Gonghexin Road: Republic Written Into a Street Name
In one line
The sub-district takes its name from a road named "Republic"; and the road's name was the collective signature the people of Zhabei put to the 1911 Revolution in 1913.
Where it is
Gonghexin Road sub-district lies in the centre of the district, one of the larger sub-districts in Zhabei, covering about 2.73–2.74 km²:
To the east it borders Hongkou District along West Baoxing Road and North Baoxing Road; to the west it neighbours Putuo District along Hutai Road; to the south it joins Baoshan Road, Zhijiang West Road and Tianmu West Road sub-districts along Zhongshan North Road; to the north it is bounded by Yanzhang Road and Old Hutai Road, with Daning Road sub-district beyond.
Its office stands at 489 Pingxingguan Road (moved here in June 1998).
The name: from Zongju Road to Gonghe Road to Gonghexin Road
The name of this sub-district is a three-layer nesting doll of naming history:
Layer one: Zongju Road (1904)
In 1904 Zhabei set up its Zhabei Police Bureau here, filled in a creek and built a road at the same time, naming it Zongju Road — a road named after an official office.
Layer two: Gonghe Road (1913)
On 3 November 1911 the Zhabei police responded to the Wuchang Uprising and won the first victory of the revolution at the Zhabei Police Bureau. To commemorate this, in 1913 Zongju Road was renamed Gonghe Road — "Republic Road".
Gonghe Road: the road lies in the north of the central city, running from Huasheng Road in the east to Hengfeng Road in the west. In 1904 the Zhabei Police Bureau was set up here, a creek was filled in and a road built, and it was named Zongju Road. On 3 November 1911 the Zhabei police responded to the Wuchang Uprising and won the first victory at the Zhabei Police Bureau; to commemorate the bureau's contribution to the establishment of a republican regime, it was renamed Gonghe Road in 1913.
Layer three: Gonghexin Road (1920)
In 1920, because it connected with Gonghe Road and was newly built, it was named Gonghexin Road — "New Republic Road".
Gonghexin Road later became the most important north–south artery in Zhabei:
| Time | Extension |
|---|---|
| From 1920 | Built section by section from south to north |
| Mid-1920s | Extended north to Old Hutai Road, surfaced with cobbles and coal cinders |
| 1957 | Farmland was requisitioned north of Old Hutai Road and the road was built as far as Zoumating |
| 1959 | Extended north to Changjiang West Road, absorbing the north–south section of the former 128 Memorial Road north of Changzhong Road |
| 1982 | Wenchuan Road, north of Changjiang West Road, absorbed |
| 2005 | Widened and rebuilt to its present scale |
One road, from "police bureau" to "republic": the name carries the political memory of a whole neighbourhood.
Lineage: split off from Pengpu in 1978
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| Originally | Under Baoshan County; the east under Jiangwan township, the west under Pengpu township |
| 1946 | Under Dachang District |
| 1958 | Transferred to Zhabei District, divided between Fenghuo sub-district and Qingyun Road sub-district |
| 1960 | Under Pengpu sub-district |
| Nov 1978 | Gonghexin Road sub-district established from the part of the former Pengpu sub-district south of Zoumating |
| Feb 1985 | The area north of Yanzhang Road and Old Hutai Road is split off to form Daning Road sub-district |
| Jun 1998 | The sub-district office moves to 489 Pingxingguan Road |
Note the step in 1985: Gonghexin Road sub-district cut off another piece and gave it to Daning Road sub-district. A sub-district set up only in 1978 split seven years later — that is the speed of Zhabei's population and urban growth.
Landmarks in the sub-district
Zhabei Park (1555 Gonghexin Road)
Zhabei Park stands inside Gonghexin Road sub-district. It is the oldest park in Jing'an District (formerly Zhabei), and its predecessor was Song Park, also called Jiaoren Park, built to commemorate Song Jiaoren.
The park is broadly rectangular from west to east, laid out in the natural style: the west is dominated by the tomb of Song Jiaoren; the centre is the main scenic area (Duiming Lake, more than 10,000 m²); the east has the Half-Mu Pond, a children's playground and a fitness trail.
(For the detail see Part Three · Zhabei Park.)
Others
- Luochuan East Road, Luochuan Middle Road, Tanjiaqiao Road and Liuying Road: the old workers' villages and lilong housing of this stretch;
- Pingxingguan Road: where the office stands — the road name is another war-of-resistance theme (the victory at Pingxingguan);
- Zhongshan North Road: one of the boundary lines between Zhabei and Putuo/Hongkou.
A set of figures (as before abolition)
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Area | 2.73–2.74 km² |
| Resident population (2010 census) | 97,630 |
| Residents' committees | 23 (some say 25) |
| Office | 489 Pingxingguan Road |
What to see here today
- Zhabei Park: the tomb of Song Jiaoren and the Qian family ancestral hall;
- Gonghexin Road: walk its whole length and feel the scale of this "road of the republic" — north to Zoumating, one continuous run;
- Luochuan East Road and the Tanjiaqiao area: the grain of a typical Shanghai old workers' village.
Sources: the derivation of the name follows the Boya place-name directory's "Origins of the place names of the sub-districts and towns of Jing'an District"; the institutional lineage follows the xzqh.org entry for Gonghexin Road sub-district and the Boya place-name directory's "Historical lineage of the sub-districts of Jing'an District"; the renaming of Gonghe Road and Gonghexin Road follows the Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau's "The 1911 Revolution and Shanghai street names" and place-name research material relating to "Shanghai Suhe Bay". The full bibliography is in Appendix 4.