| An old man with a tobacco pipe, a big tall dark-brown horse, and a white carriage… Sightseeing in the “Wudadao Outlandish Tourist Area” by a horse-drawn cart is really a unique landscape in the city of Tianjin. Today, the “Wudadao Outlandish Tourist Area”, with the reputation of “World Building Exposition”, has become the most attractive humanities tourism destination which fully shows the city’s charisma and historical situation.
The Wudadao Outlandish Tourist Area refers to the rectangular region in the Heping District south of Chengdu Street, north of Machang Street, east of Xikang Road, and west of Machang Street and Nanjing Road. This area, where there are 22 roads with a total length of 17 kilometers, covers 1.28 square meters. “Wudadao Outlandish Tourist Area” gets its name from five main streets: Machang Street, Munan Street, Dali Street, Changde Street and Chongqing Street from east to west. There are nearly 2000 western buildings of various European styles designed and built in the early of last century that have been completely preserved.
According to the Tianjin Department of Historical Building Protection, more than 230 buildings of various styles, among which there are 89 English-style buildings, 41 Italian-style buildings, 6 French-style buildings, 4 German-style buildings, 3 Spanish-style buildings, 46 courtyard-style buildings, 40 compartment-style buildings, 5 western style houses, and 3 buildings featuring Chinese-Western mixed style could be found here, and therefore, the area matches its reputation as a “World Building Exposition”. An important reason for the reputation of the area is that many celebrities have lived here. According to incomplete statistics, two presidents of the Republic of China and seven Premiers or acting Prime Ministers have once resided in the “Wudadao Outlandish Tourist Area” during the 1920s and 1930s. In addition, a large number of celebrities from different fields, such as famous educators Yan Xiu and Zhang Boling, well-known industrialists Zhou Xuexi, Li Zhuchen and Song Feiqing, as well as Eric Liddell, the British Olympic 400-metre race gold-medalist, have all left their historic mark in the area. Herbert Hoover, the 31st president of the USA, has also been here during his youth.
According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 200 former residences of celebrities in the “Wudadao Outlandish Tourist Area”, which become an important historical and cultural heritage of Tianjin. Therefore, the “Wudadao Outlandish Tourist Area” is “epitome of modern Chinese history” and a description of social and historical changes of China in the past century.
Among the main streets of the “Wudadao Outlandish Tourist Area”, Machang Street is the longest one with a length of 3,216 meters. It got the name because it was once the prosperous path to former racecourse of England settlement. Pu Yi, old people of Qing Dynasty, retiring politicians of the Republic of China and frustrated warlords all once left their footprints on this street.
On the both sides of Munan Street, there are row upon row of western buildings, mutual beautiful courtyards and gardens, which fully show the European style. Dali Street, formerly known as Singapore Street, is famous for the single western buildings of various European styles. In Chongqing Street, most of the buildings are high-class row apartment among which there are many former residences of celebrities, including the only palace of Tianjin—Qing Palace. Located at the most northern part, Chengdu Street has become a main welcome route of Tianjin.
As a national-level historical and cultural city, Tianjin attaches great importance to the protection of historical buildings. Based on domestic and international experience of historical buildings protection and the actual situation in Tianjin, Tianjin has made comprehensive refurbishment on the “Wudadao” historical building area and makes it an important window of Tianjin.
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