The three Chinese characters on the stone tablet are Liu Chi Xiang (Six-chi Lane).

 

At the CCTV 2016 Spring Festival Gala, Zhao Wei, an actress and  popular singer from Wuhu, Anhui Province, performed the song “Six-chi Lane.” Since then, the lane that the song was named after has become a tourist attraction, that draws a large number of visitors from all over the country every day. 
 

The chi is a traditional Chinese unit of length, equal to one-third of a meter. Six-chi Lane is a lane  180 meters long and 2 meters wide that is paved by cobblestones in Tongcheng City, Anhui Province. On each side of the alley lives a family. At the entrance to the lane, there is a Stone Archway with the Chinese characters Li Rang inscribed upon it, meaning humility and reconciliation.
 

Though it is an ordinary lane, it has an extraordinary story. According to local history, Tongcheng was the hometown of Zhang Ying, the prime minister under Emperor Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty (1616-1911). While he was working in the capital city, his family back in Tongcheng got into a dispute with a family in the neighborhood named Wu. The two families argued about the boundaries of the homesteads, and Zhang’s family wrote a letter to Zhang Ying, requesting that he use his power to twist the situation to their advantage. Instead Zhang sent a letter back to persuade his family to concede three chi from the original site. Zhang’s compromise humbled the Wu family, who also gave three chi back. Thus, the Six-chi Lane came into being.
 

The qualities of humility and harmony represented in Six-chi Lane have become a calling card for Tongcheng City. These qualities are the essence of traditional Chinese culture, while the core values in modern society also stem from the same origins. That’s why the story of the lane has been popular throughout history, said Zhang Yun, one descendant of Zhang Ying. 
 

Another descendant of Zhang’s family, Zhang Zeguo, said that the lane is rich in the philosophy of harmony. It is not the width of six chi that actually matters, it is the capacity for tolerance and forgiveness that deserves respect.
 

As the lane attracts more visitors, Zhang’s decedents hope that the two old houses can be restored. Both of the houses were damaged during historical conflicts as well as urban construction, they said.
 

Tongcheng City has begun a project to renovate and protect its three ancient streets and the Six-chi Lane, to restore the once prosperous ancient city. As for the lane, the original scale and pattern of these two houses will be rebuilt through reconstruction.

“We hope that after the restoration, later generations will feel more directly the humility and harmony of our ancestors, so that the traditional Chinese culture can be passed down,” Zhang Yun said.