Haikou Qilou Old Street
骑楼老街
Well-preserved Nanyang-style arcade buildings along Zhongshan Road and Bo'ai Road, with century-old time-honoured shops, traditional laobacha tea houses and an arcade night market. This is the heart and soul of Haikou's old town.
The Qilou Old Street is in Haikou's old town, centred on Zhongshan Road, North Bo'ai Road, Desheng Sha Road, Xinhua Road and Jiefang Road. Some 600 Nanyang-style arcade buildings, erected from the late Qing to the Republican period, survive here, making it one of the largest and best-preserved arcade complexes in the country. In 2009 it was named one of China's Historical and Cultural Streets. The ground floor of each arcade building is a colonnade, with living quarters above. The facades blend European reliefs, Islamic patterns and Chinese grey plasterwork, an architectural legacy of Hainan's overseas Chinese who went south to the Nanyang and came home. At its core is the restored Zhongshan Road pedestrian street (about 200 m), lined with arcade history galleries, the Nanyang Museum Hotel, traditional dessert (tangshui) shops and craft stores. Bo'ai Road and Desheng Sha are still-operating wholesale markets with a more lively, down-to-earth atmosphere. Shuixiangkou was the site of the Qing-era Haikou port, and the area is packed with qingbuliang (herbal cooling dessert), fried rice noodles and laobacha tea houses. Suggested route: Clock Tower (Changdi Road, built in 1929), then Shuixiangkou for Hainan rice noodles and qingbuliang, then the Zhongshan Road arcade galleries, then Bo'ai Road, and finally the Desheng Sha night market. Allow 2 to 3 hours. The arcades look best in the evening, once their lights come on. The street is free to enter, and some galleries are free or cost 10 to 20 yuan. Getting there: take a city bus and get off at the 'Clock Tower' or 'Qilou Old Street' stop. It is about 4 km from Haikou railway station. Tips: on weekends and public holidays Zhongshan Road gets very crowded, so photograph the facades before 10 a.m. Laobacha tea houses are mostly frequented by locals, at about 10 to 20 yuan per person. Try the combination of laobacha, jian dui (sesame rice balls) and a pineapple bun. Motorbikes are common in the market areas, so watch your step.
Opening hours
All day (exhibition halls approx. 09:00–22:00)
Nearby sights
- Haikou Clock Tower
- Haikou Bay & Century Bridge
- Cloudscape Library (Yundong)
- Baishamen Park
- Wanlüyuan (Evergreen Park)
- Five Officials Temple
- Hainan Provincial Museum
- Qiongtai Academy