High Chun Old Street and Yaxia Slow City Travel Guide

High Chun Old Street and Yaxia Slow City are definitely full of memories for many old Nanjing people. Everything here is preserved quite well, recording the daily life of the old Nanjing people. People come here to find lost memories, and below I will share a travel guide to High Chun Old Street and Yaxia Slow City.

Go to the Old Street, and see the past.

Go to the Slow City, and think about childhood.

Nanjing Station – High Chun Old Street – Yaxia Slow City

When the car left Nanjing, the greenery along the way was captivating. I haven’t been to the south since last July. Ever since I traveled to Nanjing alone in my sophomore year, I have been missing this city with its long history and unique charm.

When I arrived at High Chun Old Street at noon, there weren’t too many tourists yet. The plaque written by Mr. Fei Xiaotong hung between the blue tiles, surrounded by tree shades on both sides, it looked very antique.

Entering the Old Street, shops lined up, and on the roadside, there was a shop making Qingming cakes, with steamy mist surrounding it. The southerners spoke very softly. Seeing us gather around, they enthusiastically introduced us to these green cakes, which were made by mixing grass juice into glutinous rice. Two Qingming cakes were packed in a box, plus rice cakes, dried tofu, crabs, and duck foot buns, we ate and walked along the way, quite busy.

High Chun Old Street is shaped like a “one” character from front to back, so it is also called One-character Street.

Occasionally, I saw a narrow alley extending out from the side, quiet and secluded, with only a lantern hanging high in front of the door. The bluish-grey bricks were piled high, revealing only a small patch of azure sky, like a piece of colored glaze covering the top.

There were no tourists disturbing the peace here. It was so quiet as if time had stood still. Several people ran in and took some pictures, reluctant to leave.

Coming out to continue sightseeing, I was attracted by the carvings on the gate pillars. People, deities, and child deities of various appearances were lively, either gazing at the tourists on the street or looking at each other across the street. How pleasant.

Someone picked some peach blossoms and raised them in a glazed pot, paired with an old door, making people feel like they were instantly transported back to the past.

I could almost see a young man picking flowers in the wild, gently placing them in the glazed pot in front of the girl’s house, blushing as he stole a glance inside, just in time to meet her gaze. The next day, he saw that the glazed pot had water added, and he knew what she meant.

Countless narrow alleys invited people to linger. After visiting the Old Street, I found a souvenir shop at the entrance and wrote a postcard to send back home.

Before leaving, I took another look at the old locks and stone lions in the Old Street, and I really liked them.

As the best preserved ancient architectural complex in Jiangsu Province, High Chun is truly worthy of the title of “The First Ancient Street in Jinling.” Built in the Song Dynasty and surviving to this day, the remaining architectural features are distinctive. The antique colors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties combined with the Hui-style architectural style make people want to exclaim, “This is the Jiangnan of my dreams.”

The waterway passes through, making one imagine the Jinling people hundreds of years ago, on a summer night, with the Milky Way stretching across the sky, the charm of a light gauze fan fluttering fireflies must have been so touching.

Leaving the Old Street, we headed to Yaxia Slow City.

The tour guide said that the Slow City is a city with almost no boundaries. You can rent a bicycle and ride anywhere you like in the Slow City. When we saw its mascot, the snail, we knew we had arrived at the Slow City.

Yaxia Slow City was awarded the title of “International Slow City” by the International Slow City Organization at the International Slow City Conference in Scotland in 2010. It is also the first International Slow City in China.

The concept of “Slow City” originated from the slow food culture in Italy. It wants people to slow down and enjoy traditional crafts in low-pollution, low-noise places. Therefore, fast food and supermarkets don’t exist in Slow Cities. Vast spaces are used for planting crops, for people to relax and stroll. Cars are limited to 20 km/h, and the population must be less than 50,000. It is a kind of retro and return to the fast-paced city life.

I had never heard of Slow City before, and only after entering the Slow City did I realize that there are indeed such holiday villages, like a paradise. Looking at the fields of rapeseed flowers and the narrow roads, I felt like I had returned to Finland. “Such a large space without houses or cars,” where in North, Shang, and Guang would they be so willing to use land like this.

It was so spacious, yet so warm that it made me want to lie down.

The environment of the homestay we stayed at was good, a row of houses. The afternoon itinerary was just to waste time here, however we wanted to waste it. After resting enough, I went out to find a bicycle to ride. The people at the villa said to just ride along the path. I felt like I hadn’t been back in this kind of “childhood” enjoyment for a long time.

Childhood, is just following good friends, running around everywhere exploring the unknown world, finding a good time and beautiful scenery, chatting until all the tourists have left.

In Yaxia, there was no map. I just followed my instincts, riding in the clear sky. I took a wrong turn and went into a construction site. An old man scolded me. Following their directions, I finally found my way home.

Back at the accommodation, I ordered food, and by the time I was starving, the food still hadn’t arrived. I urged them again and again, and finally, I ate three bowls of rice with the fish-flavored pork slices sauce before I was full.

The countryside night was peaceful. I went back to my room under the stars and slept soundly through the night. The alarm clock went off in the morning, and I felt lazy and didn’t want to get up. At the restaurant, I found that they had made porridge with the leftover rice from yesterday.

Just like that, I also ate two bowls of porridge with salted vegetables and a half-eaten steamed bun before I felt completely full. It seems that the previous night’s cycling was really tiring. It was also so much fun. Happiness always makes people relax their guard and eat more.

After breakfast, we were about to leave Yaxia Slow City. As the car drove forward, looking at this place with so few houses, I felt really happy and comfortable. It restored childhood dreams and also restored a past, pure way of life.