Ladies and gentlemen:
Today we are going to visit zhongyang street. this is the downtown area. inorder to better know the street, we are going to walk through it, which takesabout40 minutes. those who do not like walking may keep seated, our coach willgo along another street and stop at the flood control monument. those who cannotwalk that far may take a taxi to the flood control monument. now let6"s get offthe coach, and take a walk on zhongyang street.
Zhongyang street measures1450 meters from jingwei street in the south tothe flood control monument on the riverbank in the north. this is china"slongest walkway. the street was built at the end of the last century. it wasconnected to a wharf at the songhua river. because of the constant transport ofthe goods needed for building the china eastern railway, a shopping center beganto take shape along this street at the turn of the century. harbin at that timewas a semi-colonial city with a foreign population of many thousands. politicsand economy were actually controlled by foreign powers. owing to theconcentration of chinese shops along this street, foreigners took it as a chinatown and called it china street.
Have you noticed the cobbled road surface? this is the only cobbled streetleft in harbin. this cobbled street was paved in1925. thanks to the goodquality, the street has kept in good shape with a few repairs in the past. thisstreet began to take shape as an international street in the1920s. there wereover a hundred shops and many were owned by forergners, such as russians,greeks, czechs, swedes, swiss, frenchmen, germans and englishmen. they builttheir shops in their individual styles. therefore, the street not only lookedlike a foreign street, but also was controlled by foreigners. now this smoothcobbled street may remind us of the past when foreigners were sitting inchariots along the street, as if we could still hear the horse-hoofs clicking oncobbles.
Over half a century is past , zhongyang street is weather-beaten. with theimplementation of reform and opening-up, it is ready to welcome visitors with anew outlook.
The building in front of us is very attractive. its some and arched windowsare typical of the byzantine style popular in europe during the middle ages. itwas built in1934and it was a shoe shop owned by a czech. after liberation, itbecame a specialty shop-women and children"s department store. it is the biggestspecialty shop along zhongyang street. there are a good variety of commodities.now some world famous specialty chains have also set up branches down here, suchas crocodile, bossini and so on. you can see some gentlemen also wandering inthe women and children"s department store. at such a good shopping place, theywill not walk out empty-handed.
Opposite the women and children"s department store is the central shoppingcity opened in november1994. on its original site there were five small storesrun by russians, which were built in1932. after liberation, they were turnedinto one department store. in1994, the old building was torn down, and thiscomprehensive department store was built. the architecture is a combination of aeuropean castle with modern architecture. it has become a new scenic spot onzhongyang street.
At we go along the road, we are able to see the central pharmacy. it was abungalow before. in1912, german sidemen"s opened a shop here to sell electricalequipment and materials. after liberation, it was reconstructed. now you canfind not only Medicine here, but also the gold lion shop, a super-market and akentucky fried chicken restaurant.
This shopping center was opened in1995. its original site was a shopmanaged by a swede. it dealt in china, porcelain and enamelware. afterliberation, it became a food-store. the building you see now was designed by afamous architect in heilongjiang. it is a masterpiece of adopting reliefsculptures in modern construction. this building is an attractive site inzhongyang street.
The nost interesting building along zhongyang street is the modern hotel.it was constructed in1913. it is of an attractive outlook and magnificentlydecorated. it has a typical baroque style of the neo-artistic period. at first,it was invested and managed by a jewish frenchman. the origin of its chinesename once aroused the interest of many people. there was a column in newspaperfor debating its origin. some held its chinese name came from the word "mother",some said it came from "modern". however, modern seemed to overwhelm mother asyou can see the hotel now used the modern hotel as its english name.
Modern hotel has all the facilities of a modern hotel includingwell-decorated suites, dining rooms and medium and small-sized meeting rooms ineuropean palatial styles. there is a legendary oil painting hanging on a wall onthe landing of the first floor. it was painted a famous russian painter. he wasinspired by "divine comedy"composed by dante. it shows a pretty girl saved byangels from confinement by insects and demons;the girl who endured tortures inhell was about to rise to heaven. this picture was painted red during thecultural revolution. after the cultural revolution, the original painting wasrestored. now we are able to appreciate its artistic charm.
In the past few decades, modern hotel has catered to many famous people,such as well known chinese writers guo moruo and ding ling, and a renownedpainter, xu berhong. those who have stayed here also include distinguishedamerican celebrities such as anna louise strong, edgar snow yue-sai kan. moviestudios have shot movies here. "harbin in the dark night", "london inspiration","the orient express to moscow"have left people lasting memories.
Opposite the modern hotel, there is huamei restaurant. it was malserestaurant serving western food. after liberation, it was rebuilt several timesand two more stories have been added. however, its original european style hadbeen kept. it was reported in1973that there were260 western restaurants inharbin, with over100 concentrated along zhongyang street. huamei restaurant wasone of the best known. now it serves many specialties, such as russian dishes,potted cattle tail, french egg and fried prawns. it is said a russian celebritywho used to serve in the army once visited huamei. after dinner, he could nothelp praising delicious food served in huamei. he declared the russian disheshere surpassed those in russia. he would send chefs from russia to huamei tolearn to cook when he got back Home. now that you know huamei, your knowledge ofzhongyang street will not be complete if you have not tried the food here.
Further in the front, we can see the education bookstore. it wasconstructed in1909. it is a baroque construction, extravagant and novel, withbold lines and strong contrast. over the entrance, there are two staturs. theyare titans in greek fairy tales. the male is atlas and the female is galliached.it is said they hold up the sky with heads and shoulders. education relates tothe future of a country. may these titans hold up the building of education, andaccompany us to a prosperous tomorrow.
Opposite to the education bookstore, the building in the neo-artistic styleis qiulin department store. it is characterized by simple structure, flexiblelay out, free style, and curved decoration. qiulin was constructed in1903. inthe past few decades, it has transformed from a colonial company. it haswitnessed great changes in zhongyang street.
Many people say zhongyang street is a street of architecture as over70buildings appear in different styles. some state it is a small paris in theorient; some assert it is a moscow in the orient; some declare it is a symphony.when you step on this cobbled street, it is as if you could hear a prelude. asyou go further along the street, you can see the women and children"s departmentstore, and the flood control monument at the riverside, as if their variedstructures were different chapters constituting a harmonious tune. this symphonyaccompanies the people in harbin as they suffered before liberation, wanderedthrough the cultural revolution, and ushered in the reform and opening up, andencourages them to face up to the magnificent21st century.
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