During the construction of the city of Guangzhou, there are many streets dedicated to selling different commodities. Walking in these streets, you can feel the city memories of Guangzhou.
We visited several of these streets and recorded them through the camera. How many of these streets do you know? How many have you been?
Wedding Dress Street: Jiangnan Dadao North (江南大道北)
A famous wedding dress street in Guangzhou, Jiangnan Dadao North in Haizhu District is home to lots of specialty stores selling wedding supplies. Across the Haizhu Bridge, you will find various styles of wedding dresses here, ranging from traditional Chinese wedding dresses to European-style wedding dresses, as well as tailor-made dresses. Therefore, it has also become the largest trading place for exclusive wedding dresses in Guangdong.
Not only newlyweds, but also old couples celebrating anniversaries can choose their favorite wedding dresses on this street. The wedding dresses here can be wholesale, retail, or rented out, attracting buyers from all over the world.
It is worth mentioning that there are just 99 shops on this street. “Nine” (9, jiu) and “forever” (久, jiu) have the same pronunciation in Chinese, which also means forever love.
On the street, the bridal shops are uniquely decorated with their own characteristics.
Shops selling wedding supplies.
A shop sells European-style wedding dresses.
Shops sell all kinds of Chinese wedding dresses.
Shoes Street: Gaodi Street (高第街)
Gaodi Street was one of Guangzhou's famous commercial centers in the last century. In 1980, Gaodi Street became the first industrial product market in Guangzhou, and it was also the country's first self-employed commercial street. The flexible business methods and trendy clothing styles here once attracted tourists and vendors from all over China.
Exit from Exit E of Haizhu Square Metro Station, walk straight along Qiyi Road, and you will arrive at Gaodi Street soon.
In front of the entry to Gaodi Street, there are a lot of vehicles and pedestrians passing by.
Gaodi Street is only five to six hundred meters long, and the buildings on the street are in the old arcade style. In April of this year, the tender for the renovation of Gaodi Street was launched, which means that this old commercial street will be able to be restored and refurbished.
Nowadays, relatively cheap clothes and accessories are sold on Gaodi Street. You can even buy 6 pairs of socks for 10 yuan here!
Chinese New Year Goods Street: Yide Road (一德路)
Yide Road, known as Guangzhou’s Chinese New Year goods street, lights up every Chinese New Year. The road will be full of Chinese New Year goods during the annual festival.
Yide Road has a history of more than one hundred years and is located in the center of the old city of Guangzhou. In addition to merchants selling traditional New Year decorations such as Spring Festival couplets, lucky characters, Chinese knots, paper-cuts, and lanterns, many toy shops also gather on Yide Road. Before the Chinese New Year, the toy merchants will also sell many toys related to both the festival and the Chinese zodiac.
Want to experience the lively atmosphere of Chinese New Year in Guangzhou? Come to Yide Road before the festival! You can reach it by taking Guangzhou Metro Line 6 and getting off at Yide Road Station.
There are still two months to go before the Chinese New Year, and there are not many shops selling Chinese New Year goods at this time.
In addition to the New Year's goods, the toy store here also sells New Year-related toys during the Chinese New Year.
This is the center of the old city. In the evening, the vicinity of Yide Road is extremely lively.
Dried Seafood Street: Yide Road (一德路)
Yide Road is also the most famous "Dried Seafood Street" in Guangzhou. This street starts from Haizhu Square in the east to Haizhu South Road in the west. On the 1,000-meter-long street, there are around 200 shops and 5 large indoor wholesale markets, selling more than 1,600 kinds of dried seafood. Shops here account for 70% of Guangzhou’s dried seafood wholesale business, many of which are time-honored.
On the streets and alleys near Yide Road, there are countless small companies and many family-style shops. Here you can find all kinds of delicacies, including high-end seafood or cheap home-made dry goods. Now, Yide Road has become a well-known specialty street for dried seafood products throughout China.
There are also many shops selling dried seafood near Yide Road.
Local residents and traders come here to buy dried seafood.
Four Treasures of Study Street: Wende Road (文德路)
Known as the first cultural street in Guangzhou, Wende Road has a long history in selling antiques and cultural relics, ancient books, calligraphy and painting, ceramics, calligraphy and painting decoration. In its heyday, Wende Road was full of antiques, calligraphy and painting, and decorated shops. Today, there are still many shops that sell paintings along Wende Road and in its precincts.
There are many historical buildings near Wende Road, such as the site of Fenghe Academy, Sun Yat-sen Archives, Chenghuang (City God) Temple, and the site of the Nanyue Kingdom Palace. The cultural relics nearby here have also been renovated, and related cultural and creative product shops have also attracted more young people's attention. It is also a leisurely and quiet community, and is as famous as Beijing Liulichang, Shanghai Chenghuang Temple and Nanjing Confucius Temple.
Yide Road and the peaceful neighborhood nearby.
In addition to selling calligraphy and paintings, the shops here also sell stationery such as brushes, paper, ink and other materials needed for Chinese paintings, and provide mounting services as well.
The exterior walls of some old buildings near Wende Road have been painted with illustrations of Cantonese culture.
The cultural relics nearby here have also been renovated, and related cultural and creative product shops have also attracted more young people's attention.
The Sun Yat-sen Archives is now the Local Documents Department of the Sun Yat-sen Library of Guangdong Province.
Lingnan Fine Arts Publishing, Guangzhou Bonique Shop Head Office and other cultural venues are also on Wende Road.
Author | Alice
Photo | Alice
Editor | Olivia, Monica, Jerry
