Guide · Old streets
Southern Song Imperial Street: Hangzhou's Zhongshan Road
The Southern Song Imperial Street is the royal road of Lin'an, as Hangzhou was called when it was the Song capital — today the pedestrian stretch of Zhongshan Middle Road. Reopened in 2009 after restoration, it meets Hefang Street and keeps one of the city's densest runs of listed shopfronts.
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The emperor's road
An official road ran here already under the Wuyue kingdom; when the Song made Hangzhou their capital in the 12th century, they lengthened and rebuilt it as the Imperial Street, the route the emperor travelled, closed to ordinary people and officials alike — hence its other name, the Forbidden Street. With the palace and the imperial ancestral temple it was one of the three great symbols of the dynasty's rule in the city.
Like the imperial street of the old Northern Song capital, it allowed shops on both sides, and it became the busiest commercial street in the capital. Records name more than 150 shops along it, in seven trades: everyday goods; taverns and restaurants; cloth and clothing; stationery and books; medicines; gold, silver and money exchange; and places of entertainment. In the Republican era its separate sections were joined under one name, Zhongshan Road.
The street today
From January 2008 the city restored the Zhongshan Road district, and the Imperial Street reopened on 30 September 2009 as a pedestrian street running north–south from Xihu Avenue to Hefang Street. Together the two streets form one of Hangzhou's historic tourist quarters, at the northern foot of Wu Hill.
Two older landmarks stand on or near it. The Phoenix Mosque, one of China's four great ancient mosques, with a prayer hall of 1281, is on Zhongshan Middle Road itself — see Hangzhou's temples, mosque and churches. The Hu Qing Yu Tang pharmacy, founded in 1874 and opened in 1878, stands at 95 Dajing Lane nearby; its Jiangnan-style halls are now a museum of traditional Chinese medicine and a working drugstore, and have been a national heritage site since 1988.
Listed buildings on the street
17 buildings on Zhongshan Middle Road are on Hangzhou's list of declared historic buildings, most of them shops built between the late Qing and the 1940s: department stores, a silk store, drugstores, a post office and the old Jiuzhizhai shop.
- The Old Site of Jiuzhizhai — between 1911 and 1949
- The Former Site of Shengchang Department Store — 1920s
- The Former Site of Xianzhang Silk Store — 1920s
- The Former Site of Wuzhou Drugstore — 1920s
- Buildings at 168–4, and 170, Zhongshan Zhong Road — 1920s
- The Former Site of Huade Drugstore — 1920s
- Building at 229, Zhongshan Zhong Road — 1920s
- Building at 337, Zhongshan Road (M) — between 1911 and 1949
- Building at 11, Zhongshan Road (M) — early 20th century
- Former Site of a Branch Store of Guangheshun Baoyoufang — 1920s
- Buildings at 81, and 83, Zhongshan Road (M) — between 1911 and 1949
- Buildings at 18, 18-1, and 20, Zhongshan Road (M) — 1920s
- Buildings at 23, and 25, Zhongshan Road (M) — early 20th century
- Buildings at 45, and 47, Zhongshan Road (M) — between 1911 and 1949
- Former Site of Yongtai Department Store — late Qing dynasty
- Former Site of Post Office Branch at Qinghefang — 1920s
- Buildings at 12, 14, 16, and 16-2, Zhongshan Road (M) — late Qing dynasty
On Hefang Street, which meets it at the southern end, Buildings at 152, and 154, Hefangjie Street and Building at 397, Hefangjie Street are listed too. More of the city's old trading houses are on the shops and factories page.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Southern Song Imperial Street?
In central Hangzhou: it is the pedestrian section of Zhongshan Middle Road, running from Xihu Avenue in the north to Hefang Street in the south.
Why is it called the Imperial Street?
Because in the Southern Song (1127–1279) it was the road the emperor used in the capital, closed to everyone else, though shops lined both sides.
How many historic buildings are on the Imperial Street?
17 buildings on Zhongshan Middle Road are on the city's list of declared historic buildings, most of them shops built between the late Qing and the 1940s.
Keep reading
- Hangzhou Historic Shops and Factories: Trade and Industry on the ListHangzhou historic shops and factories: 30 listed buildings of trade and industry, from Qing pharmacies and silk stores to canal transfer firms and 1950s mills.
- History of Hangzhou: From Liangzhu to the Modern CityThe history of Hangzhou in brief: Liangzhu jade culture, the Sui canal and walls, the Wuyue and Southern Song capitals, the treaty port and the modern city.
- Hangzhou Temples, Pagodas, Mosque and ChurchesHangzhou temples and places of worship: Lingyin and Jingci, the three Wuyue pagodas, the Phoenix Mosque and the city's churches, with their dates and history.
- The Grand Canal in Hangzhou: Gongchen Bridge and the Southern EndThe Grand Canal in Hangzhou: how the world's longest canal reached the city in 610, Gongchen Bridge of 1631, and the listed warehouses along its banks.
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