Kuanzhai Alley

Kuanzhai Alley is located near Changshun Street in Qingyang District, Chengdu, consisting of parallel Kuan Alley, Zhai Alley, and Jing Alley, all of which are antique Siheyuan courtyards with green tiles and bricks. It is also one of the larger-scale Qing Dynasty ancient streets remaining in Chengdu, along with Daci Temple and Wenshu Monastery, known as the three major historical and cultural conservation districts of Chengdu. It is the last remnant of the 'Thousand-Year-Old Young City' urban pattern and the century-old authentic architectural pattern of old Chengdu, as well as a 'unique copy' of the northern Hutong culture and architectural style in the south. This Qing Dynasty street area records the vicissitudes of old Chengdu's history, and its architectural style combines the characteristics of Western Sichuan residential houses and northern Siheyuan. Kuanzhai Alley covers an area of 479 mu, with a core protection area of 108 mu. After quelling the Zhungeer Rebellion in the 57th year of Kangxi's reign (1718), Nian Gengyao built a Manchu city on the basis of the old Young City, exclusively for the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners officials and soldiers. During the Qing Dynasty, only the Manchu and Mongolian Eight Banners lived in the Manchu city. After the decline of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu city was no longer a restricted area, and the public could freely enter and exit. Some foreign merchants took the opportunity to open pawnshops near the Manchu city, buying up a large number of Banner people's properties, forming a unique pattern where descendants of the Banner people, nobles, and commoners lived together in the Manchu city. The wide alley here was called Xingren Hutong, the narrow alley was called Taiping Hutong, and Jing Alley was called Ruyi Hutong (Mingde Hutong). After the Xinhai Revolution, the Qing Dynasty governor Zhao Erfeng subsequently handed over power, and the walls of the Young City were demolished. Some nobles came here to open mansions and private residences, and Yu Youren and others settled here, allowing these ancient buildings to be preserved. In the early years of the Republic of China, the city's administrators issued an order to change 'Hutong' to 'Alley'. In the 37th year of the Republic of China (1948), during a city survey, it was said that the workers casually marked the wider alley as 'Kuan Alley' and the narrower one as 'Zhai Alley', and the one with a well as 'Jing Alley'. In the 1980s, Kuanzhai Alley was included in the 'Chengdu Historical and Cultural City Protection Plan'. In 2003, the main renovation project of the Kuanzhai Alley historical and cultural district was established. Based on the protection of the authentic architecture of old Chengdu, a composite cultural commercial street was formed, focusing on tourism and leisure, with distinctive regional characteristics and a rich Bashu cultural atmosphere, and eventually created into a 'Tianfu Young City' with the connotation of 'Old Chengdu Film, New Urban Living Room'.