Nanning has old pedestrian street. These include Three Streets Two Alleys district and area surrounding Xingning Road, but they didn’t wow me when I went in. To be honest, I never expect a lot from these heritage district makeovers.
By now, most Chinese cities has done some sort of it; it always ends up feeling a little too polished. That said, this area felt a bit more character-filled different than I’d expected. There is some cool little statues here and there, and the actual arcaded buildings aren’t replicas.
It also has a good mix of local snack stall, real shops, and a few odd statue.
A Walk Through Nanning’s Old Streets
Nanning Pedestrian Street
These thing made my walk feel less staged than in some of the other restored old towns I’ve been to. If you take your time, there’s plenty to see, though it isn’t really a big area. In about two hours, I was able to cover most of pedestrian zone, poking into side alleys and stopping every time something caught my eye.
I began my walk at Xingning Road.
For a few blocks, the street is lined with overhead arcades in an old style that was influenced by colonials in the past. It was really nice walking beneath the arches and columns on a warm morning, and I could understand why people still does their shopping along this street instead of it simply being a tourist thoroughfare. There were also some bronze sculptures along the street, all of them depicting scenes of daily life in decades past, of old street vendor.
There was a woman with a gramophone, a pastry vendor, and a dim sum seller with his basket. It’s a little kitschy, yes, but I loved that they made an attempt to pay tribute to what this street once was, back when it was a functioning part of a busy market district.
Underneath the arcades the shops are a bit of a mixed bag. There’s the typical souvenir stuff, plus little clothing boutiques, phone repair places, and a couple of cafes that look like they’ve been there a long time. It felt quieter in the morning then later on with the crowds showing up, and I walked down an intersection where you could see the old grey brick work beneath.
The entire place seemed easier to walk around; no need to dodge any tour group yet (though even by mid-morning it wasn’t packed).
At one point I saw the obligatory “I Love Nanning” sign, you know, the type of thing all cities seem to have these days. Didn’t stop for a picture, but plenty of other folks did.
I poked around further up the street from main drag and came across this little shrine to the God of Wealth. The statue is tucked away on one of the side streets, with incense burning in the door, which lead into a store selling all kinds of snacks.
There were also some random-y but sort of charming things like a small shrine tucked along a side street, with a snack shop and its giant frog mascot a couple of doors down: I took a seat in one of the scattered benches on the plaza and watched as people walked by. You would see kids running around here while their parents shopped, and old people hanging out to chat. The atmosphere was pretty relaxed, no trying-too-hard-to-be-cool vibe going on, it’s simply a neighborhood space.
From there, I headed to what they call the ancient city of Yongzhou (it’s nothing more than a bunch of fixed-up narrow lanes), which is a group of small alleyways that have lanterns strung up overhead. The streets… Although narrow (you can barely walk down them with another person); are old, and I enjoyed sneaking down the alleys and seeing where they went.
Here, it all seemed a little more intentionaly quaint, though.
Most of the souvenir stores was pretty standard fare, although there were a few that caught my eye for being more playful in front than most. A bakery with a cute layout. There was another one with a bunny thing going on.
I didn’t buy anything. But I liked that they were trying something a little different.
I wandered past some of the older buildings at the end of the pedestrian area, including this one, the old Zhonghua Theater. Now it’s a Huawei store. It is a little strange, but kind of practical.
That old theater grandeur is still on the facade and I bet it would of been pretty impressive way back when it was showing movies.
You can see that they put a lot of effort here into restoring the city, as there’s a large archway at the entrance to Three Streets Two Alleys area. And while it feels a bit too neat and tidy in places, I didn’t mind. It was a nice place to take a brisk stroll through some older buildings and get a taste of what Nanning’s commercial areas used to be.
In the end, I felt as though I had spent enough time in the area to get a good idea without wasting an entire day there. While it won’t blow your mind, if you’re in Nanning looking for something different from all those moddern shopping malls then the old pedestrian streets are worth a few hours. Go early (it gets pretty hot out so go in the morning) when it’s less crowded.
What do you think? Have you visited any of the old arcade street in southern China? How do they compare?
