2024-08-17
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The Lost Ancient City, by Wang Di, published by People's Literature Publishing House
What do you think of when you think of old streets in ancient cities? Small bridges, flowing water, and houses, or alleys and alleys that extend in all directions? Every ancient city and town has its own unique features that blend with the surrounding natural landscape.But nowadays, many tourists’ impressions of the old streets in the ancient city come from the antique buildings, the giant squids, potato skewers, stinky tofu, bamboo cups, not-so-cheap handicrafts and the check-in signboard that says “I miss you so much in ××”.
The national assimilation of ancient cities and ancient streets has turned them into commercial appendages, and many conveniences have been developed and transformed for the sake of commerce.
Last year, CCTV reported that the well-preserved Tianshui Ancient City from the Ming and Qing Dynasties was illegally built and demolished during commercial transformation. The original appearance of the ancient courtyards was changed for commercial convenience, and an ancient street that retained the original appearance of life in the Ming and Qing Dynasties became an old street commercial district that can be seen everywhere in the country. What unique features can tourists feel when walking in such a street? What was the city like in the past? How did people live, work, play and inherit in this city?
Wang Di, a professor of history at the University of Macau who grew up in Chengdu, used a book called "The Lost Ancient City" to tell the daily life of Chengdu people in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China, and to feel the story of Chengdu's transition from tradition to modernity. Activities such as listening to operas, hanging out in teahouses, visiting temple fairs, festival celebrations, street politics, reform and revolution, as well as people of various identities such as beggars, coolies, hawkers, craftsmen, water carriers, fortune tellers, barbers, etc., together make up the fireworks of the ancient city of Chengdu.What kind of development will those things eliminated by the times and those customs that have been preserved bring to the future of this city? In the book, Wang Di discusses the characteristics of the city through the city’s past, and then thinks about the city’s future from the city’s characteristics, hoping that "we can still leave something with local flavor to future generations."