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wendy wang

wendy wang

China

May 15, 2007
Viewed 1293 times.

Tianjin Ancient Cultural Street

(Tingmen Guli, the gateway of the street)

    As a Tianjiner, I have never regarded Tianjin as a tourist attraction. But there is an exception and I recommend people who are to tour in Tianjin to visit Tianjin Ancient Cultural Street of 600 years’ history. If this is your first visit to Tianjin and you want to take a cultural and historical view of Tianjin, the best choice is to visit the Ancient Cultural Street.The Ancient Cultural Street (around 600 meters long) which was opened on the New Year’s Day in 1986 is located on the west bank of Haihe River in Nankai District. It is a commercial pedestrain street which is worth visiting as aniques, ancient books, traditional handcrafts and folk products are sold there. Among these products, several of them must be mentioned which represent Tianjin’s culture the most. First one is: Yangliuqing New Year’s paintings. One of the very beautiful traditional folk-art which is also well known both in china and overseas,

    Second one is Niren Zhang’s Colour-clay figurines.

 

    Third one is Wei kites.

    Forth one is Liu Carvings.The four folk-art mentioned above all have their shops there.

    The street is also known as the cradle of Tianjin. It is the first cultural, religious and business centre of the city. In its center is the famous Tianhou Temple which was built in Yuan Dynasty, more popularly known as Mazu. Additonally, architecture there imitates the folk style of the Qing Dynasty. Walking throught the big memorial arch of Jinmen Guli(literally means “an Old Neighbourhood of Tianjin” ) you will see buildings featuring Qing Dynasty architecture which is decorated by almost 100 chinese steles and couplets composed ofby dozens of calligraphers and altogether they look like an exhibition of calligraphy. Walking by these buildings with grey walls and decorated with colourful streamers is like walking into the past.

    There are also local snacks, such as Chatang Soup, Guobacai, Earhole Fried Cake, etc. Among them Chatang Soup is particularly unique as the boiled water is poured from a kettle (a big copper pot) with dragon-shaped mouth. The skilled Chatang maker holds several bowls in one hand and pours the boiling water into them from quite a distance. Chatang itself is made of baked millet and glutinous millet flour. The soup is made by pouring boiling water to the mixed flour and then add sugar or brown sugar.  

( a Chatang soup maker is pouring boiled water from a dragon-shape mouth kettle )

Chinese people know a word:” Eating in Tianjin”

Above all, the ancient Culture Street is rich in culture and folk customs, with warm friendly services.

 Welcome ppl from all over the world visit Ancient Cultural Street one day.