By Sha Zhou

The Royal Street of the Southern Song Dynasty has been refurbished. It was unveiled during the golden week of National Day celebrations in October, 2009. Though it is still officially known as Zhongshan Road, part of the everyday life, historical facts and glories of the past Hangzhou has been restored.

The experts from China Academy of Art in Hangzhou were the soul of the giant project. They looked into the fragments of the past unearthed in ancient literature and did their best o restore and maintain the traces of the past. Creative ideas were introduced. Today, the south-north axis of Hangzhou connects to the neighboring Wu hill. This area looks like the Chinese character “甲” if you take a birds eye view.

The Past

The Royal Street refurbished is not just a street. Also restored are roadside houses and lanes that radiate from the street. It offers eight display venues where visitors can peep into the past. One display spot showcases the slab surface and brick surface of the street in the Southern Song Dynasty, which were unearthed in recent years. A set of four walls at the Drum Tower display objects of a life few decades ago. A stone carving in a fountain records a poem by Li Qingzhao and an excerpt of “Essays of The Dream Stream” by Shen Kuo, indicating that Hangzhou was the birthplace of engraved block printing and that Hangzhou witnessed the flourishing of the book printing when the city served as the capital of the empire. In one street corner stand 20 statues of cultural celebrities of the Southern Song Dynasty. In another section of the street are sets of group statues indicating 100 varieties of handcraft industries in the prosperous shopping area during the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republican years.

A Waterway

A narrow waterway that runs in parallel with street is a huge attraction of the refurbishment project. The water comes from the Central River and enters the street at the Drum Tower section. It flows through fountains before vanishing into a culvert and draining into the West Lake. Water flows at different speeds passing 13 fountains, adding poetic touches to the street.

Ancient Architecture

The Phoenix Temple is one of the four major muslin temples in southeast of China in ancient times. It was first erected in the Tang Dynasty. The Beamless Hall was built in the Yuan Dynasty by a muslin imam from the west. The Moon Pavilion was dismantled in 1929 in an expansion project for Zhongshan Road. It is now restored, looking exactly like what it was in 1929. At the south end of the street is a large group of architectures. In close vicinity of the magnificent Drum Tower are a Christian church and the sites where the palaces and the government offices of the Southern Song Dynasty once stood. At the northern part of the street are a Catholic church and the former residence of John Leighton Stuart. The street presents three TCM pharmacies in the architectural style of the Qing Dynasty and many buildings in a mixed style of east and the west. The street serves an exhibition of various architectural styles.

Food

Zhongshan Road is a paradise for gourmets. A snack food market in Hefang Street at the southern end of Royal Street attracts tourists with tasty delicacies from various places. In Hefang Street, tourists can taste snack food made with the recipes of the Southern Song Dynasty. Gaoyin Street is more formal: it is a street of restaurants where gourmets can sample various cuisines and hold banquets. Kuiyuanguan, a time-honored noodle restaurant, underwent a refurbishment project on its own and now enjoys brisk business.

Arts and Crafts

Zhongshan Road used to be the heart of a shopping area in Hangzhou. After the refurbishment, the street become home to some time-honored shops in old Hangzhou. A lot of traditional arts and crafts products can also be found in the restored street. Some artists have moved in too, providing visitors with a peep into how they create and what they produce. Cafes, teahouses and bars on the street offer traditional shows. The road is also home to some art studios famed on the Internet, adding a fashionable touch. □