Ancient Cultural Street

Introduction 

The Ancient Cultural Street is located in the Nankai District of Tianjin Municipality and was initially opened in 1986. It is on the west bank of Haihe River with the Temple of the Queen of Heaven also known as Tianhou Palace on its geographical center. The Ancient Cultural Street begins from Gongbei Avenue towards the north and ends at Gongnan Avenue towards the south stretching 687 meters long with a width of 5 meters. The street is a national 5A class touring site and was originally a business street but tourists swam in the area attracted by its unique architectural styles, classic cultural features, folk crafts and tasty local snacks making it a major tourist spot. 

Things to see and do on a visit

Ancient architecture

The Ancient Culture Street occupies a total area of 2.2 million square meters full of ancient buildings in every corner. All the buildings in the street are painted with green walls and have red pillars decorated with various forms of sliding paper doors, railings, windows, roof wing angles coupled with lanterns, plaque, banners and couplets. Many buildings at the street are also built with blue bricks and their windows and doors with very colorful paintings decorating them. The paintings vary from stories of legends, flowers, birds and historical figures. Some of the paintings clearly take visitors back in time with their descriptive nature like the Dream of a Red Mansion (one the four most classic novels in China) and Song of Eternal Sorrow; a story about Empress Yang Kwei Fei in the Tang Dynasty (618-907). These paintings are up to 1500 pieces of in addition to carvings that add a classical hint into the street.

Yuhuang Pavilion 

The oldest structure on the street is the Yuhuang Pavilion that was constructed during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). From the top most floor of the of the two floor pavilion, visitors can get a bird's eye view of the whole street. 

Tong Qingli

Tong Qingli is also another ancient building in the street that used to be a residential house that is situated at the eastern side of the street. It was built in 1913 as the largest architectural edifice that combines both eastern and western architectural elements.

Tianhou Palace

The Tianhou Palace is located in the middle section of Ancient Culture Street paying tribute to the Goddess of the sea. The temple was constructed in 1326 AD to defend the heavenly Goddess and with the aim of protecting Tianjin's mariners and the complete ocean population. The main building of the palace is the Main Hall constructed on a high and large pedestal made from wood just like the buildings from the mid and late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). The palace is one of the three other major Tianhou palaces in China and one of the oldest extant Tianhou palaces.

Yuhuangge Taoist Temple

The Yuhuangge Taoist Temple was once the most famous building in the Hai River Triple Junction. It is the largest Taoist Temple with more than 600 years of history. 

Temple of the Queen of Heaven

Located at the center of the Ancient Cultural Street is the Temple of the Queen of Heaven that was constructed in 1326 as one of three other Mazu Temples in the world  (the other two are Beigang Chaotian Temple on Taiwan Island and Fujian Mazu Temple). This Temple is now the Folk custom Museum of Tianjin and displays many cultural relics and folk crafts. 

Antiques

The Ancient Street generally specializes in different categories of goods; There are antiques, furniture, relics, old books, jewelry and paintings. There are also folk traditional commodities like Yangliuqing New Year Paintings worth 300 years of history, Zhang’s colorful clay figurines, Liu’s engraved bricks, Suzhou’s embroidery, Wei’s Kite and Jingdezhen’s porcelains. 

Shop

There are uncountable shops on the street selling the most genuine and affordable merchandise. some sell stationery materials such as papers, calligraphy pens and paper, ink slabs, writing brushes, painting brushes and ink sticks. 

There are calligraphy and painting brushes of Four Treasures and Spring Church, cultural antiques of Sui Man Chai and cloisonne, jade carvings, double-sided embroidery and art ceramics. Furthermore, there are both western and Chinese music instruments.

For visitors interested in handmade crafts, there are dozens of famous artists and craftsmen selling their products at the Niren Zhang Painted Sculptures store and the Yang Liuqing New Year Paintings. Visitors can also shop for souvenirs at Chinese curios selling cloisonné, jade items and potteries. 

Eat

At the street visitors can taste local snacks such as roasted sweet potatoes, different desserts, pastry, Erduoyan (the Ear hole cake) Fried Glutinous Cakes, candied gourd, Goubuli Steamed Dumplings and tea soup made by a big teapot.

Huanghui Fai

Visitors who happen to visit the Ancient Cultural Street on March 23rd of every lunar calendar can experience the Huanghui Fair set to display Chinese folk customs such as lion dances, stilt walking, land boat and dragon lantern. 

Leisure 

In front of Tianhou Palace visitors can see locally produced drama shows and live performances for free in an open air theater.