High Chun Old Street Attractions Introduction: Is High Chun Old Street Worth Visiting?

Nanjing High Chun Old Street is a famous historical and cultural street in China. Here you can find well-preserved ancient buildings. High Chun Old Street has many fun attractions. We recommend that you visit Yang Hall, Qianlong Ancient Well, the former site of the New Fourth Army First Detachment headquarters, and other attractions. Let’s take a look at them one by one!

1、 Yang Hall

Yang Hall was originally the former residence of Zhao Dongyang, the pastry king of High Chun Old Street. It was later sold to the Yang family and renamed “Yang Hall”. It was built in the early years of the Republic of China, with a depth of three bays and a floor area of over 500 square meters. The first bay is a brick and wood structure building with a width of three bays and two floors, while the middle and rear two bays are in the style of a “walking horse building”. There is a courtyard for ventilation and lighting between each bay, and the courtyard also collects rainwater from the surrounding area, which is called “fertile water does not flow out”. Each bay has a stone threshold in the inner part of the pillars, with a total of three bays and four doors.

The building of Yang Hall also uses a lot of wood carving. The contents include “Fu Shou Lu Three Stars”, “Double Phoenix Playing Peony”, “Double Lion Rust Ball”, “Three Friends of the Cold Season”, and “Cloud Crutch”, etc.

2、 Qianlong Ancient Well

The Qianlong Ancient Well is located at the entrance of the west gate archway of High Chun Old Street, also known as the “Zhongjie Well”. The well mouth is 0.55 meters in diameter, the original well depth is three zhang, and the current well depth is 6.3 meters. According to legend, in the twenty-seventh year of Qianlong’s reign (1762 AD), Emperor Qianlong made his third southern tour and went to High Chun. In order to welcome the emperor, local officials dug a new well on the old street for imperial use. Therefore, later generations called it the “Qianlong Ancient Well”.

3、 The Former Site of the New Fourth Army First Detachment Headquarters (Wu Family Ancestral Hall)

The Wu Family Ancestral Hall is located at No. 78, Dangpu Lane, Chunxi Street, Gaochun District. The building was built in the forty-sixth year of Qianlong’s reign. It is a brick and wood structure in the Anhui style. It is divided into three bays: front, middle, and rear, and is a well-preserved ancient building from the mid-Qing Dynasty. The surrounding area is full of ancient houses and shops from the Qing Dynasty, with a profound historical and cultural background. It is currently well preserved and is open to the public for free.

In 1938, Commander Chen Yi led the New Fourth Army First Detachment to the east to resist Japan. It was the first stop for the New Fourth Army to enter southern Jiangsu. The headquarters was located in the Wu Family Ancestral Hall at No. 93, Zhongshan Street. In March 1982, the former site of the New Fourth Army First Detachment Headquarters (Wu Family Ancestral Hall) was listed as a provincial cultural relic protection unit by the Jiangsu Provincial People’s Government.

4、 High Chun Intangible Cultural Heritage Museum

The High Chun Intangible Cultural Heritage Exhibition Hall is located on the second floor of No. 4, Zhongshan Street, in the east extension of High Chun Old Street. It covers an area of 1,800 square meters. So far, the museum has 148 intangible cultural heritage items at the district level and above, 29 intangible cultural heritage items at the city level and above, including one national-level item and 14 provincial-level items. The exhibition hall is divided into nine parts: the prologue, folk legends, traditional dances, traditional festivals, traditional skills, traditional operas, agricultural culture, traditional memories, and the future hall.

5、 Sculpture Exhibition Hall

The Sculpture Exhibition Hall is a two-story ancient building. It was originally a commercial and residential building owned by a wealthy merchant. It has four bays in total, with a total area of nearly 1,000 square meters. The entire museum is divided into several parts: the entrance hall, the wood carving area, the stone carving exhibition area, the brick carving area, and the Han Dynasty pictorial brick exhibition area. The sculptures are rich in content and diverse in shape. All the decorative carvings have a strong local flavor of High Chun.

6、 West Gate Archway

The West Gate Archway is the main gate of the old street. It is the landmark building of the old street and is made up of four pillars and three doors. The words “The First Ancient Street in Jinling” and “High Chun Old Street” written on the archway were inscribed by Mr. Fei Xiaotong, then vice-chairman of the National People’s Congress, after he visited the old street in 1998.

7、 Guan Wang Temple

Guan Wang Temple is also known as Guan Di Temple, Wu Temple, and Guan Yue Temple. It was originally built in High Chun Old Street in the second year of Hongzhi reign of the Ming Dynasty (1489 AD) by Ji Qi, the prefect of Yingtian Prefecture, who gathered Wang Li, a wealthy businessman of High Chun, and six others to start the construction. After several destructions and reconstructions, the Guan Wang Temple was restored in April 2004. The Guan Wang Temple houses a mountain gate, a screen wall, a halberd gate, a sacrificial hall (enjoyment hall), Qisheng Hall (main hall), east and west wing halls, a bell and drum pavilion, “Qi Su Qian Qiu Fang” and “Yi Guan Yun Tian Fang”, a total of four archways.

High Chun Old Street Ticket: http://www.k1u.com/trip/117225.html

High Chun Old Street Address: http://www.k1u.com/trip/117236.html

Nanjing High Chun Old Street One-day Tour: http://www.k1u.com/tour/117224.html