Zhongshan Road
Encyclopedia
Zhongshan, Jhongshan or Chung Shan is a common name of Chinese roads, usually in honour of Sun Yat-sen
, better-known in Chinese as "Sun Zhongshan", who is considered by many to be the "Father of modern China".
In Chinese cities, Zhongshan Road is often one of the city's principal roads. As a result, the road is often very long and divided into numbered sections. In Guangzhou
, the Zhongshan Road is separated into eight sections, identified as the First Zhongshan Road to the Eighth Zhongshan Road. In Shanghai
, Zhongshan Road stretches around the whole city, the road is divided into numerous sections, identified by a direction and a number, such as the East-1 Zhongshan Road
.
In some exceptional cases, a "Zhongshan Road" can have other significance. Zhongshan Road in Shijiazhuang
, for example, is named after the Zhongshan
state and later commandery, not Sun Yat-sen.
party re-unified China in 1928. As a result, numerous monuments were erected in his honour throughout China, and a large number of streets, parks and schools, and even his birth city (Zhongshan
, Guangdong
) were re-named in his honour.
When the Republic of China
government took over Taiwan
at the end of World War II
, the practice of naming streets and parks after Sun, and erecting monuments in his honour, spread to the island as well.
Between 1928 and 1949, in a move designed to parallel the adulation of Sun, a number of roads and institutions were named "Zhongzhen", after Chiang Kai-shek
, also known as "Jiang Zhongzhen", who saw himself as the successor to Sun.
In 1949, the People's Republic of China
led by the Communist Party of China
took control in mainland China. Over the following years, streets and institutions named "Zhongzhen" were re-named, but Zhongshan Roads were not re-named, and survived "revolutionary" name changes in the Cultural Revolution
. A conventional practice developed where no streets would be named after a political leader, except for Sun Yat-sen. In mainland China today, Sun Yat-sen remains the only modern politician commemorated in road names: no Communist leader, such as Mao Zedong
or Deng Xiaoping
, shares this privilege.
In Taiwan, Zhongshan Roads are as ubiquitous, if not more, compared to mainland China. In recent years, the administrative merging of neighbouring towns have sometimes resulted in duplicate Zhongshan Roads within the same locality, and as a result some such roads have been ren-named.
, in honour of Sun, who had set foot and lived in Macau
. One road is called Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙大馬路), located at the southern part of Macau Peninsula. The other road has the same name Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙博士大馬路), located at Taipa Island. While the official Portuguese name of the two roads are the same, the Chinese translations are different. There is also a traffic roundabout, called Rotunda Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙博士圓形地) joins two sections of the Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-sen (Taipa) as well as the Avenida de Guimarães (基馬拉斯大馬路).
Yixian (逸仙), another name of Sun Yat-sen equivalent to the common English
version of "Yat-sen", is also a popular road name. In Shanghai, Yixian Road connects the Inner and Outer Ringroad expressays.
.
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
, better-known in Chinese as "Sun Zhongshan", who is considered by many to be the "Father of modern China".
In Chinese cities, Zhongshan Road is often one of the city's principal roads. As a result, the road is often very long and divided into numbered sections. In Guangzhou
Guangzhou
Guangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, the Zhongshan Road is separated into eight sections, identified as the First Zhongshan Road to the Eighth Zhongshan Road. In Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
, Zhongshan Road stretches around the whole city, the road is divided into numerous sections, identified by a direction and a number, such as the East-1 Zhongshan Road
The Bund
The Bund is a waterfront area in central Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District...
.
In some exceptional cases, a "Zhongshan Road" can have other significance. Zhongshan Road in Shijiazhuang
Shijiazhuang
Shijiazhuang is the capital and largest city of North China's Hebei province. Administratively a prefecture-level city, it is about south of Beijing...
, for example, is named after the Zhongshan
Zhongshan (state)
Zhongshan was a Di state created by the nomadic Xianyu tribe in China during the later Zhou Dynasty, in the Chinese written sources it is referred to as a state of the Bai Di .)...
state and later commandery, not Sun Yat-sen.
History
Sun Yat-sen, a leader of the republican revolution of the early 20th century, was remembered in China with fervour after his death in 1925, and especially after his KuomintangKuomintang
The Kuomintang of China , sometimes romanized as Guomindang via the Pinyin transcription system or GMD for short, and translated as the Chinese Nationalist Party is a founding and ruling political party of the Republic of China . Its guiding ideology is the Three Principles of the People, espoused...
party re-unified China in 1928. As a result, numerous monuments were erected in his honour throughout China, and a large number of streets, parks and schools, and even his birth city (Zhongshan
Zhongshan
Zhongshan , also spelled Chungshan and historically known as Xiangshan or Siangshan, is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province in southern China. Zhongshan, one of the few cities in China with an eponymous name, is named after Dr. Sun Yat-sen who was...
, Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
) were re-named in his honour.
When the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...
government took over Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
at the end of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the practice of naming streets and parks after Sun, and erecting monuments in his honour, spread to the island as well.
Between 1928 and 1949, in a move designed to parallel the adulation of Sun, a number of roads and institutions were named "Zhongzhen", after Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
, also known as "Jiang Zhongzhen", who saw himself as the successor to Sun.
In 1949, the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
led by the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
took control in mainland China. Over the following years, streets and institutions named "Zhongzhen" were re-named, but Zhongshan Roads were not re-named, and survived "revolutionary" name changes in the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
. A conventional practice developed where no streets would be named after a political leader, except for Sun Yat-sen. In mainland China today, Sun Yat-sen remains the only modern politician commemorated in road names: no Communist leader, such as Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
or Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
, shares this privilege.
In Taiwan, Zhongshan Roads are as ubiquitous, if not more, compared to mainland China. In recent years, the administrative merging of neighbouring towns have sometimes resulted in duplicate Zhongshan Roads within the same locality, and as a result some such roads have been ren-named.
List of Zhongshan Roads
- Zhongshan road in NanjingNanjing' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
was a ceremonial avenue built for the purpose of conveying Sun Yat-sen' funeral procession to the Sun Yat-sen MausoleumSun Yat-sen MausoleumDr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum is situated at the foot of the second peak of Mount Zijin in Nanjing, China. Construction of the tomb started in January 1926 and was finished in spring of 1929. The architect was Lu Yanzhi, who died shortly after it was finished.- History :Dr...
outside the city. It connects the Zhongshan port and the Zhongshan Gate. In 1933, the road was separated into North Zhongshan Road, Zhongshan Road and East Zhongshan Road. After the Chinese Civil WarChinese Civil WarThe Chinese Civil War was a civil war fought between the Kuomintang , the governing party of the Republic of China, and the Communist Party of China , for the control of China which eventually led to China's division into two Chinas, Republic of China and People's Republic of...
, Zhongzheng Road (named after Chiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shekChiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
), which was connected to the Zhongshan road, was renamed to South Zhongshan road.
- Zhongshan Road in ShanghaiShanghaiShanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
is the road marking the boundary of the traditional urban area, and forms an incomplete circle (the Huangpu RiverHuangpu RiverThe Huangpu River is a -long river in China flowing through Shanghai...
serves as part of the boundary). This road was built in the 1930s. The goals of building this road were to prevent the expansion of the foreigner concessions in Shanghai (i.e. the Shanghai International SettlementShanghai International SettlementThe Shanghai International Settlement began originally as a purely British settlement. It was one of the original five treaty ports which were established under the terms of the Treaty of Nanking at the end of the first opium war in the year 1842...
and French Concession in ShanghaiShanghai French ConcessionThe Shanghai French Concession was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1946, and it was progressively expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The concession came to an end in practice in 1943 when the Vichy French government signed it over to the pro-Japanese puppet...
) and to connect the three Chinese urban areas, NanshiHuangpu District, ShanghaiHuangpu District , is one of Shanghai's 18 districts and makes up the eastern part of Shanghai's traditional urban core. Today's Huangpu District is sometimes referred to as "new Huangpu" to distinguish it from the pre-merger Huangpu District which existed before 2000. In 2000, the pre-merger...
, ZhabeiZhabei DistrictZhabei District of Shanghai has a land area of 29.26 km² and a resident population of 810,211 as of 2003. It is one of the downtown districts of Shanghai though the commercial potential has been continuously undervalued...
, and Jiangwan together. The BundThe BundThe Bund is a waterfront area in central Shanghai, People's Republic of China. The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District...
is today a section of the Zhongshan Road.
- In GuangzhouGuangzhouGuangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
, the Zhongshan Road is separated into eight sections, identified as the First Zhongshan Road to the Eighth Zhongshan Road. There is another, separate, Zhongshan Avenue, which was an expressway builtin 1928.
- Zhongshan Road is the main shopping street in XiamenXiamenXiamen , also known as Amoy , is a major city on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China. It is administered as a sub-provincial city of Fujian province with an area of and population of 3.53 million...
, and leads to the main ferry terminals.
- Zhongshan RoadZhongshan Road (Taipei)Zhongshan Road , named after Sun Yat-sen, is a major arterial in Taipei connecting the Zhongzheng District in the south with the Datong, Shilin Districts and the Beitou District in the north. Zhongshan is notable as the commuting route of former ROC president Chiang Kai-shek between the...
is a major arterial in TaipeiTaipeiTaipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
. - In ShenyangShenyangShenyang , or Mukden , is the capital and largest city of Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Currently holding sub-provincial administrative status, the city was once known as Shengjing or Fengtianfu...
, the Zhongshan Road, built in early 1930s, is also a main road in the city center, not far from Shenyang Railway StationShenyang Railway StationShenyang Railway Station is a railway station of Jingha railway, Hada Railway, Shenda Railway, Shenji Railway, Shendan Railway, Jingha Passenger Dedicated Line and Hada Passenger Railway. The station located in the town of Shenyang, Liaoning, China.-History:...
. - The Jhongshan Roads of Jhonghe CityJhonghe CityZhonghe District , historically spelled Chung-Ho, is a district in New Taipei in northern Taiwan . Zhonghe is a burgeoning satellite city of Taipei.-Geography and climate:...
and Yonghe CityYonghe CityYonghe District is a district in the southern part of New Taipei in northern Taiwan. The Xindian River forms a natural boundary between Yonghe and Taipei City to the north and east, although three bridges connect the two areas. To the south and west lies Zhonghe District, which shares some...
in Taiwan are connected.
- Formerly, Zhongshan Road in BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
was the name of the short street at the northern end of Tiananmen SquareTiananmen SquareTiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...
, running from West Chang'an Gate, across the front of the TiananmenTiananmenThe Tiananmen, Tian'anmen or Gate of Heavenly Peace is a famous monument in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is widely used as a national symbol. First built during the Ming Dynasty in 1420, Tian'anmen is often referred to as the front entrance to the Forbidden City...
gate, to East Chang'an Gate. After the reconstruction of the Square, the road became a section of Chang'an AvenueChang'an AvenueChang'an Avenue , literally "Eternal Peace Street", is a major thoroughfare in Beijing, China.Chang'an is the old name for Xi'an which was the capital of China during the Tang Dynasty and other periods....
.
- Zhongshan Road in HangzhouHangzhouHangzhou , formerly transliterated as Hangchow, is the capital and largest city of Zhejiang Province in Eastern China. Governed as a sub-provincial city, and as of 2010, its entire administrative division or prefecture had a registered population of 8.7 million people...
is the major arterial running north-south through the city. Originally called the Imperial Street during the southern Song dynasty, the road was re-named after Sun Yat-sen during the Republican era.
Roads named after other names of Sun Yat-sen
Two roads in Macau SAR were built in the name of Sun Yat-senSun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
, in honour of Sun, who had set foot and lived in Macau
Macau
Macau , also spelled Macao , is, along with Hong Kong, one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China...
. One road is called Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙大馬路), located at the southern part of Macau Peninsula. The other road has the same name Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙博士大馬路), located at Taipa Island. While the official Portuguese name of the two roads are the same, the Chinese translations are different. There is also a traffic roundabout, called Rotunda Dr. Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙博士圓形地) joins two sections of the Avenida Dr. Sun Yat-sen (Taipa) as well as the Avenida de Guimarães (基馬拉斯大馬路).
Yixian (逸仙), another name of Sun Yat-sen equivalent to the common English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
version of "Yat-sen", is also a popular road name. In Shanghai, Yixian Road connects the Inner and Outer Ringroad expressays.
Literal meaning of characters
The literal meaning of the characters Zhong and shan are "Central/Middle" and "Mountain"; the name was adopted by Sun Yat-sen while in Japan in the early 1900s. For more information on the names of Sun Yat-sen, see Names of Sun Yat-senNames of Sun Yat-sen
Like many Chinese, Sun Yat-sen used different names at different points in his life and he is known in China under several of them. Names are not taken lightly in Chinese culture...
.