Xijin Ferry is the ruins of an ancient ferry built along the plank road on Poshan Mountain. It is located at the foot of Yuntai Mountain and has been an important transportation hub on the Yangtze River for thousands of years. Many precious cultural relics and historical sites are preserved here, which is the “cultural history” of Zhenjiang.
[Xijin Ferry Ancient Street]
Xijin Ferry Ancient Street is a commercial street centered around the ferry with a length of about 1,000 meters. There are rows of shops, and it seems that you can feel its former hustle and bustle when you walk along the street slowly. There is a section of roadbed covered by glass in the ancient street, which clearly shows the roadbed in different periods of Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. The layers are like pages of a book, and people can “see the history of a thousand years at a glance” through the pages.
[Former British Consulate]
After the Opium War, Zhenjiang was opened up as a trading port. The British government built this consulate on the 53-step slope of the ancient street, which consists of five East Indian-style buildings. Now it is used as Zhenjiang Museum, which has a collection of more than 30,000 cultural relics and 100,000 ancient books from the Stone Age to the Qing Dynasty.
[Ferry Waiting Pavilion]
Ferry Waiting Pavilion is located on the bank of the Yangtze River. People in ancient times took a break here when they were waiting for the ferry. After hundreds of years of sedimentation, Xijin Ferry is more than 300 meters away from the Yangtze River. Now standing in Ferry Waiting Pavilion, we can no longer see a busy ferry, but only shops of the ancient street and visitors coming and going.
[Zhaoguan Stone Pagoda]
Zhaoguan Stone Pagoda, built in Yuan Dynasty, is the only well-preserved stone pagoda across the street in China. Its architectural style is typical lama’s style of Yuan Dynasty. It renders Buddhist doctrines by landscape and terrain, and has the function of geomancy, which means “people hold water of Zhenjiang”. There are various inscriptions on the stone pagoda, among which “Zhaoguan” carved on the east and west sides is the origin of its name.
[Suanshan Garden]
Not far from Xijin Ferry, at the foot of Yuntai Mountain (called Suanshan Mountain in ancient times), there is an open antique Jiangnan garden-Suanshan Garden. At the entrance of the garden, there are stone carvings of landscape paintings by Sesshū Tōyō, a Japanese envoy to China in Tang Dynasty. Scenic spots in the garden include Jingjiang Girl, Suan Pavilion, Laiyan Pavilion and Tea House, which show the elegance and delicacy of Jiangnan.
[Life Saving Society]
Life Saving Society, that is, “the society saving the general public”, is a charitable water life-saving organization. It was founded in Song Dynasty, and then continued to expand, even influencing regions such as Nanjing and Wuhan. It was not until the late Qing Dynasty when there were a lot of wars that it gradually became stagnant and finished its historical mission. Among the existing life-saving society sites, Zhenjiang Life Saving Society is the best-preserved.
