Nestled along the banks of the Puyang River and at the foot of Zhishan Mountain lies Shanyin Street, a charming old street lined with gray bricks and green-tiled roofs. Historical records suggest that this street began taking shape as early as the Ming Dynasty. By the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic era, it had blossomed into a bustling hub of trade, with merchant boats coming and going in droves.
Stepping into Shanyin Street feels like entering a giant maze. The streets and alleys twist and connect in a dizzying web—take a wrong turn, and you might find yourself circling back to where you started, exit nowhere in sight.
Look up, and you’ll see a patchwork of street names: Shanyin Straight Street, Fan-Shaped Street, Zhongsha Street, Xiaoshan Middle Street, Xiaoshan Straight Street, and more. With over ten crisscrossing lanes, the layout resembles the bamboo steaming racks used in rural kitchens, earning it the nickname “Steamer Rack Street.”
In its heyday, the business-savvy residents of Linpu turned Shanyin Street into a thriving commercial center. They built a booming trade in rice, salt, and bamboo, making the street a key distribution point for goods traveling north and south. Specialties like Ningbo seafood, Jiangxi porcelain, and Jinhua pigs passed through here before reaching broader markets. Meanwhile, the locals opened over a hundred time-honored shops—rice merchants, sauce workshops, and more—dotting the street with bustling storefronts.
By the 1960s, parts of the old street’s shopfronts were torn down and rebuilt, slightly altering its original look. Still, Shanyin Street has largely retained the classic street-market charm of an ancient town, offering a glimpse into its rich past for visitors today.