Wuzhou: \”Little Hong Kong\” in the past, now \”I am in Guangxi, my heart is in Guangdong\”

Follow the signboard of the century-old store \”Guangdong West Building\”, walk into the baroque-style old Western-style building, walk up the creaking narrow wooden stairs to the second floor, and order a meal A paper-wrapped chicken, a fish with scallion oil, leisurely spending the afternoon, or finding another old teahouse to have morning tea, a cup or two, it is very leisurely, these are ordinary times for people in Wuzhou, Guangxi. When Cantonese people come here, they feel as if they have never left Guangdong. Everything is so familiar and cordial.

If you start from the Pearl River Delta with Guangzhou and Shenzhen at its core, Wuzhou is the fastest city in Guangxi that can be reached, taking only three hours by car. This fourth- and fifth-tier town that is now not well-known has historically been inextricably linked to Guangdong. It is also highly prosperous due to its important geographical location and is known as \”Little Hong Kong.\” However, the only thing left that can bear witness to its past glory is the long arcade streets in the old city.

The two-thousand-year-old city was once a sea, land and air transportation hub during the Republic of China

Whether it’s imitating the locals, strolling along the riverside after dinner, or Looking like a tourist, you can feel the fate between Wuzhou and water when you climb up to the Hegang Tower in Zhushan Park, the landmark of Wuzhou.

Wuzhou, known as \”Cangwu\” and \”Guangxin\” in ancient times, is located in the east of Guangxi, straddling the confluence of the Xunjiang, Guijiang and Xijiang rivers. Because of the important strategic position of the confluence of the three rivers, it was established more than 2,000 years ago.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Wuzhou was part of Baiyue. In the fifth year of the Western Han Dynasty (183 BC), the Nanyue Kingdom granted Zhao Guang the title of King of Cangwu, and Cangwu King City was established here, marking the beginning of the construction of Wuzhou. In the sixth year of Yuanding (111 BC), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty destroyed the Nanyue Kingdom and established Cangwu County, which belonged to the Jiaozhi Governor\’s Department. Guangxin County (the county seat is now Wuzhou City) was established in the original Cangwu King\’s City. In the fifth year of Yuanfeng (106 BC), the Jiaozhou Governor\’s Department moved here.

The so-called Jiaozhou Governor\’s Department refers to the fact that after the rebellion of Prime Minister Lu Jia in the Nanyue Kingdom, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established Nanhai County, Yulin County, Cangwu County, Hepu County, Jiaozhi County, Jiuzhen County, There are nine counties including Rinan County, Dan\’er County and Zhuya County, and the Jiaozhou Governor\’s History Department is set up above the nine counties for jurisdiction. In today\’s geographical terms, the jurisdiction of the Jiaozhou Governor\’s Department includes Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong, Macau and Vietnam, and Wuzhou is the political center of this region.

Throughout the dynasties since then, the Cangwu organizational system has always existed, consisting of counties and counties. In the fourth year of Wude in the Tang Dynasty (621), Cangwu County was removed and Jingzhou was established. In the same year, it was renamed Wuzhou. This was also the first time the name \”Wuzhou\” appeared.

In the third year of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty (1452), the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi began to station in Wuzhou. In the first year of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty (1465), Wuzhou was the seat of the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, the commander-in-chief of the army, and the commander-in-chief of the town. It was called the \”three general offices\”. Wuzhou became the political and military center of Guangdong and Guangxi.

In the 23rd year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1897), the British forced the Qing government to sign the \”Sino-British Renewal of the Burmese Treaty\”, requiring the Xijiang River to be opened to trade, and Wuzhou was opened as a treaty port. Since then, Wuzhou has become an important base for revolutionary activities. After the Wuchang Uprising, Wuzhou was the first in Guangxi to receive electricity.A place of response.

From the important town of Guangdong and Guangxi to the treaty port, people’s emphasis on Wuzhou’s strategic location is always inseparable from the river that surrounds the city. Walking along the Qilou Street in the old city towards the river, the Yuanjiang River Bridge spans both sides and has become the city\’s traffic artery. Standing on the Hegang Tower in Zhushan Park, you can see the scenery around the Yuanjiang Bridge more intuitively. The Guijiang River and the Xunjiang River merge here to form the Xijiang River. The Yuanjiang River Bridge spans the mouth of the Guijiang River. The arc of the Guijiang River outlines the edge of the city.

Looking towards the Hedong area from the Hegang Tower. The pictures in this article were all taken by the author

The name Yuanjiang comes from Su Dongpo, and the \”Spring Flood of the Yuanjiang River\” was one of the eight scenic spots in Wuzhou in the old days. Su Dongpo passed through Wuzhou when he was pardoned and returned. It happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival night. While boating on the river, he wrote the poem \”I love the clear currents that beat against each other, and the beauty of the mandarin ducks and the water is unparalleled in the world.\”

The strategic position brought by the confluence of the three rivers made Wuzhou one of the cities that suffered the earliest impact in modern times. After it was established as a treaty port in 1897, the British occupied Zhushan, also known as Baihe Mountain, and built a consular office. It was not until 1928 that the then Guangxi Provincial Government took back Baihe Mountain.

Little Zhushan has witnessed countless history. The White Crane Temple at the foot of the mountain was first built during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, along with the completion of the \”Three General Palaces\”, the now-defunct \”Guangdong Pavilion\” was built on Zhushan Mountain, highlighting the city\’s prominent status. The former site of the British Consulate halfway up the mountain is a bright yellow British-style building that was being renovated when I visited. It can be seen through the construction curtain that this brick and wood structure building has an arcade structure, with seven columns on the facade supporting the arcade.

Author 202When I visited in 2012, the old British Consulate site, which was inaccessible, was being repaired

In 1928, the year Zhushan was taken back from the British, Ma Junwu founded the first university in Guangxi in Wuzhou—— Guangxi University, the riverside park in front of Baihe Temple was also renamed University Park by the Wuzhou government. Today, the \”University Park\” plaque inscribed by Ma Junwu still hangs on the park archway. In 1932, the Wuzhou government erected a stone monument \”Give me back my rivers and mountains\” near the former site of the British Consulate. The area around the former site of the British Consulate was also turned into a park, open to the public free of charge.

Return My River and Mountain Stele

I prefer the museum area on the mountain. On the slope near the Wuzhou Museum, there is an arcade building that combines Chinese and Western styles, standing quietly under the shade of trees. It was once the location of Jiandao Bible College. Wuzhou Jiandao Bible College is the first school established by the Christian Missionary Alliance in each mission area and the second missionary theological education institution in the world. It was founded in 1899 by American missionaries and was originally named Jiandao Academy. In 1902, Wuzhou Jiandao Academy established Jiandao Women\’s College. In 1937, the two merged to form King\’s Bible College. After 1949, Kin Tao Bible College moved to Cheung Chau, Hong Kong.

Jiandao Bible College

The Wuzhou Museum was founded in 1959. With the theme of \”An important town in Lingnan for a thousand years, a commercial port in Guangdong and Guangxi for a century\”, the exhibits range from the Stone Age to modern times, including a large bronze tripod with string patterns and hoofs in the Warring States Period, a feathered bronze lamp in the Eastern Han Dynasty, and a celadon knight figurine from the Southern Dynasties, etc., displaying the Wuzhou area in different periods. Smelting technology, noble life and economic form.

Wuzhou Museum

The business part of the museum focuses on The geographical position of the confluence of the three rivers in Wuzhou, the throat of Guangdong and Guangxi, and the hub of Lingnan easily reminds me of the scene seen on the Hegang Tower. There are still various cargo ships passing by on the originally flat river.

Nowadays, water transportation has long lost its important position and is just an auxiliary to railway and road transportation. However, in the old days when water transportation was prosperous, Wuzhou relied on the geographical advantage of inland river shipping. , grasping the lifeline of logistics. It connects Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin and other important towns, and reaches Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. It also connects the Central Plains and Lingnan. During the Republic of China, Wuzhou\’s status became more important. The combination of shipping, land transportation and air transportation formed a rare situation in Chinese cities at that time. It has a complete transportation network and is particularly closely connected with Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao.

It can be seen from the exhibits in the museum that from the Tang Dynasty to 1893, Wu. The main means of water transportation in the state was wooden sailing boats, but it has since gradually entered modernization. The famous Huawei Ferry on the Pearl River was once the main shipping force of Wuzhou. In 1937, Wuzhou Port ranked ninth among the top ten commercial ports in the country in terms of import value. , ranking 7th in terms of export value.

The name \”Little Hong Kong\” also came from that time, with freighters coming and going on the docks, workers loading and unloading goods, and foreign goods all over the streets. Yes, the bright lights of the city that never sleeps are quite similar to Hong Kong. Hong Kong was also the most important trading place for Wuzhou at that time. Before the opening of the port, Wuzhou had trade relations with Hong Kong, and it was more frequent during the Republic of China.

Air transportation, which was still very rare at that time, had already appeared in Wuzhou. In October 1929, Wuzhou Airport was completed, which was still in use until the 1960s. Wang Airport. After the airport was completed, it immediately became the Guangdong Air Force Base. Later, Southwest Airlines was established and set up an office in Wuzhou. Wuzhou\’s civil aviation business also developed rapidly, with routes to Guangzhou and Hong Kong, and also extended to Guizhou, Sichuan and even Vietnam. route.

It was also during the Republic of China that Wuzhou began to build modern highways. In 1926, the Wuzhou authorities formulated a highway. The planning of five major trunk lines (North Horizontal, South Horizontal, West Vertical, Middle Vertical, and Eastern Vertical), and the construction of the Rongcang section of the South Horizontal Trunk Line was launched. In addition, between 1926 and 1928, the Wuzhou government also successively established Cangwu, Cenxi, and The highway bureaus of seven counties including Tengxian, Rongxian, Hexian, Zhongshan and Pingle.

However, Wuzhou’s emphasis on modern highways has been called as early as 1921.sound. At that time, Sun Yat-sen, who presided over the Northern Expedition, was stationed in Wuzhou and repeatedly emphasized the importance of developing road transportation in Guangxi.

China’s first Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

As early as the late Qing Dynasty, Wuzhou was an important base of activities for the revolutionaries. In 1906, Tong Meng Hui members Wei Liquan and Tan Jianying came to Wuzhou from Hong Kong and set up a secret communications office of the Tong Meng Hui. They used the bookstore as a cover to secretly sell the Tong Meng Hui\’s official newspaper \”Min Bao\” and various revolutionary books and periodicals. After that, members of the Wuzhou Tongmenghui also founded Wujiang Daily and Guangxi Daily, laying the foundation for Wuzhou’s rapid independence after the Revolution of 1911. On October 30, 1911, \”Wujiang Daily\” published a special issue, which caused huge momentum and prompted a meeting of representatives from all walks of life to declare Wuzhou\’s independence from the Qing rule. As a result, Wuzhou became the first city in Guangdong and Guangxi to declare independence, ten days earlier than Guangzhou.

From October 1921 to April 1922, in preparation for the Northern Expedition, Sun Yat-sen stationed in Wuzhou three times to plan related matters. Although his three stays at the festival only lasted a total of more than 20 days, he put forward many opinions on Wuzhou\’s urban construction. Wuzhou was also mentioned several times in the \”Foundation Strategy\”, attaching great importance to its status as a major inland port connecting Guangdong and Guangxi. In its railway plan, the \”Guangzhou-Chengdu Line\” and the \”Guangzhou-Yunnan-Dali Tengyue Line\” both pass through Wuzhou. The Xijiang Waterway Planning takes Wuzhou as the center and proposes five routes between Wuzhou and Guangzhou, Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin and Hong Kong.

Today\’s Wuzhou, the most direct connection with Sun Yat-sen is the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Beishan Park. Built in 1930, it is the earliest Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall completed in China. It is now listed as a national key cultural relic. unit.

Go down Zhushan and walk along the Yuanjiang Bridge into the old city. Beishan is roughly at the other end of the old city. Zhongshan Park is built on the mountain. At the foot of the mountain, in the park square facing the main road, there is a statue of Sun Yat-sen and a plaque with the words \”The world is for the common good\”. There are symmetrical steps on both sides to climb up to the park. If you don\’t want to walk up the steps, you can go around the mountain road on the left. There is a three-room archway at the intersection with the four characters \”Zhongshan Park\” on it.

In 1924, when Wuzhou Commercial Port Bureau demolished the ancient city wall to expand the city, Beishan was turned into a citizen park. After Sun Yat-sen passed away in 1925, Wuzhou decided to build the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Beishan Park at the initiative of Li Jishen and others. The foundation stone of the memorial hall was laid in 1926 and completed in 1930. The park was subsequently renamed Zhongshan Park.

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall faces south and is located on the top of the mountain. When viewed from the air, it is in the shape of an inverted T, with plain white exterior walls, red doors and red window lattice, and green trees. The designer of the memorial hall is Yang Xiqiu, who was the publisher of \”Chinese Architecture\” magazine, the first to fourth directors of the Architectural Society of China, and the chief architect of the Beijing Architectural Design Institute. Shanghai Paramount Ballroom, Hongde Hall, Nanyang University Gymnasium of the Ministry of Transport and Nanjing Hotel are all his works. Yang Xixuan\’s design style favors the \”mid-high and two low\” shape and long-span steel structure system. On this basis, changes are concentrated on the exterior facade. For example, the Paramount Ballroom adopts decorative mainYi style, Hongde Hall is Chinese style, and Wuzhou Middle-aged Memorial Hall adopts an eclectic style.

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall

Li Jishen once mentioned in his speech the reason for building the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Wuzhou. In addition to commemorating Sun Yat-sen\’s achievements, the memorial hall was built because there was no place for gatherings in Wuzhou at that time. It can facilitate public gatherings.

The Beiyuan behind the memorial hall is quiet and elegant with small bridges and flowing water. Many local elderly people sit and chat here, chatting in authentic Cantonese, giving people the illusion of being in a Pearl River Delta city. Anyone who knows a little bit about Cantonese will be a little confused about this: Kaiping, Taishan and other places, which are only more than a hundred kilometers away from Guangzhou, have very different languages ​​​​from Cantonese. Even Huadu, Zengcheng and Conghua, which are now under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou, The language is also somewhat different from Cantonese, but the Cantonese spoken by people in Wuzhou, hundreds of kilometers away from Guangzhou, is very similar to Cantonese. I think that when Sun Yat-sen was stationed in Wuzhou, he must have been very fond of this local accent.

In the pre-Qin period, the Baiyue people spoke Baiyue language, not Cantonese today, and it was quite different from Central Plains Chinese. The original source of Cantonese should be Yayan, the earliest lingua franca in the Central Plains.

In the 1990s, the \”Research on the Origin of Cantonese\” co-authored by linguists Ye Guoquan and Luo Kangning first proposed that \”Cantonese was formed in ancient Guangxin (now Wuzhou, Guangxi and Fengkai, Guangdong)\”. Now it has been It is unanimously recognized by domestic academic circles.

The book believes that in 218 BC, Qin Shihuang ordered an army of 500,000 to conquer Lingnan. After the victory, this army stayed in Lingnan and was mainly distributed along the Xijiang River. The Cangwu area was the first choice, so it became the Central Plains. The earliest base for the spread of Han culture in Lingnan, these new immigrants also became the earliest spreaders of \”elegant language\” in Lingnan. In the Han Dynasty, Yayan gradually became popular in Cangwu County, especially after the Jiaozhou Governor\’s Department was established. After that, the Cangwu area became the political and cultural center of Lingnan, and Yayan naturally became the strong language and official language of Lingnan.

From the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Sui Dynasty, wars continued in the Central Plains, and there was also a great migration caused by the Five Husties. The number of Han immigrants in Lingnan increased sharply, and the Wuzhou area once again became the first choice for Han immigrants going south. The Wuhu chaos caused the \”elegant language\” in the Central Plains to almost disappear, but it was preserved in Lingnan. This made the language system in the Lingnan area more and more different from that in the Central Plains area, and eventually formed its own system, that is,It\’s early Cantonese. As Zhang Ji, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, said in his poem \”Yuan Jiaxing\”: \”People from the north avoid Hu and stay in the south, but people from the south can still speak Jin dialect.\”

It is precisely because of its status as the \”cradle of Cantonese\” that Wuzhou Cantonese is so similar to Cantonese and is a \”pure vernacular\”.

In the square in front of the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, there is also a statue of Sun Yat-sen standing, looking at the city at the foot of the mountain. Sun Yat-sen had high expectations for Wuzhou\’s industry. At that time, Wuzhou\’s industry had already started. In the 1930s, Wuzhou\’s industrial investment once accounted for 73% of the total investment in the four major cities in Guangxi (Nanning, Liuzhou, Guilin and Wuzhou).

In the early days of the Republic of China, Tianhe Machinery Factory and Guangxi Electric Power Plant had been established in Wuzhou. The former was regarded as the originator of Guangxi\’s private industry, and the latter was the leader of Guangxi\’s electric power industry. Because of the development of shipping, Wuzhou\’s shipping industry also started very early and transitioned from the wooden ship era to the motor ship era early. In 1915, the British-owned Tianhe Machinery Factory was established to manufacture accessories for ships and electric boats, as well as large diesel internal combustion engines. Since then, private capital has invested in this industry. By 1926, there were more than 30 private machine factories in Wuzhou. In addition, focusing on shipping, Wuzhou has set up various industries along the river. Sulfuric acid plants, pharmaceutical plants, refineries, match factories and sugar factories have sprung up, forming the Hexi Industrial Zone.

What Wuzhou people call \”Hexi\” and \”Hedong\” are bounded by Guijiang River. Back then, what complemented the Hexi Industrial Zone was the Hedong Commercial Zone, which is now the Qilou Street listed as a national cultural relic protection unit.

Wuzhou Qilou Street

China\’s most popular Long arcade block

After Wuzhou opened as a port, business gradually prospered. During the Republic of China, there were more than 2,000 commercial banks in Wuzhou. Commercial capital accounted for more than 63% of Guangxi’s total, and Guangxi’s fiscal revenue accounted for 30%. % comes from Wuzhou commercial tax. In 1931, Wuzhou’s total export trade value accounted for 89.2% of Guangxi’s total export trade value, and its goods were exported to the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, the United States, France and other countries. In 1933, Wuzhou\’s total import and export value accounted for 98.84% of Guangxi\’s. At that time, Wuzhou was known as \”the place where scholars and merchants gathered, and the hub of department stores.\”

In the early days of the Republic of China, businessmen from the West, Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong set up properties in Wuzhou. in order to cooperateWith the city\’s commercial expansion, Wuzhou has established various municipal agencies since 1921 to plan, build and maintain streets, cityscapes and public facilities. But a fire in 1924 destroyed more than half of the shops in the city.

At that time, the houses in Wuzhou were mainly \”bamboo tube houses\”, triple courtyards and quadrangles with brick and wood structures. The construction cost was low, but the fire hazard was high. In the event of a fire, it would be difficult to put out the fire because the houses were too dense. . After this incident, Wuzhou Commercial Port Bureau decided to build arcade streets based on Guangzhou streets, start demolition of city walls, repair roads and other projects to rebuild commercial blocks.

This huge city-building project lasted nine years. In 1933, an arcade city with a total area of ​​1 square kilometers and composed of 22 commercial streets was completed. The arcades are basically 2-4 floors, with a total of 500 people. Multiple buildings. Coupled with the many streets extending around it, it accommodates more than 1,500 businesses, basically forming Wuzhou\’s \”Hedong\” pattern.

The arcade is the most suitable commercial street feature in the Lingnan area. The summer in Lingnan is very sunny and sometimes humid and rainy. The arcade verandah can block wind and rain without affecting commercial activities. Wuzhou arcade is mainly made of steel-concrete structure, which has both traditional Chinese characteristics and Nanyang style, as well as European Baroque style, Rococo style, Gothic style and Art Nouveau style. Walking in the arcade block, you only need to raise your neck to admire it, and you can see various Western-style Roman columns, arched windows, and reliefs coexisting with Chinese-style archways, stone carvings, and flower windows.

Wuzhou Qilou Street

Wuzhou Qilou Street Intersection

Various historical buildings are scattered in the Qilou Street. Just a big middle road, seeIt proves the multiple histories of Wuzhou. The Christian Church on Dazhong Road was built in 1896 and is owned by the Missionary Society. It condenses the missionary history of Wuzhou after the opening of the city. The Bank of Guangxi was established in 1910. Its head office moved to Wuzhou in 1917. After several changes, a modernist-style six-story branch building was built on Dazhong Road in 1932. It was called \”the largest building in Guangxi\” at the time and witnessed Wuzhou’s economy has a prominent position in Guangxi. Guohua Apartment was a long-term rental hotel. It was also the most luxurious apartment in Wuzhou at the time, with all kinds of facilities. This kind of living style was very common in big cities such as Hong Kong and Shanghai at that time, and it can also be seen that Wuzhou was \”avant-garde\”. During the Anti-Japanese War, this building survived Japanese bombings. The former site of Guangxi Provincial No. 1 Girls\’ Middle School, also located on Dazhong Road, was originally the site of the No. 2 Provincial Middle School. In 1921, Sun Yat-sen gave a speech here about his determination to lead the democratic revolution. In 1929, the school was changed to the Provincial No. 1 Girls\’ Middle School, which was also the earliest girls\’ school in Guangxi. The Datong Hotel, built in 1920, has Chinese and Western restaurants on the first floor and guest rooms on the second to fourth floors. In 1925, Zhou Enlai held an important meeting here.

The Xinxi Road Store on Xijiang 1st Road was the commanding heights of Wuzhou architecture at that time. It has a seven-story reinforced concrete structure with columns and a three-section exterior facade. It has a strong European classical style and was once famous. Many celebrities from Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and even Southeast Asia have left their mark here. The Nanhua Hotel on Nanhuan Road is a joint venture run by Li Jishen and others. It became famous in Guangdong and Guangxi in the 1920s. The theater on the fifth floor was once the place where famous Cantonese opera actors such as Luo Pinchao and Xin Ma Shitsang performed. Unfortunately, during the Anti-Japanese War, Nanhua Hotel was destroyed by Japanese bombing. It was rebuilt in 1947 and renamed Dadong Restaurant. It is famous for Wuzhou\’s famous dish \”Paper Wrapped Chicken\”.

What touches me even more are the public facilities that symbolize modern civilization, such as the former Wuzhou Post Office site on Dadong Street, which is listed as a national cultural relic protection unit. The four-story building is shaped like an \”I\” when viewed from above, and there are three characters \”Post and Telecommunications Bureau\” on the outer wall of the top floor. It was built in 1932 and was called \”Cangwu First Class Post Office\”. In 1952, it merged the telephone office and telegraph office and was renamed Wuzhou Post and Telecommunications Office. The Gothic Star Hospital was built by the American Christian Baptist Church in 1904, bringing modern medicine to the Wuzhou area, and is now the site of the Workers\’ Hospital.

Wuzhou Post and Telecommunications Bureau

Walking through the arcades, various old shops exude a sense of life despite their obsolescence. After 1949, in addition to carrying commerce, the arcade block was also a major residential area. Nowadays, most of the people living here are elderly people. They sit under the arcade, chat and enjoy the cool air, enjoying the remnants of the glory of the old trade.

People sitting idle on the arcade street

What makes people sigh is that only the arcade seems to be left in this shadow. Sun and rain protection function. Of course, the passing of some ancient wisdom is not a regret, but a testimony to the progress of the times. A gate is often designed on the second floor of Wuzhou arcades facing the street, and there is no external balcony like ordinary buildings. This confuses many people: since there is no balcony, why should a door be designed? Wouldn\’t it be safer to make windows directly?

In fact, it is an ingenious design made by Wuzhou people when they built the arcade. Wuzhou\’s terrain is low, and the Hedong area is surrounded by water on three sides. In the past, it was often troubled by floods. Therefore, the doors without balconies on the second floor of the arcade are actually \”water gates\”. If the first floor has been flooded, there will be doors on the second floor through which you can enter and exit, and even continue to do business. Matching the water gate are iron rings on the outer pillars. As the water level gets higher, they will tie boats to the iron rings. Once the second floor is also lost, the water gate will become an escape door, and they will leave by boat from here.

ride There are water gates on the second floor of the building, and the high and low iron rings on the outer columns of the arcade are used to tie boats

The characteristics of the arcade block are not just the shops facing the street. Compared with the unique beauty of the facade of the arcade building, the composition behind it The inner streets are more lifelike. The depth of the arcades also forms alleys between the arcade streets, hiding another kind of Wuzhou’s temperament.

The most famous inner alley is Weixinli, which is located on Minzhu Road. The former site of Wuzhou Government Office, the former site of the Guangxi Special Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Byzantine-style Catholic Church built in 1898 are located here. The first theater in Wuzhou – Heyi Theater. Like the arcades, the inner streets and alleys also have a strong Guangzhou style, just like the big houses in Xiguan, Guangzhou, with blue brick walls, slatted doors and flower windows.

Weixinli was originally called Heyi Street. After the Revolution of 1911, Wuzhou took the lead in declaring independence in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions. Heyi Street also took the meaning of \”abandoning the old and seeking the new\” and was renamed Weixinli.

Vixinli

A corner of Weixin Lane

The former site of the Guangxi Special Committee of the Communist Party of China

The similarities between Wuzhou and Guangdong lie not only in the arcade block and the Weixinli that resembles Xiguan House, but also in the delicious food that is worth talking about .

Bingquan Soybean Milk was founded in 1935 in WuzhouOne of the symbols of the brand is its smooth and rich flavor. Even if you rush to each branch early in the morning to queue up, you will still see a long queue. Guiling jelly also originated from Wuzhou, and the two major brands, Shuangqian and Wufutang, are spread throughout the city, each specializing in its specialty. Wuzhou has a long morning tea culture, and compared to Pearl River Delta cities, the pace of life in Wuzhou is slower, and the teahouses are always full. The famous \”Great Northwest\”, namely Dadong Restaurant, Yuexi Restaurant and Beishan Restaurant, used to be the three signatures of Wuzhou Cantonese cuisine. Paper-wrapped chicken and fish with scallion oil are particularly tempting.

Speaking Cantonese, living in arcades and Cantonese-style houses, eating Cantonese food, and enjoying morning tea and desserts all make Wuzhou appear to be \”in Guangxi and Guangdong.\” Although the glory of the \”Little Hong Kong\” in the past is long gone, its leisure and \”Cantonese flavor\” still make it the \”back garden\” of many Cantonese people.