Nan Luo Gu Xiang: A Popular Hangout for Young Beijingers
2008-03-09 12:03:15
CRIENGLISH.com
Welcome back. You're tuning into China Horizons, a weekly feature show on China Radio International.
When traveling in Beijing, everyone must visit the Great Wall, Tianan'Men Square, and the Forbidden City. But what if you have already seen the sights? Where do Beijing's locals go to relax? We will introduce to you a small street in eastern Beijing with over 700 years of history, Nan Luo Gu Xiang. This lane is less than 1,000 meters long, but here you can find many bars, stores and restaurants. Many residents gather here to hang out, and have turned Nan Luo Gu Xiang into one of the hippest streets in Beijing. Our reporter Ning Yan takes you there.
Reporter:
Nan Luo Gu Xiang was built 700 year ago in the Yuan dynasty and is mainly a protected street of traditional courtyard homes called Siheyuan. The street is about 1000 meters long with 8 symmetrical lanes, or Hutong, on both the East and West sides. The lane is so neat that it looks like a centipede. This is where it got its second name, "Centipede Street."
The walls and tiles on Nan Luo Gu Xiang are a grayish tone, not the royal red of the Forbidden City just one street away. The court officers and literates used to live on this street. The lane has now turned into a meeting place for people, with many different types of bars and small shops.
Most are cafes or small stores. The stores sell a wide variety of small Peking style items. You can quickly see the ingenuity and originality of the shopkeepers when looking through the selections that include everything from a small decorative craft to a practical hat.
This store is called The Mood of Cloth. In front of us are crafts made out of cloth in many bright colors. You definitely should come here and take a look if you are interested in traditional Chinese folk art and crafts. The store is no more than 20 square meters but it is divided into an inner and outer area. The outside is a paradise of cloth furnishings, such as aprons, cushions, and accessories made of cloth. The designs and patterns fully embody the Chinese spirit. The Shopkeeper, Liu Zonglai says most of the items are practical and show the character of Chinese folk crafts."
"The cloth involves details of classical Chinese culture. That's why many customers fall in love with this table-cloth. This golden mouse is a symbol of wealth. The other one called Angie Mouse represents safety."
In the inner part of store, The Mood of Cloth, displays many beautiful cloth shoes. If you don't look carefully, you may not even realize these shoes are made out of cloth! Liu Zonglai tells us that these shoes integrate elements of traditional Chinese style with a modern style, which makes them very popular with the customers.
"These cloth shoes are made from different kinds of cloth and are very rugged and durable but they come in many novel designs. They are easy to maintain and clean, so they sell very well.
Another store on Nan Luo Gu Xiang is called Ceramic Organization. Of course by the name you can see that the store sells ceramics. The shopkeeper is a Philippine girl named Johanna Ramvran. She explains that all the ceramic crafts are made in China locally. Her favorite, and the most expensive craft in the store is the Butterfly. Ten thousand butterflies no bigger than your fingernail, are chained together to form a butterfly pattern half the size of a person.
"What I like here is that one, the Butterflly, because it's really hard to do. It's made of many butterflies. There is a lot of craftsmanship you have to do and it's unique."
Tired after your day of shopping? There are a great variety of cafes and restaurants. You can have a cup of coffee or enjoy a big meal. There are European cafes and Peking tea shops for you to choose from depending on your mood. The storefronts may not encompass vast amounts of square meters but they are all exquisitely constructed to their own unique style.
Li Wei owns a café named The Cabin. She can't help but smile when she talks about her café. She tells us that she designed and constructed everything on her own. The European Villa surroundings of the café are so warm and welcoming that her customers feel they are in their own living-rooms at home!
"The European villa style fills people with a desire to enter the café. My youngest customer was not even 100 days old and was in his mother's arms. It wasn't a busy day that day and his family were the only ones in the café. I looked at them enjoying their meal, and they looked so happy."
Different from other bar streets, Nan Luo Gu Xiang also has a cultural flavor. The main reason is that the owners of the stores themselves are gifted artists and writers. The owner of Café de Margarita, Quan Ling, is a short story writer. She explains to the reporters that she came here on tour a few years ago. She was obsessed by the simple and easy life, and decided to start her own business here. Like writing novels, she created her own dream café.
"I really like this street; it's so peaceful and quiet. I also enjoy the scenes from people's everyday lives. As a writer, I care about life itself, and the street really makes me understand how beautiful life can be. People have lived under armored concrete for too long. The fast pace, cars and digital equipment have taken up too much of our lives. We are in need of regressing to a slow and peaceful life."
Compared to the fast and rhythmic lives of the Beijing people, Nan Luo Gu Xiang is a place where hurrying does not happen. Tourists can have a glimpse of unpaved enclosures from the past dynasties, listen to the chattering noise of people on the street, or maybe find some valuable crafts from the small stores. Modern and traditional, artistic and civilian, fast and slow, combined together to make Nan Luo Gu Xiang.
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