Shops in Jinan Alleys

Most of old and famous shops exist in the Lotus Street which is of 4m in width and nearly 500m in length. There were over 140 shops in its heyday including tailor s shop, Jewelry shop, dye house, library, photo studio, musical instrument shop, clinic, coppersmith, silversmith shop, optician s, grocery store, shoe and cap shop, clothing store, and even brothel in Lotus Street together with the intersecting Lotus Lane, Jinju Lane and Pingquan Alley, making it the most prosperous market before the opening of Jinan as a port.

It leads the consumers fashion in Jinan, thus constituting a picture of secular custom of Jinan.

In the south end of the street stand two three-storeyed western-style buildings facing to each other at an angle. The gray building to the west of the road is Shandong Education Bookstore, which was established in 1913 by famous educators such as Ju Simin and Wang Zhuchen etc.. After the 1930s, the Dabuzhengsi (Chief Secretary) Street (today s Shengfu Qianjie) was moved here and reconstructed, becoming the most updated and highest building in the old city before liberation.

In old days, it mainly engaged in selling books of the Zhonghua Book Company, as well as stationery and educational equipment, and was popular with readers.

The square building made of red bricks to the east of the road is Guanglishun Grocery Store established in 1920s. As the first one using red brick, the building becomes extraordinarily eye-catching among buildings with black roof-tiles. In particular, the glass and wood cabinet adopted was convenient for displaying goods and became the prototype of modern shops. The goods sold by Guanglishun were foreign groceries including clothes, shoes and hats, silk, silk embroideries, imported porcelain, glassware, clockwork trains and ships. Guanglishun thus became the most fashionable marketplace at that time.

Walking northward from the south end of the Lotus Street, and turning to right at the first sideway leading to the east, you will find the small alley called Lotus Lane, which adopts the same name as Lotus Street. At the north side of the middle section, and at the east side of Pingquan Alley is Dachengyong shoes and hats shop. The shoes produced here were very famous in the city, thus there was such a jingle as wearing the hat of Yipinguan, clothing of Dayou Silk Shop, and shoes of Dachengyong . It easily reveals the popularity of the brand. The existing courtyard built in the late Qing Dynasty (A.D.1644 1911) adopted the style of shop in front and workshop at back which was popular in commercial buildings in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Even now, the pattern design of Ruyi and tile carvings representing happiness and wealth are still preserved. Under the roof overhang of the house are carvings on stone and brick with the pattern of the lion playing with an embroidered ball and other patterns representing big fortune.

The delicate two-storeyed building to the east of Dachengyong Shop is the first dental practice in Jinan, which was founded by Zhang Xunchen, with Linqing as his native place. He studied in Japan in his early years, and then practiced medicine in Shanghai after returning to China, and later on he opened a clinic in Jinan. Therefore, we can find certain characteristics of Shanghai alleys and western-style buildings from the architecture, attached to what is a typical Jinan quadrangle courtyard. The pocket-size dental clinic undoubtedly played an important role in Jinan health and medical history.

Editor: Melinda