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In this issue
“Lishui Place Name Story”
Let’s walk in together
A thousand-year-old street
Lishui “No. 1 Business District”
Tongji Street
The origin of “Tongji Street”.
Since the Tang Dynasty, Tongji Street has long been the seat of Lishui County, the oldest street in Lishui, and the representative label of Lishui’s historical development of more than 1,400 years, and a vivid epitome of urban changes.
“Tongji” comes from the Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi’s “Epitaph of Baifujun” written by his uncle, Bai Jikang of Lishui Zhixian County. The article praised: “From Wei Xia Bang to Zai Lishui, they are all honest and helpful.” Tongji originally meant cheerful and open-minded, and later referred to business facilitation and accessibility. In order to praise and commemorate Bai Jikang’s merits in caring for the people of Lishui, Bai Jikang was later named the god of Lishui and was worshiped by the people of Lishui for generations. According to the “Lishui County Chronicle”, it is recorded that in the fourth year of Tang Huichang (844 AD), the Lishui Yuan County Ya was rebuilt into the City God Temple. Miaoqian Street is known as “Tongji Street”, and temple fairs are held here on the first day of April and October every year.
Lishui “No. 1 Business District”
Since ancient times, Tongji Street has been the central block of Lishui commerce, trade and circulation. After the liberation, the Tongji Street temple fair on the first day of April and October every year developed into the Lishui Urban and Rural Material Exchange Meeting. Every time there is an exchange meeting, people on the street are shoulder to shoulder, and it is very lively. Since the 50s of the last century, most of the state-owned, collective and private businesses such as Lishui Department Store, state-owned hotels, state-owned hotels, Wujiaohua stores, supply and marketing cooperatives, and stores under the Sugar, Tobacco and Liquor Company have been concentrated in Tongji Street. Later, in order not to affect the city’s appearance and transportation, the two annual material exchange meetings were suspended.
In the 80s of the 20th century, Lishui built medium-sized commercial enterprises such as Tongji Street shopping mall, supply and marketing mall, and the first department store, operating department stores, knitted textiles, cosmetics, hardware, home communications, chemicals, sugar, tobacco and liquor, non-staple food, daily necessities, north and south goods, catering, etc., forming a commercial street.
In 1995, Lishui implemented the renovation project on the south side of Tongji Street, and 20 stores, including the North and South Goods Store, the state-run hostel, and the Tongji Hotel, were demolished. At the end of that year, Tongji Street had a new shop area of 16,000 square meters, becoming the first multi-functional commercial civilized pedestrian street in the county integrating shopping, leisure and entertainment.
In recent years, Lishui District has renovated and upgraded the main street of Tongji Street and the buildings along the South River around cultural relics, helping Tongji Old Street to transform itself with new formats, new landmarks and new definitions, reviving the commercial vitality of the block, reproducing the traditional classical style, reshaping the cultural image of the city, and creating in-depth cultural landmarks and city business cards.
