Sanxing Street

Sanxing Street

All the elderly in Mengcheng know that inside the west gate of the county town there is a north-south street called “Sanxing Street,” but few know how it got its name.

In the 19th year of the Jiaqing reign of the Qing Dynasty (1814), Su Tingyu, a renowned finger-painting artist in our county (who once served as an educational officer in Chaohu County and later was promoted to professor at Jiangning Prefecture), retired due to old age and returned to his hometown to live leisurely in Sujia Lane on Matou Street (now Sanxing Street), composing poetry and painting. His paintings were executed with vigorous and archaic brushwork. He was most famous for his finger paintings, which were treasured by many. In his later years, he signed his artworks as “the Old Man of Ninety-Nine” or “Su Xugu.” Local gentry considered it a great honor to obtain a painting from the elderly master, treating it as a precious possession. Su Tingyu compiled his lifelong poetic works under the title “Jiujv Ji” (The Collection of the Turtledove’s Abode). At that time, two other elderly men lived nearby: one named Yao Xianxiang and the other Xiong Tirren. Both Yao and Xiong were impoverished scholars—though learned and erudite, they never held official positions in their lifetime. Yao Xianxiang was already 95 years old, while Su Tingyu and Xiong Tirren were both over eighty. The three elders, being advanced in years, fellow townsmen, and kindred spirits, became close friends. The locals referred to them as the “Three Longevity Stars.” In their leisure time, the three would often greet and chat with each other in front of their homes. Sometimes they would go on outings to enjoy the landscape together, and other times they would gather to compose poetry, paint, and discuss scholarship. Although Yao Xianxiang was over ninety, he still had sharp hearing and keen eyesight, and was able to teach at a private school, contributing to the education of local talent. Xiong Tirren focused on writing and collecting historical documents, extensively gathering materials to privately compile several volumes supplementing the “Mengcheng County Annals.”

At that time, the county was planning to compile the “Mengcheng County Annals,” but was concerned that historical materials might be lost over time and become difficult to trace. Someone recommended this private compilation to the county magistrate, and it provided a wealth of accurate historical data for the official annals project.

The three elderly sages were not only highly learned but also of noble character, and were deeply respected by the local gentry and common people. Yao and Xiong even encouraged donations for renovating public structures, and sometimes, even when their own families were so poor they had no rice to cook, they never used any of the donated funds for personal needs. One year, Su Tingyu’s father passed away on New Year’s Eve. A local wealthy man, eager to fill the vacancy left by Su’s father (who had been a government-supported scholar), prepared an expensive gift and went to offer condolences to the Su family. He took the opportunity to plead with Su Tingyu: “Your late father was a government-supported scholar in our county. Since he passed away in the latter half of New Year’s Eve, that counts as last year. This year, I can take his place. Just between you and me—I’ll be sure to show my gratitude later!” Hearing this, Su Tingyu flew into a rage, threw the gift out of his house, and berated the man: “You want to bribe your way into an official title and even try to cheat my late father out of a full year of life? Not a chance. Get out!”

The wealthy man, seeing the situation turn against him, left dejectedly. When the neighbors heard about the incident, they all praised Su Tingyu for his integrity.

On July 1st of the 21st year of the Jiaqing reign (1816), Zuo Fu, the prefect of Yingzhou, learned that the three elders—Su Tingyu, Yao Xianxiang, and Xiong Tirren—were men of virtue and high standing, widely praised throughout the locality. He specially erected a “Three Longevity Stars Stele” on Matou Street and personally composed the inscription to honor the three elders. He also renamed Matou Street as “Three Longevity Stars Street.” The locals commonly referred to it as “Sanxing Street,” meaning the street where the Three Longevity Stars lived. The name has been passed down to this day.

Note: During the Ming and Qing dynasties, government-supported students who received stipends of silver and grain from the state, prefecture, or county to support their livelihoods were called “government-supported scholars” or “廪生.”