Saturday 29 September

The central gateway

The Beimen Street project

This entry is one in a series of small vignettes of Quzhou life and culture.

One of the more interesting areas is the Beimen Street district close to the centre of the city.

Although encompassing only a few blocks, it has many historical buildings, some of which were restored by the Quzhou Municapal Trade Association of the Building Industry as a special project  in 2009.

The sign in the photograph describes the project  in detail.

Cobblestone streets

Street sculptures of traditional life
and the timber buildings

To find out what it said, I set its translation as a  exercise for my 3rd year writing class, so now I now have quite a good translation – thanks to the students.

This area reflects the development of the early Qing Dynasty and the history of the early republic. The narrow streets, gateway and buildings reflect the architecture of the period.

It’s probably one of the few tourist attractions here. I was about to give up on finding any  tourist office or information centre where you can find information about the city, or even a map.

Street scene with modern
buildings in the background

A timber-fronted building

The northern gateway

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While searching on the internet,  I found the name of a Quzhou tourist  information centre and contacted them. When I called, a pleasant lady answered who spoke some English and invited me to their offices.

It was only a short taxi ride from the college on the same side of the river so off I went.

The office was the marketing section of  Quzhou tourism, and it provided a range of information – all in Chinese. They were very friendly and helpful ,though providing me with publications and a map, the first I’ve seen so far, but all in Chinese. However, they will be useful to help me identify interesting places to visit in the region. While there, I learned that this province was the home Mao Tse Tung and one of the homes of Confucius. More on them later.