Qilou arcades
Covered walkways.
钉钉 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · 钉钉 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · David Chen 东北虎(Manchurian Tiger) 11:51, 11 April 2008 (UTC) — CC BY 3.0 · FHKE — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Gzdavidwong — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Gzdavidwong — CC BY-SA 3.0 · 古海岸遗址 — CC BY-SA 4.0 · 钟启明 — CC BY-SA 3.0
Guangzhou's first pedestrian shopping street, opened in September 1995 in the heart of the old Xiguan quarter in the west of the city, running along Shangjiu and Xiajiu roads, whose names it combines; it's one of the city's best-known places for everyday shopping. The street is lined with the famous Cantonese qilou style: two- or three-storey buildings with ornate facades whose upper floors reach out over the pavement on pillars, forming covered arcades that shelter shoppers from rain and sun. The arcades are packed with hundreds of shops selling clothes, shoes and gifts, plus sweet shops and Cantonese snacks such as double-skin milk pudding and small dim sum plates, with old lanes branching off that keep the feel of traditional city life. Wandering is free, and the street is at its busiest in the evening and at weekends. Many Cantonese dishes, dim sum included, contain pork or lard, so ask about ingredients or choose halal restaurants; Shamian Island is about a kilometre south.
Covered walkways.
Hundreds of shops.
Cantonese snacks.
Old Xiguan, Liwan District, Guangzhou
Shamian IslandA small sandbank island on the Pearl River in western Guangzhou, its Chinese nam12 minutes walk4.3
Chen Clan Ancestral HallA masterpiece of traditional Cantonese architecture, a complex built in 1894 und17 minutes walk4.4
Huaisheng MosqueOne of China's oldest and most storied mosques, in the heart of old Guangzhou, a17 minutes walk4.8Mostly not: many Cantonese dishes contain pork or lard, so ask about ingredients or choose halal restaurants.