Feature丨在鄭州，有條喧囂了百年的步行街 Centennial Dehua Street

NB: This may not be a word-for-word transcript.

As the unique "centennial street" in Zhengzhou, Dehua Street integrating elements of history, culture, politics and commerce is the city landmark which concentrates city essence and manifests the city image.

作為鄭州市唯一的一條「百年老街」，德化街融合了歷史、文化、政治、商業多種元素，是濃縮城市精華、彰顯城市形象的城市地標。

Photo sourced by internet

Zhengzhou is a city growing by railway transportation. Sitting nearby the Railway Station, Dehua Street used to attract famous masters and merchants gathering here for business. After over a-hundred-year development since 1905, there are still all sorts of people doing all kinds of businesses on Dehua Street, such as peddlers, street vendors, performers and pedestrians…A mess in a certain order represents the peculiar marketplace cultural charm of Dehua Street which will last forever.

鄭州是火車運來的城市，德化街正好與火車站相鄰，曾經名家薈萃、商賈雲集。從1905 年德化街開街到現在，100 多年過去了，這裡依然是三教九流集聚、各行各業薈萃，沿街叫賣的小販、來往駐足的行人，擺地攤、練把式……看似混亂，卻又有一定秩序維繫著。這就是德化街特有的市井文化魅力，經久不衰。

Thirty years ago, the well-known Zhengzhou commercial war, even spread to the world, took place exactly in Dehua Street Area. And now, in order to build an international commercial center of Zhengzhou, Erqi Commercial District is positioned to be the core demonstration area and image display area, and Dehua Street is to be the City Parlor of the Central Plains Economic Zone, Zhengzhou Metropolitan Area and International Commercial Center.

30 年前，聞名全國、震驚海外的鄭州商戰，也是在德化街片區打響的。而當前在鄭州建設國際商都的大格局中，二七特色商業區定位為國際商都的核心示範區和形象展示區，德化街則定位為中原經濟區、鄭州都市區、國際商都的城市會客廳。

Zhengzhou is the birthplace of Chinese commerce and the origin of commercial cities. "City" was established for war defense; "market" is where the buying and selling occur.

鄭州是商業的發源地，商業城市興起於鄭州。「城」，古時作為戰爭防禦而設；「市」，買賣之所也。

Three thousand years ago, when Shang Dynasty set its capital in Zhengzhou named Bo, connecting the city with market, a commercial city appeared. According to the commercial distribution discipline that "commodities will flow to the market with high profits and leave with low profits" and the fact that Zhengzhou is located in the Central Plains with convenient transportation conditions, it is no doubt that Zhengzhou has been playing the role of commercial center for dynasties. Most of all, in the early Qing Dynasty, Zhengzhou became the railway hub city, integrating the regional advantage with transportation advantage, thus boosting the emerging of large trading ports.

3000 年前，商朝建亳都於鄭州，將城與市結合起來，而成為商業城市。按照「重則至，輕則去」的商業流通規律，鄭州以其位居中原、四通八達的區位優勢，自然成為歷朝歷代的商業中心，尤其是清末明初，鄭州成為鐵路樞紐城市，區位優勢與交通優勢相結合，更催生出大商埠。

Since its establishment, Dehua Street has been sitting in the commercial core area with various industries and stores, forming a structured and standard business model, directly influencing and promoting the blossom of Chinese commerce. The centennial Dehua Street represents the "commercial context" of Zhengzhou. With a-hundred-year development, the business civilization of "integrity" and "equity" with historical influence was established by customs in this street and passed down up to now, becoming the criterion of business activities.

自創立以來，德化街一直處於商埠核心，多業會聚、商戶林立，形成商區規整、生意規範的局面，直接影響和推動著商業的發展。百年德化可謂鄭州這座城市的「商業文脈」，在這條街上，按照商業規律，約定俗成了一系列具有歷史影響的「誠信」、「公平」的商業文明，傳承至今，成為商業活動的準則。

Photographed by Ma Jian

Today, the cultural renaissance project of centennial Dehua in Zhengzhou is proceeding in good order. With remained original cultural features and historical style, the project is going to break the space boundary and fully promote the commercial activities so as to dynamically combine the historical heritage with modern design.

目前，鄭州市百年德化文化復興工程正在有序推進。該項目將打破空間界限，在保留文化特色和歷史風貌的基礎上，實現業態全面提升，讓歷史傳承與現代設計有機結合。

中共二七區委宣傳部 鄭州晚報社

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