Guanlan Ancient Market

---

I had been wanting to visit the Guanlan area for a while as there is an old print making Hakka village and an art village. However, my first visit to the area brought me to Guanlan Ancient Market, which I had never heard of before. This area had been under reconstruction for a few years and is now open. It was a short walk from Guanlan metro station on line 10. We came to the entrance to the main street. There was a nice wall sign saying ‘Yes, I like Longhua too’ surrounded by house numbers. Lots of people getting selfies there. I saw a dragon’s head costume behind a fence. It would have been nice to have seen it in action, but I don’t know if it had been used recently or was just out for an airing. We headed up the main street, you could tell that it had been reconstructed but it had been tastefully done, and while not identical to the surrounding original buildings, the newer buildings were still in keeping with the area. I didn’t see what the shops were selling as there were lots of stalls set out on the path, which were selling different foods and toys.

I couldn’t find out too much information about this place in English. Only that it is the largest Hakka-style building complex in Shenzhen. The Hakka people were those from the north that migrated south many centuries ago during the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty. This ancient market site dates back to the mid-late Qing Dynasty and was dubbed “Little Hong Kong” due to its importance as a trade hub for Southeast Asian businesses. THe market comprises of several streets with watchtowers in its core area. We headed off the main street and along some of the smaller streets. At the start of the first one we came to the wall was covered with fans with what I think are Chinese opera style pictures on them. They were nice and bright anyway and lots of people were taking photos here. I liked wandering these small streets as they weren’t too busy and were pretty. We came to the edge of the village by the river and there was a temple there. I didn’t go in, but did have a wander around the outside.

From the temple, we headed across the square to the old building that I think someone said had been a hotel. It was very striking in colour as it was a reddy pink and also taller than the other buildings so it stood out compared to the buildings around it. I really wish that this old building had been open to the public as I would have loved a look around inside and also to take in the views from the top floor. We had another wander around the ancient market site and walked through some streets we hadn’t on our previous walk through. I liked the paiting shop at the edge of the village that displayed portraits of Chinese leaders past and present.

After the ancient market village, we headed along the road above the river. There wasn’t too much to see, just people walking or biking along the river and the odd person or group of friends fishing. After about a fifteen to twenty minute walk, we ended up at the Shenzhen Civil Code Park. We spent a while wandering around the park. It was nice enough but a bit random. There were lots of monuments above laws and civility, pretty much all of which were in Chinese, so I had zero clue. At the back of the park, there was a wedding hall, where people got married. I don’t think it is where you would go for a proper wedding ceremony but rather just to do the paperwork i.e. get the marriage certificate if that makes sense. Two things that stuck out on our walk around the park. The first was that there were a few blokes in hospital gowns either walking about or chilling on the benches. The park is opposite the Shenzhen Longhua District Central Hospital so it was nice that those who weren’t too ill could come and enjoy some greenery and fresh(ish) air. The second thing cracked me up. There was an old man with a microphone and three different phones on a tripod/selfie stick contraption that was filming him singing. However, when we got closer we realised that he wasn’t singing, just lip syncing. If only his followers in Douyin (Chinese TikTok) knew.

We headed back the way we came and when we were crossing under the bridge, there was a kind of portable karaoke/KTV thing going on. It was quite a nifty little set up. We headed back along the other side of the river and had a walk around a small village there. This was at the edge of the one that was in the process of being demolished. Quite a few of the properties were abandoned and derelict looking. The newer ones looked lived in. I was slightly surprised to see one place that looked like it should have been abandoned due to the broken windows actually had some laundry hanging out to dry under the porch roof. Lots of the buildings were small shack like structures but some were bigger two floored dwellings. There was one place that I would have loved to have done up if only I had the time, money and it was available to buy. I also loved seeing the plants growing out of the gaps between the roof tiles. I liked the way nature was reclaiming these abandoned buildings. We skirted the edge of the ancient market and along the road towards the subway station. We came across some great local propaganda. The slogans made sense in Chinese but the English translations didn’t. ‘My Struggle My Wonderful Life’ for example. As we got closer to the subway station we came across a lively little street market. It really reminded me of the area around Ningbo University that was filled with food stalls and shops. We stopped to get some food at some of the stalls and wandered about slowly making our way back to the metro

---