Wudadao -- A Fresh and Alive "Icon" of Tianjin

(Source: TIANJIN TOURISM INFORMATION NETWORK)

On June 22nd, a tourism carnival themed on "a journey of craftsmanship, a city of joy" was grandly opened at Minyuan Square, Wudadao. Red Carpet Show of Intangible Cultural Heritage, Special Art Show of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Tourist Commodities Shopping Festival...,series excellent and abundant cultural activities were held until June 24th, showing tourists a historical and charming Tianjin city with over 600 years of history with a successful "journey of craftsmanship".

Highlights: a gathering of famous inheritors of intangible cultural heritages to carry forward excellent Chinese traditional culture, the exhibition of all kinds of commodities of intangible cultural heritages, passionate performance of Li Liangjie, founder of Tianjin folk art rock. In the meantime, Minyuan Square of Wudadao, which is full of European charms, was also lighted up because of these wonderful activities.

Wudadao, renowned as the treasure of Tianjin urban culture, is the "icon" of Tianjin worthy of the name. During the "concession period", nine countries built thousands of buildings according to their own style. Although they are indeed evidences of national humiliation, they also create the exclusive "building culture" of Tianjin from the angle of architecture.

Wudadao, as its Chinese name implies, is a zone consisting of five streets with two versions of Changde Street and Chengdu Street, besides the other four of Race Course Road, Munan Street, Dali Street, and Chongqing Street. Wudadao is such an enchanting place full of historical events and legendary stories which were happened in historical architectures including many former residences of modern celebrities.

There are former residences of many historical celebrities like Li Yuanhong, Feng Guozhang, Gu Weijun and Zhang Boling. Heping Hotel, located on No.66 Dali Street, is the former residence of Sun Family, built by industrialist Sun Zhenfang. Chairman Mao used to stay in the hotel when he inspected Tianjin in 1951. So Heping Hotel is also known as Runyuan Garden, which is named after Mao Zedong who styled himself Run Zhi.

In recent years, western building brand of Tianjin becomes more and more popular in China that Wudadao is now one of the must-see attractions of Tianjin. It is understood that thousands of tourists have been received at Wudadao Visitor's Center at Minyuan Square every day during minor holidays like May Day or Dragon Boat Festival.

"During the carnival, more tourists will come to Wudadao than usual. And our visitor's center has been well prepared to offer the best services." The girl on the left, the principal of Wudadao Visitor's Center, has been worked conscientiously and meticulously at the center for a long time.

In 2018, Tianjin Civilization Office took the leading to develop 9 "V Station" in Tianjin to provide citizens and tourists with consulting service, convenient facilities, tour guide and knowledge popularization. Wudadao Visitor's Center, as one of the first batch of Tianjin "V Station" project, provides citizens and tourists with first-aid medicine, resting area and WiFi service.