Qilou Old Street (Zhongshan Road / Bo'ai Road Historic District)
Nanyang-style qilou arcade building complex (600+ buildings, since Sipailou Street was built in 1849), 'China Historic and Cultural Street'
Visitor info
- Opening hours
- Open all day
- Ticket
- Free
Price is indicative — final quote on inquiry.
Nanyang-style qilou arcade building complex (600+ buildings, since Sipailou Street was built in 1849), 'China Historic and Cultural Street'; Haikou Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall (coconut carving / Li brocade). Since Sipailou Street was built in 1849, Hainanese merchants returning from Southeast Asia put up buildings along the streets one after another; 600-plus qilou of mixed European-Asian style stretch along Zhongshan Road and Bo'ai Road, with arches, Baroque pediments and Chinese relief carvings side by side — one of the largest preserved qilou complexes in China, listed among 'China Historic and Cultural Streets.' The Haikou Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall in the street displays crafts such as coconut carving and Li brocade; qilou cafés and traditional 'lao ba cha' tea shops keep up the old rhythm of Haikou life; after the lights come on at dusk, the light and shadow in the qilou colonnades are at their most photogenic — the first stop of a Haikou CityWalk.
Getting there: Bus / taxi in the city
Photos
More in Haikou
- Wugong Temple (Temple of the Five Lords)
Commemorates five famous officials exiled to Hainan in the Tang and Song dynasties (Li Deyu / Li Gang / Zhao Ding / Hu Quan / Li Guang), the 'First Building of Hainan' (built in the Guangxu era, Qing dynasty), relics of Su Shi's stay in Hainan (Jiongzhuo Pavilion / Fusu Spring)
- Hainan Provincial Museum
'Nanming Qidian' exhibition (artifacts recovered from the Huaguangjiao No. 1 shipwreck), South China Sea maritime civilization + Li textile (dragon quilt) special exhibits
- Qiongtai Academy
Built in the Kangxi era of the Qing dynasty (1714), the setting of the story behind the Cantonese opera "Sou Shu Yuan" (Searching the Academy, with Xie Bao as headmaster), Kuixing Tower
- Former Residences of Qiu Jun and Hai Rui
Memorial sites in the hometown of Qiu Jun, the great scholar of the "Nanming Qidian" (Ming-dynasty philosopher / author of "Daxue Yanyi Bu"), and upright official Hai Rui; Hai Rui's tomb park is separately on Qiuhai Avenue (approx. CNY 30)
- Hainan Tropical Wildlife Park and Botanical Garden
China's only tropical island-type wildlife and botanical park (drive-through carnivore zone and walking zone), giraffes / giant panda house
- Haikou Volcanic Crater National Geological Park
Quaternary volcanic cluster of northern Hainan (Ma'anling crater at 222.8 m elevation), tropical rainforest "green cave" at the crater bottom, basalt stone-house village (Rongtang Village)