Every city has an old street that carries the memories of the locals, and for the people of Hangzhou, the Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street and Hefang Street are such existences. Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street and Hefang Street are two intersecting streets, which are generally similar in appearance and style, but different in actual content.

Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street

In the Southern Song Dynasty, the Royal Street was the central axis of the capital Lin'an, and the length of the street was more than 4,000 meters, but now what we call the Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street usually refers to the pedestrian street from West Lake Avenue in the north to the Drum Tower in the south, with a total length of less than one kilometer.

From the Song and Yuan dynasties, the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, Yujie has always been a major street in Hangzhou. Most of the buildings on today's royal street have been preserved through the Republic of China period, with a strong Western style, carved with mountain flower reliefs on the arch door, or using Ionic pillar gatehouses, with small balconies, which are magnificent and exotic. In fact, these buildings also have a lot of origins, some of them are administrative institutions, such as the country's earliest government-run modern post office building, and there are also famous commercial shops, such as the old site of the time-honored Shaozhi Yanbizhuang and so on.

In addition to the unique architecture, the small shops in the Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street are also rich and mixed. Located at the entrance to Yujie, Cat's Sky City Concept Bookstore is a store known for selling cultural and creative items, with a collection of novelties and goodies, such as handbook peripherals, flower tea bags, painted ceramics and other items, as well as postcards covering the walls. Walking into the royal street, you can also see small street shops selling portraits and pottery sculptures, which are only the size of newsstands, but are full of exaggerated and realistic paintings, and provide visitors with on-site portrait services. In addition, the Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street is also a place where people can learn more about traditional culture and folk skills, with cake shop masters tapping sesame cakes with wooden mallets, workers in front of silverware stalls beating silver, and artists performing acrobatics at intersections...... Every few steps, a different scene attracts the attention of tourists, and the cheongsam shops, flower cloth shops and silk shops that pop up in the street are even more popular.

River Fong Street

Compared with the Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street, Hefang Street is more like a food gathering place. Hefang Street is located at the foot of Wu Mountain, the street is not long, and the houses are lined up one after another. There are more than 100 time-honored brands and various characteristic shops in Hangzhou.

When you come to Hefang Street, you have to eat Dingsheng cake once. The Dingsheng Cake Shop on Hefang Street is the only existing shop in Hangzhou that specializes in Dingsheng Cake, and all the pastries are freshly made and sold. The outer layer of Dingsheng cake is wrapped with fragrant rice and glutinous rice flour, the middle is bean paste filling, mixed with a small amount of white sugar and osmanthus, steamed for 20 minutes with a strong fire and then out of the cage, the entrance is sweet and glutinous, with a fragrance. Hefang Street's scallion bun stalls are also famous, with spring cakes wrapped in fried dough sticks and green onions, grilled alternately on the front and back, and finally served with a hot sauce or sweet noodle sauce. In addition, there are many delicious snack shops on Hefang Street, such as Qianwei bean curd, mutton soup restaurant and so on.

There are also many attractions in Hefang Street, such as the Zhu Bingren Bronze Art Museum, the only bronze sculpture mansion in China. In terms of decoration design, the doors and windows of the museum and all the furniture are uniformly made of copper structure, which is presented in the typical style of Jiangnan folk houses, and is known as the "Jiangnan Copper House". The museum mainly displays traditional Chinese plastic arts made of copper, such as copper calligraphy and painting, copper murals, copper Buddha statues and so on.

In addition to the museum, the former residence of Hu Xueyan, the first mansion in the late Qing Dynasty, is also on Hefang Street. Hu Xueyan's former residence integrates the architectural characteristics of China and the West, and the materials are exquisite, all of which are precious materials such as ginkgo biloba and rosewood. In the ancient house, Zhu Lou Cui Pavilion, Changting Xuanxie, not only have Zheng Banqiao, Tang Bohu and other famous calligraphy stone carving works, but also two mahogany official sedan chairs in the sedan hall are even rarer. Hu Xueyan's former residence is a paid attraction, and the ticket is 20 yuan/person.

Suggested duration: 1 to 2 hours each

Admission: Free

Address: Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street: 100 meters south of the intersection of Taipingfang Lane and Jinbo Bridge Lane in Shangcheng District

      Hefang Street: Hefang Street at the foot of Wushan Mountain in Shangcheng District

Contact number: Southern Song Dynasty Royal Street: N/A

          Hefang Street: 0571-87813477

Tips: 1. Bring mosquito repellent water and sunscreen in summer.