Qilou Old Street (Haikou)

National Historical And Cultural Street; The Largest Surviving Arcade House District In China · Haikou, Hainan

The largest surviving district of arcade houses in China, and the reason Haikou is worth a day rather than an airport transfer. Qilou means riding building - shophouses whose upper floors are carried on columns out over the pavement, making a continuous covered walkway that shelters you from tropical sun and downpour alike. The style came back with Hainanese who had made money in Singapore, Penang and Saigon from the late nineteenth century, and what they built is a strange and wonderful hybrid: Chinese shophouse plans behind facades of Baroque scrollwork, Portuguese tiles, Islamic arches and Art Deco geometry, often all on one street. Several hundred survive along Zhongshan, Deshengsha, Xinhua and Bo'ai roads, restored since 2009 with the shopfronts still in use - coffee shops where old men drink Hainanese kopi all morning, medicine halls, noodle stalls and souvenir shops. The Clock Tower at one end dates from the 1920s. It is free, open at all hours, and busiest in the evening.

Zhongshan Road and Bo'ai Road, Longhua District, Haikou, Haikou, Hainan, China

Open at all hours and free, with no gate and no ticket; individual shops, cafes and the exhibition hall keep their own daytime and evening hours.

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