(The Streets and Alleys of Chengdu 4) Jinguanyi

Near Shangri-La Hotel on Binjiang East Road, there is a street sign "Jinguan 1st Street". Follow the arrow, you can see an asphalt road and a marble flower bed on the roadside.

There is a business district called Shuijingtang on this tree-lined street, which is very distinctive.

The houses here have obvious western Sichuan flavor: carved window sills, blue brick walls, high thresholds, square yards and high eaves ...

Looking in from the half-open courtyard door, the patio in the sun and the leisurely tea drinkers in the patio are like a brightly colored painting, showing a lazy and leisurely tone.

Jinguanyi is an old street in Chengdu, but it has long been rebuilt. Now Jinguan First Street has been demolished and rebuilt.

I can't understand why we should tear down old buildings with history and then spend money to make some retro imitations.

However, although it is a replica, it is better than looking at the reinforced concrete forest.

I prefer these retro mansions of Jin Guanyi to those in Taikoo Li. I went back to the old days and walked into the trance in the story.

Near Hejiang Pavilion, there used to be Jinguan Station of Sichuan Shuima Station. Jinguan Street is named after this disappearing post station.

Where there is water, boats and docks, there must be businessmen.

Since ancient times, merchants have gathered in Jinguan Post. At that time, Jinguan Street was very prosperous, although there were no tall office buildings and hotels. Porters wearing jackets and carrying linen bags bowed back and forth between the ship and the coast. According to the older generation, just in the 1960s, boats were parked by the river.

Today's Jinguan Street is still lively, but it is another style.

Merchants from the south to the north endowed Jinguanyi with the mind of "all rivers flow into the sea", and they brought more than just material wealth to Chengdu. More than 100 years ago, several businessmen founded a school-private Jinguanyi Primary School in the "Donglao Temple" in the Millennium Jinguanyi.

Rola Chen became a student here on 1909. It was here that he changed the name "Chen Yi", and the teacher who helped him change his name was Jinguan No.1 Primary School.

The school at that time was also demolished with the transformation of this street.

I like to walk quietly in these old streets with stories, which guard the memory of this city.