GuanQian Jie (观前街)Guan Qian Shopping Street in Suzhou

观前街

or GuanQian Jie

Maggie my attractive model points to the road sign saying

Guanqian Street!

Guanqian Street (Chinese: 观前街; pinyin: guàn qián jiē) is a street in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, China. The street is located in Suzhou city centre, an area covering 0.52 square kilometres, the commercial part of the city

Lying in the downtown core of Suzhou, the main theme of the street involves eating, shopping and entertaining. There are hundreds of shops, restaurants, bars, stores and clubs in old fashioned structures surrounded by colorful signs and neon lights along the street

 Ha ha ha!! It is raining so one of our tour members has put a shawl over her head, I think it is Jenny.

 Lying in the downtown core of Suzhou, the main theme of the street involves eating, shopping and entertaining. There are hundreds of shops, restaurants, bars, stores and clubs in old fashioned structures surrounded by colorful signs and neon lights along the street

Century-old shops

 Tourists  are attracted by these century-old shops because there is variety of Jiangnan dishes available in those century-old shops. Meanwhile, some of the shops have a long history of more than 100 years, which gives the tourists deep impressions and many of the tourists visiting Guanqian street just come to enjoy the delicious food.

 Our tour guide Wang tells us that we have 20 minutes to walk the streets!  all our spots are allocated 10 to 20 minutes only!!

 This  Pedestrian Street is a main pedestrianized shopping street. It located in the heart area of Suzhou old city is the must visit place of Suzhou. The name Guan Qian Jie boasting a history of over 150 years means "a street in front of a temple". Guan Qian Jie is named so because of reposing in front of Xuanmiao Guan (Temple). 

 This street has existed since 1930 and has been renovated many times since then. On June 1982, the street was designated by the municipal authority as a “walking street” and a new night market was established. The street has been honored as the one of the Four Most Famous Walking Streets in China (other three: Nanjing’s Fuzimiao, Shanghai’s Cheng Huang Miao and Beijing’s Tianqiao).

 A Taoism temple, the Xuanmiao Temple, is situated on Guanqian with its front entrance facing the street and providing the thriving and noisy street with solemnity and calm. The temple has a history of 1,300 years and is a cultural site for locals and visitors

What did we do and buy here?

Bengie bought a lot of sweets for her officemates, we strolled down the streets a lot, and we spied shops like H and M, Uniqlo and of course Starbucks!!

Location:	Suzhou
Address:	Downtown of the city, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China