Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street Guangzhou — 1920s Qilou Arcades & Old Cantonese Restaurants 2026

Q: Is Shangxiajiu free to visit?

Yes. Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street is a public street, free to walk at any time, with no admission and no closing hour. You only spend money if you eat dim sum, buy snacks, or shop for fabric and gold in the shops along the way. Most restaurants and stores are open roughly 10 am to 10 pm.

Q: Which metro line goes to Shangxiajiu in Guangzhou?

Take Guangzhou Metro Line 1 to Changshou Lu station (长寿路), use Exit D, and walk about 5 minutes to reach the start of the street. Alternatively, Huangsha station (Line 1 / Line 6) brings you in from the western end — this route is also a 10 to 15 minute walk to Shamian Island.

Q: What old Cantonese restaurants are at Shangxiajiu?

The two most famous are Tao Tao Ju (陶陶居), a teahouse and dim sum institution dating to the late Qing dynasty, and Lin Heung Lou (莲香楼), known for its lotus-seed mooncakes and traditional Cantonese pastries. Both sit on this street and serve classic yum cha — order har gow, siu mai, char siu bao and a pot of hot tea any time of day. Come mid-morning to avoid the long weekend lunch queues.

What it is

Why Shangxiajiu is worth the walk

Picture this: you are walking under a roofline that runs unbroken for a kilometre. Outside, the Guangzhou sun is fierce, but the walkway you are on stays shaded, because the upper floors of the shop-houses project out over your head. Above you are old plaster balconies and louvred wooden windows, their colour faded by nearly a hundred years. Below are fabric merchants, gold shops, pastry counters — and the smell of dim sum drifting out of a restaurant that has been open since your grandfather's time. This is Shangxiajiu, the heart of old western Guangzhou.

Shangxiajiu (上下九) is a pedestrian street in the Liwan District, lined with qilou (骑楼) arcade shop-houses — a southern Chinese building type where the ground floor is set back to create a continuous covered walkway. They went up in the 1920s and 1930s, when Guangzhou was a major treaty-port trading with the outside world, which is why the architecture is a distinctive Lingnan-meets-Western hybrid. That kind of intact streetscape is genuinely rare in China today.

What sets it apart from any ordinary shopping street is simple: it is free, open at any hour, and it is home to two of Guangzhou's oldest Cantonese restaurants — Tao Tao Ju (陶陶居) and Lin Heung Lou (莲香楼) — both serving traditional yum cha since the late Qing dynasty. One street gives you the old architecture, the original food, and the old-Guangzhou atmosphere that the city's older generation still recognises.

Qilou (骑楼) arcade shop-house on Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street, Guangzhou — 1920s building with decorative plaster balconies, upper floors overhanging the covered walkway, shops below — A 1920s qilou on Shangxiajiu — the upper floors overhang the walkway, with Lingnan-meets-Western plaster detailing above

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Entry

Free

Public street, open at any hour

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Best time

Morning or evening

Avoid the weekend lunch crowds

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Metro

Changshou Lu (Line 1)

Exit D, then a 5-minute walk

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The draw

Century-old qilou

Lingnan-meets-Western arcades

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Must-try

Old-school dim sum

Tao Tao Ju · Lin Heung Lou

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Time needed

1–2 hours

Walkable to Shamian Island

What to look for

5 things that make Shangxiajiu, Shangxiajiu

Architecture, food and shopping — each with a story of its own.

1

The qilou arcades (骑楼)

Lingnan architecture · 1920s–1930s

The real star of the street. These are shop-houses whose ground floors are set back to form a continuous covered walkway running for nearly a kilometre — designed so you can shop or walk the whole length without being in the sun or rain of the humid south. The upper floors overhang the walkway, decorated with plaster moulding, balconies and wooden windows in a Lingnan-colonial style. Look up: the detail above eye level is far better than you would expect.
2

Tao Tao Ju (陶陶居)

Teahouse and dim sum · since the late Qing dynasty

One of the oldest teahouses in Guangzhou, famous for traditional dim sum and the culture of "yum cha" — literally "drinking tea," meaning you sit with a pot of hot tea and order steamer baskets of har gow, siu mai and bao to eat slowly over a long conversation. The dining room still feels old-school, and local families have been coming here for generations. Come mid-morning to beat the queue.
3

Lin Heung Lou (莲香楼)

Historic pastry house · the original mooncake

Renowned for its lotus-seed-paste mooncakes — the name "Lin Heung" means "lotus fragrance" — and traditional Cantonese pastries. The ground floor sells boxed pastries as gifts; the upper floor is a tea hall serving dim sum. During the Mid-Autumn Festival the mooncake queue gets long, because this place is a Guangzhou institution.
4

Fabric and gold shops

Liwan's old trading quarter

This district has long been a centre for fabric, silk and gold jewellery. The side lanes still hold fabric markets, and the main street is dotted with gold shops and snack counters along its length. Plenty of it is aimed at tourists now, but you will still find genuine old shops that locals actually use mixed in.
5

Cantonese street snacks

Walk-and-eat sweets and bites

Beyond the sit-down dim sum houses, the walkway has snacks to eat on the move — brown-sugar pudding cups, steamed milk-curd desserts, fresh-baked pastries and soy milk. It pairs well with a street-food crawl: if you are hungry, you can graze your way along the whole street.

What to do here

See the arcades, eat dim sum — and pair it with the neighbours

🚶 Walking the arcades and photography

The best approach is to walk slowly along the pedestrian street and keep looking up, because the prettiest detail — plasterwork, balconies, wooden windows — sits above eye level. The walkway stays covered by the qilou roof the whole way, so it is comfortable even in strong sun or rain. A relaxed walk through takes about an hour.

The best photography window is morning to late morning, when the light is soft and the crowds are thinner, or after dark, when the shop signs light up and the street feels lively. Avoid weekend lunchtime, when it gets crowded enough that clean photographs are hard.

🥟 Old-school dim sum, the yum cha way

The heart of a Shangxiajiu visit is a dim sum meal at Tao Tao Ju or Lin Heung Lou. Cantonese culture calls it "yum cha" — sit with a pot of hot tea and order dim sum a basket at a time, to share over a long, slow meal. Start with har gow (shrimp dumplings), siu mai (pork dumplings), char siu bao (barbecue-pork buns), turnip cake and an egg tart.

Come for breakfast or mid-morning, the traditional yum cha hours, when the queue is shorter than at lunch. Expect roughly ¥50–100 per person (~฿250–500), depending on how many baskets you order. Both restaurants have picture menus you can point at.

Tip: To get the most out of the meal, read our Guangzhou dim sum & yum cha guide → first — it explains each dish and the etiquette of the tea table.

📍 Pair it with Shamian Island and the old town

The best thing about Shangxiajiu's location is that it is a 10 to 15 minute walk to Shamian Island (沙面) — a small riverside sandbank that was once the British and French concession, full of old European buildings under big shade trees. The atmosphere is the complete opposite of Shangxiajiu's bustle.

The classic route: dim sum at Shangxiajiu in the morning, walk the qilou, then continue through Qingping Market to reach Shamian Island in the late afternoon when the light is good — covering both the lively side and the quiet side of old Guangzhou in half a day.

Getting there

How to reach Shangxiajiu

The metro is the easiest option, with two stations that bring you onto the street.

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Metro Line 1

Changshou Lu station (长寿路)

Exit D, walk 5 minutes to the start of the street — the most direct route

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Metro Line 1 / Line 6

Huangsha station (黄沙)

Enters from the western end — useful if you are continuing to Shamian Island

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Walk on

Shamian Island ~10–15 min

Via Qingping Market to the island

Combining sights in one day: To do the old western Guangzhou in a single day, start at Shamian Island in the cooler morning, walk through Qingping Market to Shangxiajiu for a late-morning dim sum, then shop in the afternoon — it is all within the same Liwan district, all within walking distance.

Nearby

Sights and food near Shangxiajiu

Old western Guangzhou — all within an easy walk of each other.

Shamian Island (沙面)

The old riverside European concession, colonial buildings under shade trees — a 10–15 minute walk from Shangxiajiu

Read →

Beijing Road (北京路)

The central pedestrian shopping street, with a glass floor showing ancient Tang–Ming road layers below

Read →

Guangzhou Street Food

The Cantonese snacks worth seeking out — graze your way around the old town

Read →

Frequently asked

FAQ · Shangxiajiu before you go

Is Shangxiajiu free to visit?

Yes. Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street is a public street, free to walk at any time, with no admission and no closing hour. You only spend money if you eat dim sum, buy snacks, or shop for fabric and gold in the shops along the way. Most restaurants and stores are open roughly 10 am to 10 pm.

Which metro line goes to Shangxiajiu?

Take Guangzhou Metro Line 1 to Changshou Lu station (长寿路), use Exit D, and walk about 5 minutes to reach the start of the street. Alternatively, Huangsha station (Line 1 / Line 6) brings you in from the western end — this route is also a 10 to 15 minute walk to Shamian Island.

What are the qilou (骑楼) buildings at Shangxiajiu?

Qilou (骑楼) are southern Chinese arcade shop-houses where the ground floor is set back to form a continuous covered walkway, with the upper floors projecting out over it. They appeared in the 1920s and 1930s and were designed for the hot, humid southern climate — you can shop or walk the length of the street without ever being in the sun or rain. At Shangxiajiu the old qilou run for roughly a kilometre, decorated with plaster moulding and balconies in a Lingnan-meets-Western style.

What old Cantonese restaurants are at Shangxiajiu?

The two most famous are Tao Tao Ju (陶陶居), a teahouse and dim sum institution dating to the late Qing dynasty, and Lin Heung Lou (莲香楼), known for its lotus-seed mooncakes and traditional Cantonese pastries. Both sit on this street and serve classic yum cha — order har gow, siu mai, char siu bao and a pot of hot tea any time of day. Come mid-morning to avoid the long weekend lunch queues. More in our Guangzhou dim sum guide.

Is Shangxiajiu worth visiting?

Honestly, Shangxiajiu is a fully touristy district — crowded on weekends and lined with plenty of generic souvenir shops. What makes it worth the time is the genuine draw: the kilometre of century-old qilou architecture, now rare in China, and the old Cantonese restaurants still serving traditional dim sum. If you come for the architecture, the food and the old-Guangzhou atmosphere, it is well worth 1 to 2 hours — especially paired with Shamian Island, a short walk away.

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