Tunxi Old Street in Huangshan （黃山屯溪老街）

 

Tunxi Old Street in Huangshan

With a centuries-old history dating back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Tunxi Old Street is one of China's best-preserved commercial streets and features the architectural styles of the Southern Song, Ming (1368-1644) and Qing Dynasties (1644-1911).

Located in the center of Tunxi District, Huangshan City, Anhui Province, the street, paved with maroon flagstones, has a total length of 1,273 meters, of which 895 meters is the pedestrian commercial street. Two and three-storey shops line both sides of the streets and feature the local Anhui style of architecture including a stone base, brick construction and tile roof. The buildings typically house shops at the front, with houses and workshops being located at the rear. The street developed into the distribution center for materials in and out of Anhui in the Qing Dynasty.

Visitors today can still find many old and famous shops on Tunxi Old Street, such as Tongderen, a TCM shop with a history of more than 120 years. The area is a distribution point for the world-famous Qimen black tea and Tunxi green tea, and there are many teahouses, wine shops, bookshops and ink shops along the street.

The street has been dubbed "Riverside Scene at Qingming Festival", a famous painting which describes the economic activities in ancient China. It attracts six million foreign and domestic visitors every year, and is also a popular site for shooting films and TV series.