Chunxilu

Chunxilu night view

Chunxilu (Hanzi: 春熙路 pinyin: Chūnxīlù) is a street and contiguous shopping district in Chengdu, China. More than 700 shops can be found here including large shopping malls, department stores, supermarkets, street stalls, and boutiques, as well as modern cafes, and a public square. Next to Chunxilu is Yanshikou commercial circle.

Geography

An entrance to Chunxilu

The actual street named Chunxilu is about 1.1 km in length. As the shopping district grew, Chunxilu began to refer to the entire area that is south of the East Main Street, East of New South Street, New Middle Street and New North Street, as well as South of Zongfulu (总府路), covering about 20 hectares in total.

The central area contains a small public square with a statue of Father of the Nation, Mr Sun Yat-sen, next to a Häagen-Dazs shop.

History

With a history of 85 years, Chunxilu is the most famous commercial pedestrian street in Chengdu. It was named Chunxilu in 1924, and is also nicknamed the "Hundred Year Gold Street".

Chunxilu started off a narrow alley connected to the Zou Ma Street, creating a straight path leading from north to south, intercepting the East Main Street. With the East Main Street being the only path leading down to the East of Sichuan, it resulted in huge volume of traffic along the road. Merchants used to gathered here, and the road was further developed by the officials then. It solidified its present status during the warlord period of recent Chinese history.

As the Chunxilu area contains the Japanese department stores Ito Yokado and Isetan, it was one site of the 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations.

Coordinates: 30°39′31″N 104°04′43″E / 30.6587°N 104.0786°E / 30.6587; 104.0786

External links

• Travel China Guide
• Phoer.net
• (Chinese) 春熙路.org

References