Chongqing's Hidden Citywalk: Shichuan Old Street||

||. As a city that is both a large city and a large rural area, Chongqing has many rural areas in each district of the main urban area, except for the Yuzhong district which is the smallest and has no rural areas. Even Jiangbei district, which boasts the most bustling urban circle, has three towns with large rural farmlands. Yubei district has even more rural areas. The urban built-up area of Yubei district is not large, and most of it consists of about a dozen towns and townships, such as the closer Gulu and Yufeng Mountain, the farther Luojiang, Cizhu, Dasheng, and the intermediate Longxing, Shichuan, Tongjing, and so on. Speaking of which, many towns in Yubei have developed rapidly, with main roads built in the towns, rural buses and long-distance buses connected, and all kinds of small shops available. Of course, most of the houses are still low-rise buildings from twenty or thirty years ago, with few of the high-rise residential complexes that are common in the city nowadays. This is different from the several towns in Jiulongpo, where Xipeng, Baishiyi, and other large towns have many factories and enterprises due to their location advantages and industrial planning, leading to good economic development, so the towns are filled with high-rise buildings just like in the city. Of course, each has its strengths, and there is no point in comparing. Shichuan town is actually located on a major traffic route, with the Yulin River flowing through it, and one can cross over Yufeng Mountain from here towards the direction of Changshou. This place was already a large market town during the Qing Dynasty, and the old street has been bustling with people since it was built with many through-and-through structured bungalows. It wasn't until the end of the last century that a larger and wider new street was built nearby, and the old street gradually became desolate. Now, the houses on Shichuan Old Street are mostly preserved, mainly consisting of bamboo and wood partitioned mud houses from before the liberation, along with some brick houses built before the reform and opening up. However, a large part of them are no longer inhabited. Most of the houses have been labeled as dangerous, and they are classified as D-level dangerous buildings. The magic of Chongqing comes again, as many D-level dangerous buildings are still inhabited, with air conditioners installed, the external units running, and the drainpipes dripping water. The external units are firmly nailed to the mud walls, which is quite impressive. Many of these brick buildings were important structures during the planned economy era, such as post offices, banks, and even a church. According to an elderly passerby, this used to be the place where the civil affairs office issued marriage certificates, but now it is indeed a church. It is unclear whether it was a church before the liberation and then used as a civil affairs office before being restored to a church, or if it was originally a civil affairs office and then converted to a church after moving out. Judging by the appearance, I tend to believe the latter. Another feature of Shichuan Old Street is the various slogans on the outer walls of these old houses. There are slogans and quotations from a special decade, as well as some slogans from the early period of reform and opening up. Some are very clear and well-preserved, while others are faint and difficult to recognize. These slogans, along with the old houses, instantly take people back to the era of forty or fifty years ago. So this is indeed an authentic old street, although small and lacking in cultural relics and historic sites, it is not as good as Longxing Old Street and Zouma Old Street.