Guanqian Street - chiige.com

Guanqian Street, located in the heart of Suzhou city, not far from Suzhou Railway Station, is a commercial street established during the Qing Dynasty. Now transformed into a pedestrian street, it is approximately 800 meters long. Together with the roads branching out from it, such as Taijian Alley and Bifeng Fang, it is a well-known snack street and commercial district in Suzhou, comparable to the Confucius Temple in Nanjing and the City God Temple in Shanghai. The first attraction to Guanqian Street is its delicious food, with numerous century-old shops gathered here. Songhe Lou Restaurant (No. 72 Taijian Alley) has a history of over 200 years and has even appeared in the novel ‘Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils’ as the place where Qiao Feng and Duan Yu sworn brotherhood. The authentic Squirrel Mandarin Fish in Suzhou cuisine must be tasted at Songhe Lou, which is the signature dish of the restaurant. Other dishes such as Stir-fried Shrimp, Braised Eel in Spicy Sauce, and Dongpo Pork are also very delicious. Deyue Lou (No. 43 Taijian Alley) is the restaurant featured in the old movie ‘Little Deyue Lou’, also serving traditional Suzhou cuisine. However, the high prices of these two restaurants, with a dish costing over a hundred yuan, deter many tourists. The sauced pork at Lugaojian (No. 8 Guanqian Street) and the wonton at Lvyuan Wonton (No. 84 Bifeng Fang) are much more affordable. At night, Guanqian Street is brightly lit, and after enjoying a meal, one can go shopping. Huang Tianyuan Cake (No. 86 Guanqian Street) is famous for its date and yam cake, which is mentioned in ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’, and the对面Caizhi Zhai (No. 91 Guanqian Street) is known for its zongzi candy, both of which can be bought to share with relatives and friends. You can also find silk scarves, Suzhou fans, and other local specialty trinkets, as well as numerous gold shops, silver jewelry stores, eyeglass stores, and shoe stores. Large shopping malls such as Dayang Department Store (No. 1331 Renmin Road), Renmin Mall (No. 22 Beiju Road), and Changfa Mall (No. 108 Lintun Road) offer affordable clothing prices; in Guanqian Street, you can also visit the Xuanmiao Temple located right in the center of the street, from which the street gets its name. The Taoist temple was first built in the second year of Xian Ning during the Western Jin Dynasty (AD 276) and was rebuilt in the sixth year of Chunxi during the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1179). On the west side of the main hall, Sanqing Hall, you can see the ‘Treasure of the Temple’, a stele of Laozi. The portrait of Laozi on the stele is by Tang Dynasty artist Wu Daozi, with the text above the portrait being a tribute written by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, written by the great Tang Dynasty calligrapher Yan Zhenqing, and engraved by the master stone carver Zhang Yundi of the Song Dynasty. The temple is open all year round, 24 hours a day.

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