History of Jiuyan Bridge in Chengdu

Historical Changes of Jiuyanqiao Wharf

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www.sichuanol.com 2006- 1

Before 1950s, Jiuyanqiao was a lively water pier, from which you had to take a boat out of Chengdu and go down to Chongqing by water. Moreover, all the goods shipped by water from other places have to land here. About 1936 I left my hometown in Nanchong and worked as a waiter in a pub in Jinshui Street near Jiuyanqiao. That was more than ten years ago. It was not until the waterway "declined" that I left the dock and made another living.

The dock is prosperous because of firewood.

Jiuyanqiao Waterfront Wharf is on the south bank of Jinjiang, that is, on the floodplain in front of Baita Temple. Every day at dawn, many ships stop there, ready to go to Leshan. Shipowners sit on the bow and brag or drink tea in a small tea shop on the shore. The water pier in the morning is a bit deserted. There is no business in my pub, but in the afternoon, the dock is very lively. Unloading porters, rickshaws and snack vendors all gathered here, and the path from the shore to the dock was crowded. The reason why it's so lively is that all the boats loaded with Aoki Okagi have come back from Leshan.

At that time, Chengdu had not burned coal. People use firewood for cooking, and there is a great demand for firewood. Leshan, Ebian and Hongya are rich in Aoki, pine and pine. If the local people want to sell wood, they must transport it to Chengdu by water, thus making Jiuyan Bridge prosperous.

After the owner's goods arrived, the boatman's work was finished. They went ashore in twos and threes, drank tea in the tea shop and drank in the pub. And the owner roared loudly: "The goods have been moved out!" Immediately, there was a coolie with a big waist and a round waist. The ship owner hired them to carry the firewood out of the ship at a very low price, and went down to the shore to send it to the firewood shop on the street along the river.

There are many firewood shops in Jinshui Street, Shuijing Street and pholiota adiposa Lane near Jiuyan Bridge, one after another. The owners of the firewood shop often come to my pub to drink. They know me very well. Although they usually only order salt peanuts and drink two glasses of wine for dinner, they are reluctant to eat meat, but they are quite rich. The owner of the firewood shop doesn't go out to sell firewood. They wait for the buyer to come to the door with their feet up every day, which is very leisurely. They usually sell firewood to two firewood dealers.

Second-hand dealers are mostly poor people in Lezhi and Anyue, and many people live in rotten houses in pholiota adiposa Lane. They got some bundles of firewood from the owner of the firewood shop, so they soaked some water to make the firewood swell, so it looked bigger. Then they spread some mud on the outside of the firewood, divide it into more bundles, take it to the city and sell it to households to make some profits. These "tricks" are unknown to laymen. Along with the firewood business, it is the coffin business. Shuanghuaishu Street is a famous coffin street in old Chengdu, which specializes in coffin boards. These pavements have no signs and no coolies, and few people are interested in them on weekdays. There is no funeral, and ordinary people seldom come here.

The poor on the dock

But the only people who get rich on the waterfront of Jiuyanqiao are bosses with financial resources, and the people who work hard here are miserable. Those who move goods and pull carts earn only enough money for a hard day, and occasionally have extra money, either drinking or gambling. More people eat opium with hard-earned money. Near Jiuyanqiao, there is only the lowest-level smoke house, located in a dilapidated wooden house, with an ordinary shop and nothing else. Different from the high-end cigarette shop on Chunxi Road, there are women who pack cigarettes and beat their backs for their guests. The coolies who make a living in Jiuyanqiao are in rags and huddle together to eat opium. Even if the business comes to the door, they still have to indulge in it before they can go out to work. Once these people are addicted to cigarettes, they have no strength to pull carts or move goods, and eventually become "bridge-opening tourists."

There are nine bridge opening in Old Jiuyan Bridge, and the farthest one is bridge opening. Because of the long-term siltation of river mud, it has gradually left the river. Beggars, vagrants and poor people who can't find their way for the time being all live here and become "bridge-builders". It stinks all day and is extremely dirty. Sometimes when you pass by, you can see a person covered under a broken straw mat, revealing two skinny feet, which is really terrible. This is the way to open a bridge, and the same is true on the bridge. On the Jiuyan Bridge, it is the "human market" of old Chengdu. In my spare time, I often go to that bridge, where poor families will sell their children and girls. The wealthy families in Chengdu need extremely young children, grooms and grandmothers, and they all come here to choose. I once saw an old man sobbing and walking on a bridge with a little girl in the country. The girl has a "grass label" on the back of her neck. After the old man sold the girl to a person in a mansion, he sold a pot helmet with the money he sold and handed it to the girl, and then cried and got off the bridge. It is not surprising that such a scene is commonplace on the Nine Eye Bridge.

Dragon Boat Festival

The busiest time on the beach of Jiuyanqiao is the fifth day of the fifth lunar month every year. On this day, people in the city rushed to the east gate to watch the dragon boat race. This activity was naturally organized by prominent people in Chengdu at that time. These military and political dignitaries also use the name Dragon Boat Festival for fun.

On weekdays, the ships docked at the water terminal have changed. The owner planted colorful flags on the ship and hung red silk on the bow and stern. When the ladies and gentlemen come, they will lift the curtain in the cabin and invite them to sit down. There are clean tables in the cabin, as well as all kinds of food, wine, fragrant tea and cigarettes. After the ladies and gentlemen were seated, they comfortably watched the scenery on the boat and made a dragon gate array.

When these people arrive, the Dragon Boat Festival can begin. The distance crossed by the dragon boat is about the section of the river from Xinnanmen to Wangjianglou. On both sides of this section of the river, there is also the Jiuyan Bridge, which is full of spectators. Everyone shouts loudly to cheer for the boatmen rowing the dragon boat. The drummer stood on the bridge and beat the drums desperately. After the song sounded, the boatmen rowed desperately, not only to embarrass the boatmen, but also to win the lottery.

What people on the shore like best is catching ducks. After the dragon boat race, the masters who organized the activities called on people to throw dozens of ducks prepared in advance into the water for anyone to compete for, and whoever grabbed them would get it. This is the most affordable lottery for coolies to open oil and meat. There are often some shore spectators who are good at water, and they can't help but plunge into the river and hold ducks back to have a rare tooth sacrifice in the envious eyes of everyone. But this kind of situation is less, more is nothing, despondently ashore, ducks didn't catch, but ended up wet. Those boatmen are all old hands who fight to the death in the water, and the ducks basically fall into their hands.

Nine-Eye Bridge Digging for Treasure farce

Everyone in Chengdu knows a jingle about Jiuyan Bridge: Shi Niu paid 25,000 yuan for Shigu. Some people can wear it and buy it all. According to legend, when Zhang left Chengdu, he boarded the ship at Jiuyanqiao Pier, and when he left, he secretly buried the stolen gold and silver treasures in the river near Jiuyanqiao. Unfortunately, Zhang didn't come back when he died, and no one knew where the treasure was buried.

Not many people take this legend seriously. Because even if gold and silver are buried in the river, there is no way to dig it. Older people in Chengdu may remember a trick of "measuring water depth", that is, standing on the Nine Eye Bridge, throwing copper coins or five cents into the water, and then pricking up their ears to judge the water depth. Of course, I couldn't hear anything. Although this trick is ridiculous, Jinjiang in 1930s and 1940s was really packed, especially around Jiuyan Bridge. The water surged over the bridge opening, which is not wide, and it was choppy and quite imposing. When there is a flood in summer, water can even reach the deck of Jiuyan Bridge. In this case, it is difficult to dig for treasures, but some people don't believe in evil.

Around the end of 1930 s, someone really came to dig for the treasure. I remember it was a winter, I was cleaning the stove in the pub, and the boss was wandering around. Suddenly the boss ran back to the store and shouted to me and the other two coolies, "Go! Look at the heat, someone is going to dig for treasure in Jiuyan Bridge! " I immediately ran out with my boss after listening.

As soon as I got to the bridge head of Jiuyan Bridge, I saw many officials whispering and smiling. Nearly a hundred people, with tools such as hoes, dug and dug by the river. There is also a big pump pumping water by the river. According to the onlookers, this is a treasure digging company with Paoge and officers as shareholders, which seems to be called "Jinjiang Taoyin" and wants to dig a buried treasure here. So digging in winter is to avoid the flood in summer.

These workers are still very motivated, digging holes and draining water here every day. The news of digging for treasure spread quickly. Every day, crowds of people rush to the East Gate from various streets in Chengdu to watch the workers dig for treasures. There are a sea of people looking at the treasure diggers, and the Nine Eye Bridge is really lively. There are even security guards patrolling the area with guns to maintain order. Business in my bar has been booming these days. I was too busy running errands during that time to watch.

Not long after, a more amazing news reached my ears: Shi Niu and Shigu have been dug for several days, and the treasure will soon "show up"! Hearing the news, my boss and I were very surprised. The original jingle is true. There was only one person left in our pub that day, and they all went treasure hunting. Sure enough, the cows and drums made of stone were dug out and lay in the mud by the river. At this time, the onlookers are already three floors inside and three floors outside. I finally squeezed in and saw several people who looked like technical experts holding machines for testing. Suddenly, an excavator said, "Come out!" "I saw that the pit was full of rusty copper coins, which were glued together. After the workers took out the copper coins, there was nothing left. The onlookers complained one after another: "What, just some rotten copper coins, looking at them for so long. "The farce of digging for treasure ended like this, and then Shi Niu and Shigu didn't know where to go.

Water transport decline

The excitement of Jiuyanqiao Wharf lasted until the early 1950s, and it never flourished again. At this time, there are not many people using firewood in Chengdu. Firewood shops on Jinshui Street closed one after another, and the owners of firewood shops who made enough money turned to other industries, and some even opened coal shops. The firewood dealers who used to live in pholiota adiposa Lane left one after another and went back to their hometown to farm. Since then, there have been no firewood sellers in the streets of Chengdu. The business in my bistro is getting "autumn" day by day. The boss had a long face all day and finally had to close the shop. I also left Chengdu on 195 1. When I left, I specially went to Jiuyanqiao Water Pier to have a look. There are almost no firewood boats in the river, and the lively scene of the past no longer exists, but it is somewhat deserted. Dongmen, a famous water pier, can be said to be thriving because of firewood, but also abandoned because of firewood.

After nearly 30 years of separation, I didn't come to this once familiar place to make a living until I heard that there was a labor market in Jiuyanqiao in the late 1980s. The street near Jiuyan Bridge has remained basically unchanged, except that the arch back of Jiuyan Bridge has been renovated and become more gentle. There is also a new bridge on the west side of the bridge, which is what Chengdu people call the "New Jiuyan Bridge" today. As for the bustling water pier, the strange and interesting things that happened on the pier have naturally become a thing of the past. Coming and going are foreigners carrying woven bags, hanging around the street waiting for their employers, and no one takes a look at the abandoned water pier.

After that, I stayed in Chengdu to do small business, and often went to Jiuyanqiao for a walk when I was free. 1992 Demolition of Jiuyan Bridge and Reconstruction of Nine bridge opening Concrete Bridge. The old wharf actually came in handy, and cruise ships with night flights sailed from here to Huanglongxi, but the days when Chengdu's water transport flourished were gone forever.

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