Peony Street, a cup of coffee with literature and art.

Some people compare Mudan Street to Nanluo Drum Lane in Changchun. This is a place where many young people often hang out, with delicious restaurants, toy shops, cafes, bookstores, all kinds of fashion elements, occasional gadgets with fresh personalities that you like, and some strange people and pets.

The yard is small, and there is a small terrace made of wood on the two steps, and a ginkgo tree waiting for spring occupies half of it, and the bare branches still hold the glass bottles that were hung during last fall's activities. The inner wall is a large piece of old street view wallpaper, standing in front of the illusion of going back in time, as if at the other end of the courtyard, there is a film projector showing old movies.

Two ginkgo biloba leaves, which have just been washed by rain and dew, are green and fresh, pure and spotless. Below Weibo shows: Diansi 4296 (no zombie fans), plus attention 795. In addition, a lot of related content is linked in the tag information: "Tea Ah Chong", Changchun Peony Street, micro film under the ginkgo tree, Changchun youth life, hand-painted, Changchun influence, creative bazaar.

Obviously this is not an independent private platform, it should be a large community behind it, they are inseparable but closely related to each other, doing things that are suitable for this age and are very interested. Through those words full of self and dream, it seems that you can hear the pulse of their youth, connecting this secluded street with every nerve in the whole city.

A cup of caramel Machiato, covered with beautiful and fragrant milk foam, was sent in front of me with light footsteps, without shouting and noise, nor superfluous enthusiasm and interruption. the afternoon quiet time flowed naturally and easily, and you were free to dismiss it.

Yan Yibing, the owner of the cafe, said that independent cafes like him can have hundreds on Peony Street, and even those named after "toast" actually make coffee, each with its own theme and cultural elements. It is no exaggeration to call Mudan Street "the first Street of Literature and Art in Changchun".

Peony Street in History

Mudan Street was built in 1933 during the puppet Manchuria period, when it was named Wushijie because the pseudo-Manchukuo "national flag" was five colors. After the retrocession of Changchun in 1945, the national government changed it to Wuqiang Street, which was officially named Mudan Street after the founding of New China in 1949.

The whole street runs from East Zhonghua Road in the north to Liberty Road in the south, with a total length of 1150 meters. Because of its proximity to the "national capital" of the puppet Manchukuo and the "eight departments" of important institutions, it was designed as a residential area during the puppet Manchuria period, and there were pseudo-government representative government houses, houses of electric and electricity companies, etc., mostly inhabited by government officials or literati aides.

It is said that the infrastructure of this residential area was relatively advanced in the world at that time, with modern facilities such as Sheung Shui, sewerage, electricity, gas and heating. And the first to popularize flush toilets in Asia, to achieve the entry of gas into households.

In the early winter of 1961, one of the four Princes of the Republic of China, Zhang Boju, a collector, painter, poetician and researcher of Beijing Opera, and his wife Pan Sulai went to Changchun and lived in a building near Guilin Road and Changqing Street. The following year, Zhang Boju was appointed the first deputy director of the Jilin Provincial Museum.

Chen Xuekui, director of literature and history of the CPPCC in Changchun, attended university in this area in the 1960s. After graduation, he stayed in Changchun to work and settled here, and did not move elsewhere until the late 1990s.

He said that the Dongfeng Grand Theater near Mudan Street was the site of the pioneering bureau of the Japanese puppet government at that time. In fact, this is an immigration agency. In order to achieve the goal of occupying the Northeast for a long time, the Japanese emigrated to the Northeast from Japan, Korea and other places, and promoted the cultivation of rice in Nong'an, Shuangyang and other places around Changchun.

There was also a big shot Zhang Dexin who lived here, just behind the art school, separated by a small hutong. In the 1930s, he attended the Anti-Japanese Alliance in Germany and received a doctorate in mathematics. In 1947, he was hired as acting president of Changchun University. On the eve of the founding of New China, he was invited to attend the first plenary session of the Chinese people's political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Professor Chen said that after liberation, the area of Mudan Street Xikang Hutong is mainly the staff dormitory of Northeast normal University and Baiyi University, and Jilin Agricultural University has two buildings, and most of its residents are intellectuals from colleges and universities, which is regarded as a gathering area for intellectuals.

According to historical records, the first person to open a coffee shop on Peony Street was the Japanese, just west of the Puppet Manchuria Development Bureau, near the kindergarten of the present provincial cultural system, and most of the guests were Japanese staff working nearby and Chinese with a background of studying abroad.

The impression of a street

In 2009, Yan Yibing quit his job in a fashion life magazine in Shanghai and returned to Changchun. At that time, there were not many coffee shops on Peony Street. There were only three or five coffee shops in the impression of old Zhang time, on the road, corner stone, etc.

"Lao Zhang first lived on the other side of Guilin Road Hutong, and later moved to Xikang Hutong, near the streets of Xinjiang. Because I like their names, styles and themes, and the activities they do are opened by young people, I pay special attention to these places. " Recalling all this, his mind was shrouded in a cloud of smoke. Although it was only a few years, he said it felt as if it had been some years.

There was no literary or coffee atmosphere in this street at that time. It just feels quiet. The poplars on the street are tall and luxuriant, and half of the street is shaded by trees in summer. Compared with Guilin Road, because they are all renovated, the rents of shops on both sides of the street are relatively low, and there is basically no need to worry about not being able to pay the rent. if you are on Guilin Road, 100,000 yuan may only be enough to rent for a year, or a dozen square meters of shop floor. You can spend two to three years on Peony Street. This will provide a buffer for young entrepreneurs.

It obviously occupies a certain geographical position in the geographical location. On the east side, there is the prosperity of the business circle of Guilin Road. As long as the elements of the new trend appear, they can be blown here by a gust of wind, and it is only five or six minutes' walk. To the west is Xinmin Street, where some important buildings are still well preserved and in use during the puppet Manchuria period. It extends to the north to the Culture Square. Not far to the south is Changchun's famous South Lake Park. In addition, some key universities, such as Northeast normal University, College of Arts, Middle School attached to normal University and affiliated Middle School of Jilin University, are surrounded by some key universities, and the geographical advantages of the mixture of business and culture appear.

It is not far from Chongqing Road and Hongqi Street, and the traffic is also very convenient. For a novice entrepreneur who has no business experience, these are only basic factors, but the things measured by the eyes may not be enough from the perspective of business development, but they did not think so much at that time.

Another reason to like this street is that the old house, which looks pleasing to the eye, is, in his words, "a bit of an age". The road does not seem crowded, in summer, walking in the hutong can feel the poetry of Dai Wangshu, leaves rustling, the shade under the whirling tree shadow makes you very comfortable. Although it is a residential area, there is no noisy and noisy traffickers, a leisurely pace, as quiet as a quiet village.

Another point is the inclusiveness of the residents in this street, because most of them are intellectuals, and their quality is relatively high. He gave an example: in 2009, the barista in the store dyed her hair a striking yellow, which must have been weird in her rural hometown, but on Peony Street, no one said hello or no one said you were bad, neither excluded nor respected. In another year, there will be many fashionable things in this street, such as some young rockers with fan-shaped chicken hair and several colors, and it is often seen that residents can quietly accept these trends.

Unlike the bars on Guilin Road, they often quarrel until the middle of the night, which is why the residential area of Peony Street has been spontaneously transformed into a semi-commercial business.