Shantang Street Adventure

May 2021

Shantang Street, located northwest of Suzhou City and is the most ancient street in Suzhou. Connecting Changmen Gate in the east to the Tiger Hill in the west, Shantang Street stretches around 2 miles, hence its name “Seven-Li Shantang”. The history of this riverside pedestrian street can be dated back to 1000 years ago when it was originally constructed as a road parallel with Shantang River and as part of the Shantang River Canal Project for the purpose of irrigation, transportation, and waterway dredging.

Shantang Street is a really unique street in Suzhou. Unlike the streets downtown which are crowded with modern skyscrapers and malls, it catches our eyes with featured old houses typical of Wu Culture in ancient times. Shantang was first built back in 825 AD, it served as a link between Tiger Hill and the city. There were temple fairs and markets around Tiger Hill back in the 800s. during those times, people went to tiger hill to attend those fairs from the city. Since shantang street is the path to tiger hill, it became bustling and flourishing. Another reason why Shantang became a street of prosperity is that the shantang river in shantang street served as a waterway connecting the grand canals to Suzhou city. In the past, many businessmen from all over the country had their goods on their boats shipping to Suzhou via this river.

Suzhou is a city of rivers and bridges, and Shantang Street is the most typical of Suzhou streets. Unlike other historical streets in Suzhou, such as the Pingjiang road, the shantang river is right next to the houses instead of having a street between houses and river. There are many shops and houses on Shantang Street. Houses on Shantang street are quite unique. The houses here are mostly along with the street with the front door, and the back door facing the river. Some of them have built special street-crossing buildings.

Shantang Street is also known as the water alley. Boats carrying jasmine flowers, white orchids, and other goods ride on the river. The houses here have stone steps along the river, and people can wash clothes and vegetables by the river. At that time, some vendors were still paddling their boats to sell their goods on the river such as rice and firewood. More than that, there were also boats selling snacks, oil, salt, and sauce. Those who live upstairs don't have to go downstairs, they can just hang down the basket with the rope to buy what you need.

As the most ancient pedestrian street of Suzhou, the layout of Old Shantang Street remains mostly unchanged for nearly 1000 years. Shantang street is divided into two parts by Bantang Bridge (also called Caiyun Bridge). The east part starts from Dusheng Bridge in Changmen Gate, while the west part ends at the Tiger Hill.

At present, there are nearly 200 shops in this commercial block, and most of them belong to four kinds of businesses: time-honored brands, traditional folk crafts, master studios and characteristic creative industries. Along Shantang street, there are many cultural relics.

However, as time passes by and the development of technology, automobiles have mostly replaced the boat in people’s life. Boats are neither served as a way of daily life or a way of cargo shipping transportation in Shantang. With the prosperity on the river disappears, the shantang river now does not have the function of transportation and communication. Now, the shantang river mainly serves as a site and only has a small tourist cruise ship on it.

Shantang Street and Pingjiang road are two representative historical areas in Suzhou. Since they were built centuries ago, they both take part in Suzhou city’s renewal in the 1990s. During the renewal, Shantang and pingjiang used different methods. For shantang street, the government bought all those old houses and moved out all those original residents living on shantang street. The government invited businesses to go to the rebuilt shantang street to sell merchandise. The street soon became a commercial street. Very different than shantang street, pingjiang road did just the opposite. All those original residents living there was not moved out. Pingjiang road residences were able to retain their routines and lifestyle, furthermore, the government had cooperation with the Pingjiang road residents to operate and merchandise together.

Another difference between the renewal of shantang and pingjiang is the different methods used in old building renewal. In shantang street, the old houses were torn down during the renewal and rebuild on the original site without changing its appearance. While the renewal Pingjiang road follows a guideline which retaining the original buildings instead of rebuilding it. In terms of the Exterior renovation of Pingjiang and shantang, it might seem like shantang’s renewal did a better job. The new shantang buildings look really new and clean, the walls are really white and the tiles look straight and clean. Although they did a great job on the rebuilding of the traditional houses, the original buildings that were built thousands of years ago were gone. Despite the fact that the rebuilt ones look identical to the original buildings, they are just not the same. Because the construction workers and engineers who built these buildings are different. And the technology and technique of building are different. For example, the original shantang street’s houses are mainly wooden and used architectural techniques like the Tenon. They are the representation of the wisdom of ancient people. However, with the old original one teardown, they are all gone.

I believe nowadays, tourists are more attracted by the authentic daily life of the city, instead of a place where it is run by investments and built for merchandise. Moreover, a mere tourist attraction is more like a show on a theatre stage instead of a presentation of the history and culture. What can really attract tourists are the real lifestyle and the most original culture. The ancient city protection, should not be something like tearing down and rebuilding. What needs more for the ancient city is proper protection and fine maintenance, and most importantly, the it need continuity of culture and life