The weight of popular culture is indisputable. So much so that television has been introducing immortal phrases in our imaginary and in summer still on pilgrimage to Chanquete’s people (and even the new generations know who we are referring to). Other examples that demonstrate the power of television classics are the number of neighborhoods in Spain that respond to the name of Liang Shan Po.
This is an “unofficial” nomenclature that some neighborhoods acquired in the 80’s and that some municipalities in Andalusia still keep. If you drop by some Andalusian villages you will be surprised to hear this reference. Actually, Liang Shan Po was a village that appeared in the Japanese series broadcast on Spanish Television in 1978 The water margin(The blue border).
This production of the small screen was a success for decades, giving its name to a number of neighborhoods across the country burjassot housing in Valencia is one of its best examples.
In Liang Shan Po, a village far from the walls of the Empire, the outlaws fighting against the tyranny of Emperor Kao Chiu took refuge. Thus, neighborhoods all over the country re-baptized as a symbol of resistance and sense of belonging.
The Liang Shan Po districts of Andalusia
While the neighborhoods in question used to be located in the outskirts of cities or in the suburbs of the cities, they were villages some of them have been integrating or losing their once popular nickname. However, we review where this unique designation was forged in Andalusia.
- As we were saying, Algeciras (Cádiz) was the precursor in adopting this name for the San Bernabé neighborhood, which in the last decades has considerably expanded its extension.
- In Adra (Almeria), the 80 houses in the seaside neighborhood also got this name.
- Ubrique (Cádiz) then had an isolated neighborhood, once known as the slope of Liang Shan Po in the current Avenida de los Parlamentarios.
- Another example is the neighborhood of Los Pescadores in Estepona (Malaga), a focus of conflict in the late 1970s.
- In El Ejido (Almería) this distinction was won not by the town itself but by an institute.