Sanfang Qixiang

☆ Save On Wikipedia ↗
Aerial view of Sanfang Qixiang
View of Nanhou Road, through Sanfang Qixiang

Sanfang Qixiang (Chinese: 三坊七巷; pinyin: Sānfāng Qīxiàng; Foochow Romanized: Săng-huŏng-chék-háe̤ng; lit. 'Three Lanes and Seven Alleys') is a historic and cultural area in the city of Fuzhou. Its name is derived from the three lanes (Chinese: 坊; pinyin: fāng; Foochow Romanized: huŏng) and seven alleys (Chinese: 巷; pinyin: xiàng Foochow Romanized: háe̤ng) that comprise the area.

History

One of the Three Lanes, Wenru Lane (文儒坊), in 2015

The district is bisected by the north-south modern pedestrian thoroughfare Nanhou Street (simplified Chinese: 南后街; traditional Chinese: 南後路) and roughly centered around the intersection of Nanhou Street and Anmin Alley. It is bounded by Bayiqi Road (Chinese: 八一七路) to the east and Tonghu Road (Chinese: 通湖路) to the west. It is also bounded by Guanglu Lane to the south and Yangqiao Road (simplified Chinese: 杨桥路; traditional Chinese: 楊橋路) to the north.

Covering a total area of 0.38 square kilometers (0.15 sq mi), it is celebrated as an architectural museum of Ming and Qing dynasty buildings, including numerous National Designated Monuments such as the historic residences of notable figures. Due to the high number of rich, famous and powerful residents, counting 400 in total over the past few centuries, this area has been dubbed the "Beverly Hills of imperial China".[1] Since 2015, it has been designated as a 5A-Rated Tourist Attraction by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.[2]

The area is considered a classic example of the "residential ward" or lǐfāng system (Chinese: 里坊制; pinyin: lǐfāng-zhì), a traditional form of urban planning dating back as early as the Tang dynasty.[3] Thanks to its status as a "living fossil" of such a system, it was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List in 2013,[4] and later designated a National Historic and Cultural Street by the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and State Administration of Cultural Heritage in 2015.[5] Owing to the extraordinary efforts to protect the historic fabrics from Sanfang Qixiang Administration,[6] it was awarded an honorable mention of the 2015 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards.[7]

Areas

Three Fang
Seven Xiang

Notable residents

References

  1. Wong, Maggie Hiufu (31 October 2017). "Fuzhou's Sanfang Qixiang: The 'Beverly Hills' of imperial China". CNN. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  2. [文化和旅游部]国家5A级景区查询_便民服务_服务_中国政府网 (in Chinese). Government of China. Archived from the original on 7 July 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
  3. Li, Mengbi; Xie, Jing (1 July 2023). "Social and Spatial Governance: The History of Enclosed Neighborhoods in Urban China". Journal of Urban History. 49 (4): 723–744. doi:10.1177/00961442211040460. ISSN 0096-1442.
  4. "San Fang Qi Xiang". UNESCO World Heritage Center. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  5. 住房城乡建设部　国家文物局于公布第一批中国历史文化街区的通知. Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development. 3 April 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  6. 三坊七巷管理委员会 (in Chinese). Sanfang Qixiang Administration. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
  7. Bennett, Serenity (1 September 2015). "2015 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards Winners Announced". Bangkok: UNESCO. Retrieved 20 January 2026.