street, you can take Songhuan Route 1 to Fangta Garden.