Yantai Hill Historic District

A consular district of 17 nations after Fuzhou opened as a treaty port in 1844 (a "museum of international architecture"); Cangshan's old Western houses (Shicuo Church / former US Consulate site); artsy boutiques and coffee lanes (Librairie Avant-Garde at 2 Aiguo Road). After Fuzhou opened as a treaty port in 1844, various countries set up consulates, trading houses and churches around Yantai Hill in Cangshan; at its height, consular missions from 17 countries gathered here, and Western-style buildings in Gothic, Romanesque and Victorian styles grew scattered along the hillside, earning it the title "museum of international architecture". The grey-stone facade of Shicuo Church (Stone Chapel) and the colonnaded old building of the former US Consulate have weathered a century yet retain their charm; in recent years the old houses have been progressively revitalized — Librairie Avant-Garde at 2 Aiguo Road and one coffee lane after another have given the old quarter a renewed artsy air, and the mix of slope-side strolls, old Western houses and coffee makes it Fuzhou's most photogenic neighborhood.

Getting there: Metro Line 1, Shangteng Station