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Ancient Cultural Street

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  • Tianjin Ancient Culture Street
    Tianjin Ancient Culture Street
  • A Painted Clay Figure Store
    A Painted Clay Figure Store
  • A Chinese Painting Store
    A Chinese Painting Store
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Selected in one of the Top Ten Attractions of Tianjin, the Ancient Cultural Street is located at the northeast corner of Nankai District in Tianjin and on the west bank of the Haihe River. Originally the gathering and entertainment place of the boatmen, it is now a business street, lined with stores of splendid replica classical architectures in the folk style of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911).

A giant archway stands at both the northern and the southern entrance, inscribed with the words 'hometown of Jinmen' and 'Art Gallery of Gushang', in between which is the Ancient Cultural Street. It is only 687 meters (751 yards) long and 5 meters (6 yards) wide, mainly made up of the Tianhou Palace (a Mazu Temple), Gongbei Avenue and Gongnan Avenue.

Tianhou Palace is the main attraction on the street, named after a Fujian people Lin Mingmo who was said to have saved a lot of boatmen in danger, and later was worshipped as the convoy goddess Tianhou (wife of the god) in ancient China. After her death, the Yuan Dynasty (1271 - 1368) government built the Tianhou Palace to pray for the safety of their grain transport from the southern China to the northern capital in 1326. It is composed of a performance stage, a banner pole, a gate, a front hall, a main hall, a sutra depository, a shrine from east to west, and the bell and drum towers, the Zhangxian Pavilion and the side halls on the north and south. Every year, a grand 'imperial meeting' named after Emperor Qianlong's visit here is held at the palace on Tianhou's birthday, March 23rd of the lunar calendar, when there are performances like lion dance, land boat dance, 'gaoqiao' (walking on stilts), yangko, martial art, Beijing opera, etc.. The present Tianhou Palace has been the Folk Museum of Tianjin, exhibited with a great variety of objects of the customs and life styles of the local people.

As its name implies, the whole street is full of ancient Chinese cultural atmosphere, no matter the architectural style, the decoration of stores, the inscribed tablets or the commodities sold. All of the buildings are built with green walls and red columns, matched with rails and upturned roofs. In addition to the horizontal inscribed board, the lanterns, the fine wood carvings, the street appears simple but elegant, ancient but with rich culture in. There are nearly 100 on the street stores specializing in paintings, clay figurines, our treasures of the study, golden and silver articles, Chinese and western musical instruments as well as all kinds of handicrafts. Meanwhile, restaurants, tea houses, and entertainment places are all available on the street.

 Entrance Fee: Free (CNY 3 for Tianhou Palace)
 Best Time to Visit: Mar. to May & Sep. to Oct.
 What to See on Ancient Cultural Street: Unique Architecture of Ming and Qing-dynasties Style & Age-old Stores
 Transportation: Take Bus No. 4, 24, 619, 632, 824 or 954 and get off at Dongmalu stop.

 More Tourist Attractions in Tianjin:
Dagukou Fort & Dule Temple                 Haihe park          Mt. Panshan

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