beijing road pedestrian mall

beijing road is central axis of ancient guangzhou city and the most prosperous commercial distributing center in the history. reputed “famous street of lingnan”, its average traffic is about 350000 person-times per day, and is the most bustling pedestrian mall in guangzhou, covering zhongshan no.4 road, zhongshan no.5 road, xihu road, jiaoyu road, yushan market nearby and commercial points around. yuehua road in the north of the pedestrian mall is once downtown of guangzhou from nanyue kingdom period of the western han dynasty to the qing dynasty. beijing road is the main street in guangzhou in tang, song, yuan and qing dynasties, and therefore has become the most prosperous cultural pedestrian mall of guangzhou since ming dynasty.

around beijing road guangzhou’s colorful historical views and cultural relics remain. according to historical materials and expert researches, there are over 10 existing or established or excavated historical or cultural sites around beijing road, jiaoyu road and xihu road, such as panyu city of qin and han dynasties, site of dockyard of qin dynasty, site of nanyue kingdom palace, site of qinghai military tower of tang dynasty, and royal garden site of southern han kingdom, all of high historical and cultural value. at the same time, many time-honored shops of china and old and famous stores of guangzhou converge here, including yushan market, earliest food market in guangzhou, century-old chen li ji, tai ping guan, and san duo xuan stores, and xindaxin company, one of the most famous department stores in guangzhou in 1940s. all these old and famous stores familiar to the cantonese have witnessed the historic changes and civilization progress of guangzhou for long.

maybe you will ask: why the center role of beijing road and yuehua road district in guangzhou remains unchanged all long in so many dynasties and long history?

beijing road is where initial guangzhou was built up. it embraces not only latter-day occidental classical architecture such as guangdong finance department building but also modern high-rise such as guangzhou hotel and lido hotel. here stand famous-brand shops and franchise stores and gather visitors from all corners of the world. since the reform and opening-up, businessmen of all walks make full use of this invaluable place to have developed over 500 businesses including shops, retail departments, restaurants, drinks, entertainment places and banks, of which nearly 300 are fashion or leather-ware franchise stores, over 20 are comprehensive emporiums for dress, shoes, refined product, and department stores. high-standard high-taste large-scale shopping centers such as xindaxin company, guangzhou merchandise building, ginza plaza, luminous peal plaza and guangdong special goods mansion and famous chinese or foreign stores such as bossini, giordano, betu, doriano, calfland, kedechun and le saunda have been built successively to form a multiple business pattern integrating state-owned, joint venture and private ones with contribution to the most flourishing, prosperous and bustling shopping paradise in guangzhou. it is also in strong cultural atmosphere by row upon row of xinhua bookstores, science and technology bookstore, reference bookstore, children’s bookstore, fine arts bookstore and foreign languages bookstore, and stores for photographic equipment, cultural goods, glasses and jewelry can be found everywhere. in addition, various kinds of dietary cultures gather here. snack bars, nosheries, tea shops, ice sweet shops, cool tea shops, western-style restaurants, cafes, sidewalk snack booths, and small stalls scatter on street and lanes, with continuous presence of customers.

based on the unique historical cultural origin and apparent economic advantages of this district, guangzhou municipal government decided to plan beijing road and jiaoyu road district as “beijing road pedestrian mall in guangzhou”. on the second day of february of 1997 in chinese traditional calendar beijing road was opened formally to be pedestrian mall for two-day weekend. in the implementation of “medium change in three years” strategic target of guangzhou, yuexiu district people’s government invested rmb 50 million yuan to have refinished beijing road, from the riverbank in the south to zhongshan no.4 road in the north, and have allowed beijing road to be pedestrian for whole week. on may 29, 2002, guangzhou municipal government and relevant departments invested more rmb 10 million yuan to refinish beijing road pedestrian mall once more. nowadays, a new beijing road shows its unique charming before visitors. the 500m-long street is lined with refined commercial buildings in good order and peculiar terrace architectures. delicate and elegant billboards, white marble road guide in dragon-design perforated jade picture, new-type nonslip square bricks, small street landscapes, sculptures and flower beds constitute extraordinarily colorful cultural life, which can be tasted from the distance, the high and the vicinity and becomes a bright commercial view of guangzhou.

wandering on beijing road is as if in a long historical corridor, from which any pursuer for time fashion can be filled with enormous energy, whether materially or spiritually. on this wonderful land cultivators of generations have made plentiful achievements and diligent seekers have left their sweat and deep footmark. chinese reform and opening to outside world encourage 7 million guangzhou people to head for brilliant and promising future with confidence along the footprint of the successful before.