Street of memories given a route to future

TAIYUAN－After a year and a half of renovations and upgrades, Zhonglou Street, which brings back childhood memories for many in Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province, announced its reopening around mid-September.

Holding on to her cane tightly, a 76-year-old senior citizen surnamed Su plodded along the old street through the rain. Passing by the old buildings gave Su flashbacks of her younger years.

"In 1979, I held a banquet for my parents at this restaurant after I got married. It is just the way it was back then," Su says. She points at a hotel, which has had some updates to its interior decor, but the exterior remains the same.

"We will come to the restaurant to have a reunion dinner when your father and I have our 50th wedding anniversary," Su tells her daughter.

Zhonglou Street ("bell tower street" in English) has a centuries-long history dating back to as early as the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, and since then, it has evolved into one of the city's busiest commercial areas.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, the ancient street still welcomed over 20 million visitors a year, according to Zhang Lufang from the culture and tourism bureau of the city's Yingze district.

More than just a cradle of the local business boom, Zhonglou Street is home to more than 20 protected cultural relics and is home to many time-honored Chinese brands. A number of the shops on the street may be unknown, but they have been there for nearly a century.

However, over the decades, facilities became timeworn and frequent traffic jams choked the thoroughfare during Taiyuan's rapid development. Yang Dong, deputy director of the commerce bureau of Yingze district, a native of Taiyuan, recalls the former Zhonglou Street being a place "thick with wires overhead and rife with pits and pots on the ground, which burdened the staff of all the stores with worry". The aforementioned wires crisscrossed the street almost arbitrarily, making it more difficult to renovate and upgrade the aging roads.

In April 2020, the city launched an upgrade project of Zhonglou Street. Li Hui, Party secretary of Yingze district, where the street is located, says that 25 alleys and 32 historical buildings along the street had been renovated, and that the overall planning and operation was conducted by domestic professionals.

Meanwhile, 56 new shops have been opened, with a total operation area of about 120,000 square meters.

The ancient Zhonglou Street has now turned into a 700-meter-long pedestrian street, spacious and clean, full of buildings with original and historical features. Stores of centuries-old brands stand shoulder to shoulder with today's most trendy marques, while leisure squares and nostalgic exhibitions are dotted around.

The old and new are easy to spot along the upgraded street. The middle-aged and elderly citizens are the main visitors to the locale, while tourists often livestream their walk through the street, documenting the changes with their cameras and phones.

Pu Jing, head of Taiyuan Architectural Design and Research Institute, says that under the general principle of "protection, restoration and activation", the complete overhaul of Zhonglou Street has achieved its goal, especially where the valuable historical relics are concerned. It has also rebuilt important historical buildings that were lost over the decades. The old street has been injected with new space, business models and elements.

Xinhua