Citizens walking on the characteristic artistic footpaths 

CHONGQING (CQNEWS) -- There are many amazing places hidden in Yuzhong’s old streets and alleys.

Zaozilanya sounds poetic. Zaozi refers to jujube trees. Lan is the foggy climate in the mountains. Ya is the saddle-shaped depression on the mountain ridge. The name of the lane means that the foggy saddle-shaped depression is full of jujube trees.

The Lane has 288 steps which connect the Zaozilanya Center Street and Renhe Street, so it is a typical old lane in the mountain city. At the beginning of this year, Yuzhong District City Administration took “In Time” as the design theme and turned it into a colorful street.

The “old days” of Chongqing are also hidden here.

Characteristic steps for tourists

Zaozilanya is close to Chongqing People's Auditorium, Qixinggang and Renhe Street. These steps were originally quite ordinary, but they are mainly convenient for the traffic organization of the streets and lanes.

Such steps are a kind of test for tourists, but why attract citizens and even foreign tourists now?

“Such a footpath has the characteristics of the mountain city, tourists can read stories while climbing the stairs, so they naturally do not feel tired,” said the person in charge of Yuzhong District City Administration. It took more than two months to build the footpath, and showed a formal position in January this year. With “In Time” as the design theme, it used modern artistic techniques, spliced with the Mosaic, broken tiles and ceramic rock beam, injecting new vitality to the block and showing the smell of a new era.

In addition, with the theme of excavating the regional culture of the mountain city, reviving the function of the block and showing the changes of the times, the footpath integrates the cultural elements of Chongqing to arouse the memory of the changes of life.

From the “old days” in the 1970s to the “rapid development” in 2000, the representative elements of each era are integrated into the whole design, showing the changes of the Times and the changes of people’s lifestyle, so that everyone walking on the footstep can get back the memory of his or her life and seek for inner resonance.

Feel the colorful “old days” here

When walking along the footpath, you’ll feel as if time is slowing down.

The whole footpath starts from the power distribution room outside the Rear Gate of No. 42 Middle School to the Four Great Classical Novels of China on the thin rock beams at the exit and the stamp aluminum plate prints on the retaining walls on the right road, to footpath entrance, guide map, era logo of the 1970s, dial plate sketch and landscape stone logo, abstract porcelain vertical map of steps, showing the historical sense of changing times.

The sewing machine, bicycle, watch and radio of the 1970s show the planned economy of the last era. They make a lot of people look good, and symbolize a rapidly growing economy.

The graffiti representing the characteristics of Yuzhong District including rail traffic passing through building, Qiansimen Bridge, Arhat Temple, the Great Hall and Jiefangbei spreading on the steps vividly shows the changes of Chongqing with the times. 

The eye-catching letter “2000”, and three walls with the building of the new era as background as well as the reliefs on the wall including cosmonaut, MP3, DVD and camera show the symbols of the era and extend along the walls.

The surrounding framed flower beds and walls with broken porcelains, and the footpath top with building and vehicle outline as background and with “In Time” logo as the overview, contribute a beautiful lane with the characteristics of the mountain city for citizens and tourists. (Translated by Liu Hongyan, Fathom Language Limited)