Neighborhood Analysis: Central Shiqiao

Wenfei Luo

INTRODUCTION

With the western suburb, southern suburb, eastern villages and sprawl, and Northern

Shiqiao surrounding it, Central Shiqiao is the commercial, political, cultural center of Shiqiao

Town, Panyu District, located in Guangzhou City, Guang Dong Province in South China. It is

northerly bounded by Shi Lian Avenue (Ping Kang Road), easterly by Guang Hua Avenue,

Southerly bounded by Chang Ti Avenue, and westerly bounded by Xi Li Road (San Tang

Street). West End is the cultural and historical center of the neighborhood. Qing He Ave, the

main path in the map, which runs from east to northwest of the neighborhood, is the most

important transport junction and the most frequently used street in the neighborhood; the most

east section of the neighborhood is lately developed, being less occupied than the central and

west region of the neighborhood, while it contains residential area, Panyu Square and Panyu

District Government. The mid-east of the neighborhood is occupied by residential dwellings, and

less commercial buildings. The middle and mid-west of the neighborhood is the densest area

with multiple uses including famous schools located in its south, the busiest commercial area in

its north, and residential buildings in the east. Qing He Ave, being the central avenue of the

neighborhood, connects the main administrations, the main transportation junction as the

entrance to Central Shiqiao that locates in the east end, to the most developed and densest area in

the west end. Panyu District was once an independent city and benefited from its location—

being the geological center among Macao, Hong Kong, and Guang Zhou, before it was annexed

to Guang Zhou City and became one of the 10 districts in 2002.

Central Shiqiao is a lively neighborhood with a long history of food culture and

trading culture, as it is called “the home of fish and rice,” and it was further urbanized and

expanded owing to the Reform and Opening-up policy which was carried out in 1978.

Urbanization enabled more primary uses to occur in the neighborhood—schools, commerce,

cultural center, and dwellings. However, following the urbanization, the later mass produced

housing projects and the unstopping immigrant waves imply the sprawling of the urban

environment, featured by the severe pollution problem and traffic crowds that affect the west end,

and the semi-slumming community taking over the East End. We should be warned by the

history of American urban development history and devote our effort to preserving our precious

built environment before it is wiped out by the dead cold structures and replaced by an empty

heart of “downtown.” However, the probability of this “dark” future is minimal, firstly because

Panyu District contains many small and introverted villages within it that would not allow

suburban environment to take over. Secondly, the cultural bonding of Shiqiao is much stronger

than it seems to be, and most of the local people will still treasure the sense of home that they

can find in the Central Shiqiao. Thus Central Shiqiao will predictably continue its role as the

district center, while the surrounding mixture of old villages and suburban built environment

might be threatened and therefore might reduce the effective supports from the radiating minor

focuses for the center of the district.

The Boundary of the

Neighborhood

1984 Qing He Ave

HISTORY

Panyu County, with the history of 2215 years, was found in Qin Dynasty--214 BCE.

In Ancient times Panyu County included most of the current cities in south Guang Dong

Province. At that time, Guang Zhou was also included in Panyu County. Panyu had always been

a significant treaty port of China in the many Dynasties. It’s the famous “Home of Fish and Rice”

because it’s easy to get seafood and to plant grain in the area.

In 1921, Guang Zhou was found as a City, and surrounding rural towns have been

annexed to the City of Guang Zhou one after another. By then Panyu was no longer a county,

since it was annexed to Guang Zhou City as Panyu District. Shiqiao has been the political center

of Panyu since 1945. As a coastal city, Guangzhou was the first city in china that encounterd

modernism.

It has been more than one thousand years since Shiqiao was found in North Song

(960 CE to 1127 CE). At the beginning of Shiqiao’s history, a stone gate scripted Shiqiao Shi

was located at the intersection of Da Bei Road, Dong Chong Road, Da Dong Road and Qiao

Dong Road. Therefore people used to name the place Shiqiao. During late Qing Dynasty,

township was defined and thus the town Hall which was located on Shui Bian Wu Down Street,

Guang Ming Nan Road, in Tian Xin Community, was named Shiqiao Town Hall. Tian Xin

Community is located at the west end of the neighborhood, to the northeast of Zhong Yuan High

School. Shi Qiao Town Hall was demolished in 1992 and streets have been built.

During the Republic of China Era (1912-1949), Shiqiao was renamed as Shiqiao

Village, which was the First Class District Environ. Shiqiao has been the political center of

Panyu since the founding of People’s Republic of China (1949-). In 1950, Shiqiao was

annexed to Panyu District and became one of the towns in Panyu District. During the People’s

Commune Era (1958-1964), Shiqiao was named “Shiqiao’s People’s Commune” temporarily.

The old Shiqiao Town was surrounded by Shiqiao’s four rivers--Shiqiao River, Dong

Chong (East River), Xi Chong (West River), Bei Chong (North River). Among them East River

was taken over by roads in Republic Era, and North River was altered to underground channel in

1984. The West River and Shiqiao River (South end) define the edges of the neighborhood. In

1995’s urban development, 200 residential houses which were built above West River were

demolished, and Chang Ti Xi Road was built around the edge of Shiqiao.

Therefore, from Ming and Qing Dynasty to mid-20th century, Shiqiao historically

developed along Shiqiao River, which is a branch of Pearl River. In the early 20th Century, local

stores with upper residential rooms (Qi Lou) were built along Shiqiao River. In the Mid-20th

Century, big landlord like Li Lang Ji built his palace, Qun Yuan in the west end, facing the River.

Since 1978, Shiqiao was opened to global trading and was modernized. In late 20th

century,

urban planning emerged in the central Shiqiao, featured by the development radiating from Qing

He Ave.

SHIQIAO

South Shiqiao is the densest area in Shiqiao town; it is occupied by nearly 80,000

residents and transients. While most of the people living in the area are residents who were born

in here, rooted in the Cantonese culture, nearly half of them were immigrants from other cities of

the Guang Dong Province decades ago or their parents were immigrants from those cities

speaking in different dialects. The minority in the neighborhood are the people who came from

different provinces and rarely use Cantonese during their stay. Among the minor people, some of

them are middle class who have stable and decent jobs in the area, and they are also capable of

providing their children with the best education in the neighborhood—which is in the central and

west region. The rest of the minor people came from the rural areas outside of Guang Dong

Province; they work as the lower class labors in factories, therefore can’t afford to live in the

central region. Some of them rent apartments in the east end of the neighborhood. Usually only

original Cantonese and those middle class Guang Dong fellows who immigrated for decades can

offer to own properties by themselves since Real Estate became a main industry in china. Private

owned properties include houses and apartment units; most of the apartments in the central area

are purchased instead of being rented, while some of the apartment owners may rent their units

to transients for money.

Since the neighborhood is the critical cultural and economic center of the town

culture and the district, the land has been urbanized and planned for decades, therefore it has

been densely occupied since 1990s. There are some early planned small housing projects in the

center of the neighborhood, but most planned housing projects were executed in the East End, or

outside of the neighborhood in Southern Suburb.

Most of the local residents in the neighborhood keep static social economic status as

the local middle class. Due to the trading culture, most of the local Cantonese people prefer

starting their own businesses than working in a company. Since Panyu is a significan treaty port,

great opportunities for trading, investigation in real estate, and opening small enterprises were

offered in between 1980s and 1990s since China has been open to global trading in 1978 for the

first time, thus part of the local people have successfully earned a fortune during 1990s and

1980s. There are people who earned a fortune by evading taxes and smuggling because of the

leak of law in the beginning of Opening. These people have transformed from lower class to

middle class and upper class. Locals who didn’t earn a fortune during that time became middle

class as they began to own their own property (apartment units or houses).

One local family that we know for years first rented a 60 square meters apartment

unit outside of the neighborhood in 1990s, moved to a 90 square meters apartment unit inner

neighborhood in 2000, and several years later they purchased a 180 square meters unit in a mass

produced project for middle class in Southern Suburb.

During 1970s and 1980s, official jobs were distributed to people who owned

bachelor degree according to the policy—the first generation of bachelors since Opening-Up

have been offered the positions of school teachers, institutional or municipal officers, mariners,

and engineers in nationalized company, etc. This job distributing policy ended in 1990s since

expansion of university education began.

Job distribution policy was the biggest reason of the first wave of Guang Dong

immigrants launched in Shiqiao because many properly-educated citizens from other cities were

offered jobs and apartments in Shiqiao. Since Job Distribution policy came to an end, free job

market appeals more less-educated labors to work in Shiqiao. The second wave of immigrants

was driven by money and the higher living quality in the city.

For the 1960s generation, owning a home was made possible for the first time due to

Job Distribution and apartment distribution policy. The main wave of urbanization was fostered

by this policy as well. Since 2000, more and more factories appeared in Shiqiao, thus tons of

immigrant labors arrived. Those factories were run by those people who earned their first fortune

during Job Distribution Era, including local owners and immigrant owners who are mostly from

the same province of Guang Dong (I prefer to call them Guang Dong fellows instead of

immigrants. By immigrants I mean those who came from the other provinces in china.)

Therefore, the second wave of urbanization was fostered by Guang Dong fellows, local

entrepreneurs and the mass of immigrant labors since 2000.

As more and more immigrant labors from undeveloped rural areas came to the city,

local people gradually feel the unsafety in the public area, since crimes happen more frequently

in the area. To local residents, the transient immigrant labors are slum people; people do not feel

safe in the neighborhood because the transients are wandering among us. The immigrant labors

also earn a bad reputation for ruining the environment of the neighborhood; without higher

education and suffering from poverty, they do ruin to the public sanitation of the public realm by

throwing garbage on the streets, spitting on the street and buses, etc. Those immigrants have

been transforming the neighborhood from a local based cantonese neighborhood to a

neighborhood where people tend to reduce using Cantonese in official teaching and when store

owners sell their products, by using mandarin instead.

Many residents may consider the past two decades as a downward for our living

environment. Nowadays the water of the river that goes around our neighborhood is in the worst

condition ever because of pollution—the horrible smell and the darkened color of the liquid

below the bridge never failed to catch my attention when I went to high school. In the past

decade, the neighborhood went through a change of less opportunity in local business, while

more and more undefined immigrant labors surround. Average income remains likely still for

years while price gets increasingly higher on living goods and housing per year. Thus being a

middle class no longer means well-being due to the severe pollution and unsafe food.

The environment of Central Shiqiao is highly threatened by automobiles, because it

is a very dense area with high density of pedestrian users, while the traffic regulation is not

effectively ruling the drivers. Traffic is crowded in the day, and has been worsened in recent

years because drivers often go wild on street. They change lanes unnecessarily and don’t yield

passengers. As passengers walking on the street, we must look around and listen carefully to the

noise caused by the engine of cars before crossing streets because a car may rush into our face in

a sudden.

Motorcycles have been forced out the other districts in the city for several years; in

Guang Zhou, motor bikers used to earn money by carrying passengers around, and they rushed

through the traffic sea being unconscious of the possible danger and accidents. In our district,

motorcycles are not prohibited, so our streets are even more dangerous to pedestrians; we can

always hear the noise of rushing motorcycles. In some conjunctions of roads, there are also

motor bikers who occupy the sidewalks, yell at passengers to ask if they need a ride. In the

evening when you walk to the end of a road and a motor biker who stay in the shadow for hours

can suddenly yell at you.

FOOD CULTURE AND NIGHT CULTURE

Night culture and food culture are the distinct and instinct characteristics of the

neighborhood; the early developed centers like Chang Ti Road along the River and Da Bei Road

have maintained their historical features and old buildings which contribute to their night culture

and food culture. Chang Ti has released its role of major concentration in the neighborhood

because of the later development of Qing He Ave and the severe pollution of the River, but

Chang Ti Road is still a subordinate concentration of night clubs in the neighborhood. Da Bei

Road is still a concentration of shopping among youngsters, although a more popular shopping

mall has been built to the northwest of Da Bei Road. Da Bei Road is the most walkable center for

middle school and high school students, because several schools--Zhong Yuan High School,

Qiao Dong Primary School, are located near it. Later developed concentration --Qing He Ave is

also active at night time--bars and restaurants are built along the west half of Qing He Ave,

featured by Mei Li Hua Hotel. Further east of Qing He Ave, Panyu Square is a newer

concentration of the neighborhood in terms of leisure center and event center. Qing He Ave

extends itself northwest to Da Bei Road. Therefore, Da Bei Road and Guang Ming Nan Road are

influenced by both historical south end and modern Qing He Ave.

The small blocks, alleyways and walk ways that contribute to the circulation of

between Dong Chong Road and Guang Ming Road make the northwest a pedestrian friendly

shopping center; this shopping center has been a concentration of students and youngsters

because of its walkability and popularity.

Most of the Shiqiaoers are night persons. From 8 to 10 pm, Da Bei Road is fully

occupied by young people who come to shop and look around. Night snacks on the street are

young people’s favorite part. Around 10 o’clock in the evening, barbeques, food carts, and big

row blocks start their businesses on the most popular walking paths; they occupy the whole Da

Nan Street, the path connecting Da Nan Street and Dong Chong Street, and the south edge.

Around 8 o’clock in the evening, with warm light casting on the ground, different

kinds of activities take place in Panyu Square; square dance has become the most popular event

among middle aged women. They dance uniformly following the leader, with a music box put in

front of the rows. Many other passengers gather to watch the square dance. Roller skating and

board skating are always kids’ favorite. Color fountains located on both sides of the square are

played. The smell of snacks spread from the food carts that stand in front of the entrance of

Panyu Subway station. People sell toys lying on the floor.

The older centers like Chang Ti and Da Bei Road are featured with community

memory and history; they have small blocks and pedestrian friendly circulations. They have

longer history in Shiqiaoers’ memory than other regions. Shiqiaoers can gain the sense of

identity from their community atmosphere. Panyu Square is newer, surrounded by apartment’s

plans, with longer blocks which are not pedestrian friendly but automobile friendly instead.

Panyu Square is rarely occupied in normal day time because it is mainly used by families with

children after school and work at nighttime, while Da Bei Road is occupied all day and night,

used by different people of the neighborhood--store keepers, restaurants, shoppers, school

students who go the school nearby, old people who live in the nearby old houses, and parents

who keep their children company. The community around Da Bei Road has buildings of

different ages--older houses, schools and several newer built shopping malls.

Therefore, Panyu Square is only a night time concentration while Da Bei is an all-

time concentration of the neighborhood. Da Bei, with a longer history, is closer to the identity of

Shiqiaoer. The comparison between Panyu Square and Da Bei Road indicates the similar roles

played by the East End and the West End of the neighborhood.

Planned in the second half of 20th century, Customs is also surrounded by several

schools and 20th century apartments and buildings, with small blocks. Customs is older than

Panyu Square, but younger than Da Bei and Chang Ti. Customs is the educational and residential

center. It is busy during the day and peaceful at night. The community can be called the Central

Shiqiao community. Compared with Da Bei, the Central community feels more like home to me,

since I had lived in Central Community for over 10 years. It is a peaceful neighborhood; it’s a

joy to see the school students, parents who buy breakfast before school and work, customs

officers with their uniforms on, men and women who shop food and goods in the Market beside

Customs, and the nurses and doctors who work in He Xian Hospital across the street from the

Market to the west. Among the communities of Shiqiao, the Central community keeps the best

private interest in its public realm. Its residents feel calm and peaceful living in it.

THE THREE REGIONS

The history, recent policies, food and night culture all have significant impact on

forming the living environment in our neighborhood.

I lived in my first home in the West End since I was born, then I moved to the

Central Neighborhood before 5 years old. I had lived in the Central District until 10 years old

when I moved to my third home in the East End. The West End was an older neighborhood

developed in early 1900s, but I lived in a small planned housing project that was developed in

1980s. The Central District was the center of Shiqiao which developed since Reform and

Opening-up in 1978, with the great Customs and the best-off schools around it. The East End

was the latest developed neighborhood which is occupied by several mass produced poor-quality

housing projects. Among these three neighborhoods, West End and Central District were more

successful while East End is a failure.

The Central District is a successful neighborhood under Jane Jacob’s criteria for

successful cities. Customs, schools, hospital, dwellings create the mixed primary uses of the

Center.

The city streets in a successful city are equipped to handle strangers and maintain the

safety of the neighborhood.1 The basic requisite for surveillance is a substantial quantity of

stores and other public places sprinkled along the sidewalks of a district.2 Take Panyu Customs

as the center, there are two main walking paths intersecting with Qing He Ave—De Sheng Road

and De Xiang Road. Standing at the intersection between Qing He Ave and De Sheng Road,

heading to the east, are clothe shops, comic book and fashion magazine store on the left, and

finally Dong Feng Middle School. Behind the front stores of the left side is a residential

community called Dong Hui Yuan. On the right side of the road, there’s breakfast restaurant,

balloon toy store, clothe shops, tutoring center, and finally across Dong Feng Middle School is a

24-hour bakery and Dong Cheng Kindergarten School. Therefore, these shopkeepers were

effective eyes on the street, especially for the balloon toy storekeeper who lives inside the

building and run her business in front of the building, the 24-hour bakery that welcomes students

and parents and other clients even late in the evening. Since Chinese middle school students are

all required to attend a night self-study class, those students can get hungry when they left school

at 9pm and get to buy some bread, cakes and hotdogs from the bakery. For late night loitering,

the bakery is also a possible termination for teenagers. An example might be my own story—two

classmates and I decided to watch a shooting star that was predicted to occur at that night,

therefore we kept loitering around the neighborhood since 9pm. We didn’t see the shooting star

until 3am the other morning, and we eventually arrived at the bakery which was the only lighted

store at the moment, so we stopped and took a nap there, until we left the bakery around 5:30am.

Therefore, parents, students, shopkeepers keep the street watched during the day, while the

bakery and middle school students as well as their parents can keep an eye on the street during

nighttime. Therefore, schools and dwellings are primary uses that bring secondary diversity of

stores and shops to the street.

De Xiang Road is also occupied by different kinds of stores—clothes shops,

stationery stores, flower stores, snack stores, newspaper and magazine store, and sewing shop.

1 Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House, 1961.

2 Jacobs

De Xiang Road has several public acquaintances; the couple owners of the magazine store we

firstly encounter have run their business for decades, therefore they surely know what students

are recommended by their teachers to read and what newspaper sell best in the region. They

know all the familiar faces who like to buy their magazines. Further down the road is the sewing

shop owner, who is spotted to be sitting there each time I crossed by, who would say hi to me

and keep her smile when she sew the school uniforms or try to make the trousers shorter for her

clients. She also has been in the area for decades. I was happy to see her still sewing when I

returned to china last summer break. Residents in the region must feel calm and peaceful when

they see her face. Further down the street, across from Dong Cheng Primary School, stands a

stationery store that has been there for decades as well. I never bought my stationery elsewhere

for years. They just know what brand of water pens I like to use. The other clothes shops settled

on the street later, probably attracted by the residents and students in the region. Therefore the

casual public sidewalk life remains well in the central region. The feeling of the public identity

of people is kept by the public sidewalk contacts.3 Residents are aware of the public respect and

trust among people.4

Central District consists of offices, schools, dwellings, and Dong Cheng Market as its

mixed primary uses.5 Dong Cheng Market attracts people to shop foods and goods in the day,

and it also contains many relative small enterprises and retails within the market as well.

Although the Central District is not equipped with night clubs, bars for nighttime uses, it is still a

very safe region. We have saying that thieves are all sleeping when Central District is dark. In

fact, besides middle school students and their parents, other residents of dwellings in the region

compensate the hole of bars and clubs for nighttime users of the streets.

My third home in East End was an apartment unit in a small planned housing project

of government officers dwellings built with public money. The other mass produced housing

projects around us were built later, therefore we didn’t know how the surroundings would be

formed when we moved in. The later development of the East End proved that it became a semi-

slum because of the homogenous primary use of the neighborhood as dwellings and therefore the

immigrant transients who rent in the mass produced apartments were to blame.

3 Jacobs

4 Jacobs

5 Jacobs

According to Jane Jacobs, transients are ignorant of the safety of the sidewalks in a

neighborhood.6 They don’t consider Shiqiao as their home because they frequently move and

don’t own their own property in the city. We can’t keep track of their face. These transients are

commonly seen in the East End.

Those housing projects make the streets dead and boring; take our project for

example; it contains two high residential buildings, a grass plaza, and a recreation building. The

project is bounded by one story walls; stores were built along the boundaries, facing outward.

The cheaper mass produced housing project to the east of us is also bounded by this kind of

“store walls”. Therefore, the only “public realm” for residence of our project is the grass plaza

and the recreation center in the project. Residents rarely loiter out of the boundary at night. They

are afraid of the surrounding environment beyond the boundary. The reason why people do not

dare to walk outside the project is that although there are stores surrounding the project, they are

not built along sidewalks like traditional city sidewalks. These stores are facing the super wide

Qing He Ave with nothing more than automobiles crossing by. There are no potential users for

sidewalks in the evening because of the homogenous primary use of dwellings. Thus the

sidewalks are not equipped to handle strangers; in around 2008, a sister of a resident in the

project was reported to be robbed and one of her arms were chopped off right in front of the

entrance to the project around 11pm, the stores on the sidewalk were mostly closed at the

moment, so there’s no effective eyes on the street.

The public space—grass plaza and the recreation center—cannot maintain a normal

public life of a city, because people feel cannot keep their privacy—they jog around the grass

plaza every day and encounter their coworkers. They don’t have a public contact to have a casual

conversation with, thus gossip never ends. The project sounds like a private realm for the officers

and their families, but lacks normal public life in a city. The public life of the project is not bad

only because the owners have the similar social background, and they can also enjoy their public

life elsewhere by driving to the nearby Panyu Square or the other neighborhoods. As Jane Jacobs

presumes, the sense of togetherness in this kind of housing project is very selective; residents are

choosy as to who their neighbors area and with whom they associate with. Our project, which is

aimed at the government officers’ housing, houses the selected middle class people in the society,

6 Jacobs

while the surrounding low rent projects house lower class people and probably immigrants from

other regions of the country, thus we consciously avoid friendliness or casual offers of help

outside our project. Segregation and discrimination is not resolved in these housing projects. No

new people were met outside our “private” social circle, but our privacy is kind of violated.

Furthermore, when some of the apartment owners try to sell their units to someone “outside”

when they have enough money to afford a property in a better neighborhood with better

surrounding environment or a bigger house, residents who choose to stay would complain how

their neighbors in the same building are going to be unknown strangers, therefore the social

network which was once “stationary” has been destroyed by property transfer.

The West End, the earliest developed region in the neighborhood, is the most

successful region in terms of city diversity. For West End, commerce has formed a primary use

because it attracts users all day including nighttime. Schools and offices, and dwellings and

Panyu Library are also its primary uses. Movie Theater, Panyu Shiqiao Cultural Center, and New

Plaza are the secondary uses that bring diversity to the neighborhood. The West End simply

shows what a walkable traditional town should be like. Schools draw students and parents to the

region early as 6 am in the morning. New Plaza attracts many seniors who like to play Chinese

chess and do stretch exercise in this garden-like recreation square as early as 6:00am. Office

buildings have worker that got to work at 8:00am. The stores in Da Nan Road open at 10:00 am

and start to attract people who come to shop. Noon sees students leaving schools and office

workers heading for surrounding restaurants for lunch. After 6:00pm the shops, the stores and

restaurants get a lot of consumers including young people from other neighborhood who come to

shop. As mentioned, small blocks and walkable alleyways between streets are featured in the

West End. Therefore snacks also attract many visitors from other neighborhoods. West End has

great density of users at any time of the day, thus it satisfies the need for concentration of people

as the condition for city diversity. West End has some older buildings when compared with the

Central District and East End, so it owns the many alleyways between the old buildings that

contribute to the convenience of walking through small blocks and fosters the small barbeque

enterprises that occupy the alleyways during nighttime; for sure those snack carts and barbeque

cart owners won’t be able to afford the rent of a store that on a wide street that is occupied by

automobiles. This confirms how aged buildings are needed in a city for generating diversity.

Thus the East End is lacking mixed primary uses, small blocks, and aged buildings

which are vital conditions for city diversity, while Central District has mixed primary uses, small

blocks, but lacks aged buildings for generating diverse uses during nighttime. Lastly, West End

has the longest history and memories, has the densest concentration of people in the region yet

not overcrowded, has mixed primary uses which have evolved in the region for decades. The

small blocks, aged buildings, alleyways, and the lack of housing projects make it a lively and

diverse city neighborhood.

SYMBOLISM

According to Venturi, the communication between architecture, landscape and

people is significant. 7Architecture with symbols associated with meaning and history can better

communicate with people. On Qing He Ave, white concrete 8 stories high dwellings with

storefronts on the first floor are commonly seen. These dwellings were built in 1980s and 1990s

to house the increasing population in the neighborhood, while they also symbolize the first wave

of urbanization and the beginning of property. Most of these dwellings do not exceed 8 stories

because stories are limited for buildings without elevators. The storefronts on the first floor of

the buildings form a commerce wall along the sidewalk. The façade of a house is never seen on

the street because they are all bounded in the specific housing projects inward of each block,

hidden behind the exposed commerce. Therefore, the uniformed storefronts with apartments

above them form the basic image on the street when one is driving. This uniformed background

makes it easy to notice when a modern building like a glass walled building or a skyscraper stand

out. When such modern buildings occur, they usually keep a greater setback from the street, or

are surrounded by plantation and grass. The surrounding plantation and grass form a different

background for contrast with the rest of the street view. Thus the identity of the glass buildings is

strengthened as landmarks. The dense dwellings and stores also make a contrast with the relief of

space of these landmarks. Panyu Government, Zhong Yin Building, and Customs are all clearly

identified landmarks when they are observed externally in this way. The layout of their plans

hints the significance of them as civic power and financial power from far away. They

communicate well with both drivers and pedestrians by their changing proximity to the street.

7 Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steve Izenour, Learning From Las Vegas.

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1972.

Their architectural forms also indicate their significance; the clock tower of Customs building

symbolizes the civic power of Customs carries as well as the significance of time in trading.

Since Chinese people are not familiar with Western architecture, bare glass wall and absolute

symmetry symbolize importance or money. Therefore, glass wall is the most obvious symbolic

decoration of these buildings, while the signage on the storefronts becomes the explicit symbols

of the vernacular buildings. In this way the vernacular buildings become decorated sheds defined

by Venturi8. Customs is a decorated shed with associated social meanings as well.

QUALITY OF THE IMAGE

Significant Paths, edges, nodes, and landmarks chosen by subjects

According to Lynch, the image of a city consists of 5 physical elements including

paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks.9

Paths: “paths are the channels along which the observer customarily moves.”10

According to subjects, the parallel East-West paths, Qing He Ave, Shi Lian Ave (Ping Kang

Road), are two main paths in the neighborhood. Besides these two paths, the subjects tend to

8 Venturi

9 Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1960.

10 Lynch

move South-North, and chose their potential paths according to their uses; most of them chose

Huan Cheng Dong Road and Dong Chong Road as their main paths.

Edges: “Edges are the boundries between two phases, linear breaks in continuity.”11

All the subjects chose Chang Ti Road (along river) and Xi Li Road (west arm of the river) as

their boundaries.

Nodes: “Nodes are points, the strategic spots in a city into which an observer can

enter, and which are the intensive foci to and from which he is traveling.”12

Subjects chose the

intersection between Dong Huan Road and Qing He Road, the intersection between Ping Kang

Road and Huan Cheng Dong Road, the intersection between Yu Shan Da Dao and Da Bei Road,

and the intersection between Dong Chong Road and Ping Kang Road as the main nodes in the

neighborhood.

Landmarks: landmarks are a type of external point-reference where the observer does

not enter within them.13

Panyu Government, Panyu Square, and You Dian Building (the post

and telecommunications building) are chosen by all the subjects. Subjects chose their other

landmarks based on their daily use and knowledge of the neighborhood.

To create a vivid image, the elements should be able to strengthen their clarity and

singularity. Paths should be continuous, with clarity of direction and hierarchy among

themselves so that people can be oriented, and travel through the neighborhood can be scaled.

Qing He Ave and Shi Lian Ave (Ping Kang Road) intersect with the other South-North paths

perpendicularly, therefore the orientation of East-West and South-North is clear. Qing He Ave

and Shi Lian Ave (Ping Kang Road) are continuous within the neighborhood. Qing He Road

grooves upward at the West End and continues to the North, while Ping Kang Road continues to

west. In Shiqiao, there are three main bridges that lead to the southern suburb, including De Xing

Bridge on De Xing Road, Nan Jiao Bridge on Gong Ye Road, and Xi Li Bridge on Xi Li Road.

Therefore the orientation of South-North is clear. The width of Qing He Ave gets narrower when

it goes from East to West—6 lanes at East End gradually become two lanes at West End. Ping

Kang Road remains 2 lanes from east to west, while the setbacks of the buildings along the street

get smaller as it travels from east to west. The different uses of the different parts of the

11

Lynch 12

Lynch 13

Lynch

neighborhood strengthen the orientation of the paths and motivate the change of mindset as one

travels from south to north and from east to west. The subjects can sense the newer settled,

clearly laid out east end, the clearly laid-out public spaces in the central region, and the diverse

and lively activities happening in the west end. The presences of other city elements also

strengthen the image.

Nodes, as the introverted point reference, should have sharp and closed boundaries,

or it is break in transportation. One should be clear of how to enter and go outward of the node,

thus a node should be visible from the outside. Nodes can be strengthened by high landmarks.

The nodes chosen by subjects are all intersections between paths and intensive focal points.14

The intersection between Yu Shan Da Dao and Da Bei Road has sharp and closed

boundaries. It is enclosed by commercial districts with buildings in different heights from four

directions. There’s an overpass for pedestrians to cross the streets since the traffic is so busy in

this node. Automobiles can take a break in this node to decide whether to go to the north Shiqiao

or back to the old town, whether to go to the western suburb or the East End. Therefore this node

is an intense focal point for automobiles and pedestrians.

The intersection between Dong Huan Road and Qing He Ave is a node because it is

where automobiles enter the town. Panyu Square is also a node for transportation—beneath it is a

subway station, which is the termination of the main city line. The intersection is the corner and

exit of highway, and is strengthened by landmarks of Panyu Government, Panyu Square and a

skyscraper of Zhong Yin Building. The northeast boundary of this node is not sharp because the

Luo Community in that area is pretty closed and introverted, leaving a blank between the East

End and it. The flow of traffic can lead people to the right direction, but the boundary is a little

confusing as for the image.

As Lynch suggests, landmarks are strengthened when they are grouped, and when

nodes are joint with them, more attention is driven.15

Panyu Government and Panyu Square are

grouped. Panyu Government plays the role of civic power while Panyu Square creates a more

leisure and relief feeling; orientation is more clarified when people see the two landmarks

reacting to each other. Transportation break is also acting to strengthen the image; the overpass

14

Lynch 15

Lynch

highway to the east of these two landmarks convinces that one is entering Shiqiao Town. When

one drives down the highway and enter the intersection, one can spot the skyscraper standing

beside Panyu Square, and the realm of Panyu Government during the break of traffic light.

Turning right, one would enter the wide street of Qing He Ave. One is getting closer to the great

Government building and Panyu Square. Therefore it is clear how to enter and exit the node.

Lynch’s argument that the users who are more familiar with the city would orient

themselves with landmarks rather than paths16

is true; the subjects all come up with different

landmarks in their mind, depending on the frequency of them using the related paths.

The quality of the five physical elements shows that South Shiqiao has a vivid image

that is identifiable because of the contrast of the built environment between the south and the

north, and between the west and the east. The East End of the neighborhood has a boring image

because it only contains mass produced housing projects that are so introverted. The three of the

North-South oriented paths that lead to the southern suburb are not so vivid because they don’t

have the unified view along the path, hence people don’t recognize them as potential paths.

ICONS AND ALIENS

Along Qing He Ave, Icons built in late 20th century are seen. These were previous

Aliens in the neighborhood, but already transformed into Icons in the neighborhood.17

16

Lynch 17

John J. Costonis, Icons and Aliens.

Panyu District Hall, viewing from Panyu Square

Panyu Square, Panyu District Hall and Government, and Panyu Customs are the

icons in my neighborhood. Most icons are institutional buildings. Panyu Square is a center for

leisure and recreation and events. It shows the excitement of the neighborhood, the hospitality

and friendliness of neighborhood residents, as well as the night culture. Many of the big cultural

events take place in the Square; in Lunar New Year Festival, New Year’s Eve, beautiful

fireworks are played, thus residents can come to the Square to watch the performance. A week

before Lunar New Year, Colored Street is settled--the adjacent street to the south of the Square

will become a commercial street for temporary stores selling flowers, lucky plants, handicrafts,

toys, Chinese traditional handwriting with lucky words, poems, etc. Two intersecting streets will

be decorated with colorful lights. Colored Street is a temporary celebration for the coming of

Lunar New Year, where people encounter their acquaintances at schools, at work, and in daily

life. Familiar faces are likely seen in the yearly event. Besides, on Food Festival, food from

different provinces in china is brought to the event held in Square, thus people can taste different

style of Chinese food in the Square.

Across Qing He Ave is the other Icon in the neighborhood--Panyu District Hall. It’s

a master planned site built in the beginning of 21st Century.

Panyu Customs, 1988

Panyu Customs is also facing Qing He Ave. It was built in 1988 after the Opening of

China in 1978. It locates in the educational center of the neighborhood, since Dong Cheng

Primary School and Kindergarten, Dong Feng Middle School are all located to the south of

Panyu Customs across Qing He Ave. Panyu Customs is also a planned site; a spire tower rises

above the glass walled structure sitting on an elevated base, surrounded by grass, preceded by

concrete residential apartments for officials and their families, and a basketball field facing the

apartment building. Customs is bounded by barriers, but it is commonly seen by pedestrians and

drivers along Qing He Ave.

Tian Mu Mall-left, store-apartment buildings -right

Residential apartments were also built in late 20th century and early 21st century.

The photo below shows the residential apartments built in late 20th century and part of the Alien

across the Qing He Ave which was built several years ago. The Tian Mu Mall, which stands in

the corner between Qing He Ave and Gongye Road, suddenly interrupts with the storefronts and

vernacular buildings facing the streets. It is a glass walled building in great scale, without any

setback from the street. Its entrance faces directly to the corner of the street, beside the surpass

bridge extended on Gongye Road. It’s a terrifying burden in terms of its great size and location,

because it doen’t fit in the image at all. Storefronts with apartments above them were replaced by

this big glass Alien. This kind of building should be placed on a shopping plaza with great

setback from the streets, instead of standing in a dense commerce and residence mixed clusters

like this. It is not surprising that the mall can’t attract any consumers at all, because the building

gets even more annoying in transportation break.

OLDER ICONS

Older Icons were built along the river on Chang Ti Road.

Qi Lou, built in the early 20th century, is found on Chang Ti Road, which is the

south edge of the neighborhood, facing Shiqiao River. Qilou buildings are unique to the southern

part of china. The architecture type is popular in 1920s in Guang Zhou. Qilou buildings have

been closely related to the city’s booming business economy. “Business” was the concept of the

Qilou design, and we can find examples of ancient buildings with similar design elements dated

back to Song Dynasty.

Since Qing Dynasty (1616-1911), western things have been emerging in China.

Greek architecture with corridors had just been introduced to Guangzhou, which eventually

became the rudiment of Qilou building type.

During the late 19th Century and early 20th century, many Cantonese merchants

returned to their hometowns from other Southeast Asian countries to building their own business.

They brought some exotic styles of architecture, and soon Qilou building emerged. Most of the

Qilou buildings are three or four storied, with a protruding structure, arcade, stretching above

from the second story over the sidewalk. These arcades are linked together by the side of the

street, forming a shaded corridor, which keeps the shops along the sidewalk as well as the

pedestrians safe from the scorching sun and rain. It rains a lot in the spring in Southern China.

Therefore, Qilou buildings, which are suitable for sub-tropical climate in Lingnan areas,

providing convenience for the local people, were once the main architectural style in Guangzhou.

Qun Yuan, built in 1941

Qun Yuan was built in 1941, and was rehabilitated in 2008, now registered as a

Cultural Heritage of Guang Zhou City. Qun Yuan is surrounded by summer corridors, supported

by red round brick columns and bounded by red brick walls. The main front of Qun Yuan

follows the Ru Yi Door building type, featured by Chinese traditional green glazed flying tile on

its roof. There are 5 main buildings inside Qun Yuan.

Therefore, the older traditional architectures of early 20th century were built along

the river. The previous District Hall (20th century) was located beside Qun Yuan. Qun Yuan is

now serving as the activity center for seniors in the community.

In china, the preservation of old buildings and historic sites are mainly carried out by

the different levels of government according to their registered level. A regulation for example,

Qun Yuan is designated as the Cultural Heritage of Guang Zhou City, thus it is supposed to be

maintained and preserved by the Office of Guang Zhou Cultural Relics, according to the

Regulation of Carrying out the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Protection of Cultural

Relics, which was passed at the 20th

Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National

People’s Congress on June 29, 1991.

The administrative department for cultural relics under the State Council shall take charge of the work concerning

the protection of cultural relics throughout the country.

Article 9 Peoples governments at various levels shall attach importance to the protection of cultural relics and

correctly handle the relations between economic and social development and the protection of cultural relics so as to

ensure safety of the cultural relics.

The cultural relics are designated by the Office of Cultural Relics; the Office of

Cultural Relics has experts on Cultural Relics who would carry out annual survey on subjects

that should be designated. According to the Office of Cultural Relics of Panyu District, Qi Lou in

Shiqiao is not designated as cultural relics, but significant Qi Lou streets in other districts of

Guang Zhou are preserved by the City of Guang Zhou.

Qun Yuan on the right, Old District Hall on the left.

Old Houses adjacent Chang Ti, built in early 20th Century.

It’s not exaggerating to say that most of us who were born in the 1990s were born in

the realm of Aliens because not many of us have lived in a house like this. Although we are

accustomed to skyscrapers and apartments, we are still familiar with older houses and older

neighborhoods, because of food. As we know, Shiqiaoers can’t live without seafood and street

food. Snacks and food carts often like to occupy a place where there’s no Chengguan--City

Inspectors who prohibit food carts, therefore the best place for avoiding the inspectors is the

alleyway between those older houses. The frequently used alleyways often maintain a sense of

“tradition”, “home” and “leisure.” People feel free and relaxed when they enjoy sitting on a

plastic chair, eating beef offal in the plate.

CONCLUSION

The West End of Central Shiqiao, with mixed primary uses that draw continuous

users, small blocks articulated best for pedestrians, alleyways that foster street food culture,

concentration of population, and old buildings that enables the diversity of enterprises, becomes

the most diverse neighborhood with the longest history to be memorized. Business culture, food

culture and night culture, which were fostered historically by the local residents, were

dynamically infused to the public realm of the West End, interwoven with the later developed

industries, enterprises, local middle class dwellings, educational centers, and cultural center. This

distinct culture strengthens the identity and the image of the neighborhood, because most of the

local residents maintain their memories associated with the cultural atmosphere of West End, and

would like to continue living with it. The continuous users ensure the safety of the densest region

of the neighborhood. The West End is equipped well enough to handle strangers and people of

different social classes and cultural background. The dynamic circulation of paths in West End

also indicates the minimal segregation of social classes and the spirit of inclusiveness. Therefore

West End has the best public interest.

The Central Region of the neighborhood, which was carefully laid out in the 20th

century, with the most reliable educational centers in the neighborhood, the civic buildings that

are most relative to the local culture of business—customs, the most popular market, and the

middle class dwellings that are infused into the blocks, keeps the best balance between private

and public interest, and owns many reliable public characters in the community, thus the

community remains good contact among the residents and users, and has the best self-

surveillance in the community. The West and Central regions together form a successful urban

center for the district.

The East End of the neighborhood, developed by the money-driven real estate

investigators and developers, has a chaotic and confusing built environment that hints urban

sprawl, with the cheap mass produced apartment projects spreading over the region. The

introverted housing projects and the introverted previous villages nearby strengthen the

segregation of different social classes and people from different cultural background. The East

End is lacking mixed primary uses, small blocks, and continuous use of the streets, mainly also

because of the mass produced projects since they are bounded tightly inward, and are not

blending into the image. Therefore, it’s a failed minor focus radiated from the center of the

neighborhood.

The image of Central Shiqiao is vivid on the west-east paths because of the

distinguishable different features in physical plans and atmosphere among the three regions.

Therefore, we should protect the precious old buildings in the West End, think

carefully before a new development or investigation comes in, in order to maintain the identity of

the neighborhood, and to prevent an urban center from becoming an empty heart.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House, 1961.

Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steve Izenour, Learning From Las Vegas.

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1972.

Kevin Lynch, The Image of the City. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1960.

John J. Costonis, Icons and Aliens.1991.