Residential houses on Xinzheng Street

Residential houses on Xinzheng Street

The residential houses on Xinzheng Street are a Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

Zizhong, one of the first batch of historical and cultural cities in Sichuan Province and historically the site of prefectural, county, and special administration offices, features Xinzheng Street in the western part of its county town center. Built during the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty, it is now commonly known as the “Qing Dynasty Street.” The entire street maintains a unified style, is neat and aesthetically pleasing, and is rich in ancient charm — a rare sight within the province. It has been highly commended by expert delegations from countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan. In 1985, the then Sichuan Provincial Construction Commission listed it as a key protected ancient block in the province. In 2007, it was announced by the Sichuan Provincial Government as a provincial-level cultural relics protection unit.

Xinzheng Street was built in the 31st and 32nd years of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1905–1906). The houses on this street were originally the property of three families, including the Liao family. In the late Qing Dynasty, Li Jiya, a native of the county who had studied in Japan, influenced by the reformist ideas and the push for new policies, actively persuaded his wealthy relatives — including the Liao family — to emulate the approach of Zhou Xiaohuai, the head of the Patrol Police Department in Chengdu, who built the Persuasion Industry Fair to promote the Qing court’s “New Policies.” They transformed all the street’s buildings into over 40 shops with a unified layout and rented them out to merchants. At the time, to distinguish it from Zheng Street, which faced the prefectural yamen directly, it was named Xinzheng Street, a name that also carried the meaning of promoting “New Policy” reforms.

To this day, the street retains the format of Qing Dynasty neighborhoods, composed entirely of three-story, double-eave corridor-style buildings. The street runs from north to south, is 112 meters long and 5.1 meters wide, with a total construction area of over 3,500 square meters. The 40-plus uniformly built wooden post-and-lintel shops along the street share consistent heights, board colors, and storefront sizes. Features like their stilted floors, small courtyards, lattice windows, carved street-facing decorations, pendant wood pillars, roof tiles with “Xinzheng” and “Da Ji” inscriptions, as well as the embossed door gods at each shop entrance, are identical. Shops line both sides of the street — inns, restaurants, teahouses, book-binding stores, tailor shops, grocery stores, and pawnshops stand shoulder to shoulder. In the past, because it was close to the prefectural yamen (which became a special administration office during the Republican era), people coming into town for official business, litigation, or imperial examinations often preferred to stay here to gather information or await summons. Consequently, the street was bustling with constant, lively foot traffic.

The southern end of Xinzheng Street originally had an archway, while the northern end had a theater pavilion, both guarded by timed gates. In the past, every year at the end of the year, all the merchants on the street would gather at the theater pavilion to host a Ta Tan Shen ceremony, enjoy operatic performances, and hold a grand banquet. The wooden pillars on both sides of the original northern end of the street were inscribed with a couplet written by Bao Ruxie (also known as Bao Bichen, famed as the “Calligraphy Demon”), the Scholar-official of Zizhou and a renowned calligrapher: “Whether you go north or south, all paths lead to the market; no matter how high the towers soar, they showcase this district’s grand view.” This reflected the prosperity the street once enjoyed. In 1985, Zheng Shifeng, a writer returning to his hometown from Shanghai, gave the street a new name — “Qing Dynasty Street.” Around the year 2000, during urban redevelopment, the archways and theater pavilion at both ends were demolished.

In August 1989, after visiting the street, a Japanese delegation published a lengthy article describing their impressions: “Within Zizhong County town, there are ancient temples in the mountains, cliff carvings, Confucian and martial temples, old streets, and well-preserved ancient architecture. Strolling along these ancient streets makes you feel as if you’ve entered a county town from ancient China.” Even today, the neat late-Qing architectural style and rich ancient atmosphere of Xinzheng Street showcase a major highlight of the ancient city. It remains eye-catching, drawing crowds of visitors daily and enjoying bustling shop business.

Protected area: East to the dormitory of the People’s Congress and the Hardware Company building, south to the edge of West Street, west to the building of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, north to the edge of Houxi Street.

Construction control zone: Extend 20 meters eastward and westward from the protected area, south to the edge of West Street and north to the edge of Houxi Street.

Text by Song Guoying / Photo