The Ancient Ming and Qing Streets of Hekou

The Ancient Ming and Qing Streets of Hekou

Hekou Town is one of the four ancient famous towns in Jiangxi Province, ranking alongside Jingdezhen, Zhangshu Town, and Wucheng Town. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Hekou was an important market town for selling local products such as paper, tea, copper, and iron. It also served as a distribution hub for goods from Jiangxi, Fujian, and Zhejiang, maintaining close commercial ties with cities like Suzhou, Hangzhou, Songjiang, as well as with Southeast Asia and Japan. As a result, some compared it to Hankou, known as the “thoroughfare of nine provinces” at the time, coining the saying, “There’s endless buying in Hankou, and endless loading in Hekou.” Hekou is a museum of Ming and Qing commercial architecture. What we can see today includes the following aspects:

Ancient town streets and alleys. Hekou Town has long been known as having “nine lanes and thirteen streets.” Starting from the entrance of the ancient street in the eastern part of the town, the total length is about 2,500 meters. The streets are on average about six meters wide, paved mostly with long bluestone slabs, hemp stones, or cobblestones. Currently, around 1,500 meters of the streets are relatively well preserved, largely retaining the layout of the ancient commercial streets.

Ming and Qing merchant shops and residential architectural styles. (Insert image: 200712_金利合.JPG) The ancient streets of Hekou originated in the early Ming Dynasty, flourished in the mid-Ming period, and took shape during the Qianlong era of the Qing Dynasty. There were about 500 shops and workshops along the streets, including tea houses, pharmacies, silver shops, and more. The buildings along the ancient streets were mostly constructed of brick and wood, with trapezoidal gables (firewalls) separating the houses. Each shop had multiple sections, extending deep into the structure, with some reaching dozens of meters in depth. The front section served as the storefront or workshop, while the inner sections and upper floors were used as living quarters or storage spaces. The shopfronts, window sills, corridor railings, and room partitions were often adorned with exquisite brick, stone carvings, wood carvings, and painted decorations, possessing high artistic value. Today, there are about 300 old merchant shops remaining on the ancient streets. The exteriors and interior structures of the Ming and Qing merchant shops have retained their original appearance, and the architectural features of different periods are distinctly recognizable. The “Jinlihe” pharmacy, built in 1881, is a well-preserved example of a typical modern-style shop. The residential buildings in the ancient town were mostly built by wealthy merchants and belonged to the category of “urban residences.” These structures were generally richly decorated, freely laid out, and free from the rigid formalities and constraints associated with grand formal occasions. They embody the artistic characteristics of Ming and Qing architecture in the Jiangnan region, as well as China's unique methods of architectural decoration and spatial organization.

Wharves (docks). In the past, the transportation of goods in Hekou mainly relied on waterways, and the daily cargo throughput at the docks reached several hundred tons. Large docks were often built with massive bluestones or hemp stones, and came in semi-circular, rectangular, or trapezoidal shapes. The “Guangbutou” dock, built in the Ming Dynasty and expanded in the Qing Dynasty, served as the mooring site for official boats. A bluestone prohibition stele from the Qianlong era still stands near the dock. Water channels. Within Hekou Town lies the Huiji Canal, which is said to have been constructed by the Ming Dynasty prime minister Fei Hong. The Huiji Canal draws water from the Shijiang River, runs through the entire town, and facilitates residents’ access to water. The entire water diversion system is scientifically designed and quite intriguing.