Old street slogan

Qilou Old Street should be the most famous historical and cultural building in Haikou, and it may even be the most famous historical and architectural attraction in Hainan Province. Basically, all tourists who come to Haikou will definitely go to the arcade. In 2009, Qilou Old Street also became one of the first scenic spots selected as "Top Ten Famous Historical and Cultural Streets in China".

There are many ancient towns and famous historical streets all over China. So why did Haikou arcade old street, which is not well known, win this honor at the earliest? Of course, it depends on the uniqueness of its architecture and historical background. In China, many ancient buildings, especially historical old streets, are similar. But this arcade is the only place where scorpions shit (poison). It can only be seen in Hainan, and the most concentrated place is the arcade in Haikou.

The old arcades in Haikou are mainly distributed in some old communities, covering an area of about two square kilometers, and can be directly navigated by map software. Among them, Zhongshan Road is the most typical arcade style, and now it has become a pedestrian street where vehicles can't pass, and it is also the street with the most tourists. There are many shops on both sides of the street, which are the first choice for tourists to eat and shop.

Other streets are not completely closed, and local residents can pass normally. Most of the shops in the arcade are ordinary shops serving local people, not tourist shops serving tourists. However, such streets are more lively, and people can enjoy the traffic when these arcades were just built.

Although the oldest building in the arcade can be traced back to the Southern Song Dynasty 700 years ago, most of the buildings we see now are less than 100 years old. These buildings were basically built in the 1920s-40s, that is, eight or nine decades ago.

During the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, a wave of "going down to Southeast Asia" rose in the southeast coastal generation, and many people began to leave their homes to make a living in Southeast Asian countries, including a large number of Hainanese. Many of these people who go to Nanyang will emigrate permanently, but most of them will return to their hometown after making money locally.

People who make money in Nanyang love to buy land in Gai Lou when they return home, so arcades have sprung up one after another, and eventually they have become streets after streets, which is the arcade old street we see today. It is precisely because these people came back from Nanyang that they brought back the architectural style of Nanyang as an arcade.

The arcade building was first built in ancient Greece more than two thousand years ago, and later spread to Southeast Asian countries through the Mediterranean generation. Then China people who went down to Nanyang brought this architectural style back to Hainan. Therefore, Haikou's arcade old street can also be regarded as a crystallization of cultural exchanges between countries all over the world. There are not only the splendor of European architecture, but also the practicality of Nanyang architecture, and some elegance of China architecture. Moreover, we can also see the influence of some Indian and Arab architecture, which can be described as a master of world architectural culture.

It is precisely because of the cultural blending and historical stories behind these old arcade buildings that these buildings we see today are basically historical buildings that have been listed as cultural relics protection units.

What you see in the old arcade is basically a low-rise building with two or three floors, and the tallest building has only five floors. Of course, this five-story building was already a landmark building in Haikou in that year, and so was the scenery for some time.

These arcades are residential buildings above and shops below, so you can imagine that this is a very busy commercial street. The unique architectural style of the arcade also provides convenience for people to shop, which can shelter from rain and sun, and also realize the diversion of people and vehicles.

Customers don't have to worry about shopping in rainy or sunny days, and shops don't have to worry about too little traffic when the weather is bad. This kind of building is in harmony with the climatic conditions in Southeast Asia and Hainan.

Today, in these arcades, we can still see many business names, handwritten signs and some later slogans, each of which is displayed in front of us with the imprint of history. Thirteen countries have opened consulates, churches, post offices, banks and chambers of commerce here in history, and the prosperity of that year can be seen.

Generally speaking, the arcade old street in Haikou is still a very good tourist destination. Although its age is not very long, every building is a real historical building, and there is no modern antique building rebuilt for the development of tourism. Here, you can really feel some magnificent history in the years that have not gone far.