Jiangmen offers several distinct ways to explore the city’s history: historic commercial streets and arcades sit alongside a permanent exhibition, railway ruins, a former customs administration building and an overseas Chinese village. East Lake Park adds a park setting with a specified area of water to these cultural themes. When planning your trip, it helps to distinguish between the main points of interest: you can focus on architecture and streetscapes, the history of commerce and railways, or the scale of the park.

Arcades and Old Streets

Changdi Scenic Street is a 0.8-kilometer-long historic street in Jiangmen’s old commercial district. Several hundred arcade houses line the street, combining Chinese and Western architectural elements. This makes Changdi a specific point of interest for travelers interested in historic streetscapes: the street, the old commercial district and the architecture of the buildings all come together here.

Xuding Old Street offers a different account of the city’s origins. It is considered the origin of Jiangmen’s urban area. Jijishi and Shuibu Tou form its central area and are also considered starting points of the city. These locations give this historical association two scales: the street as a whole and the two named places at its center.

Museum, Railway and Commercial History

The Longdi branch of the Jiangmen Museum is located in Pengjiang District, in two century-old arcade houses at numbers 234 and 235 Dongdi Street. Here, the buildings’ architecture is linked to a specific museum. The permanent exhibition “烟火长堤——江门商埠的市井记忆” traces more than 600 years of history across six chapters. In addition to its architectural focus, the branch therefore offers a way to explore a broad span of history.

The ruins of the Xinning Railway’s North Street Station are considered the only relatively intact railway station site of this railway still remaining today. Those interested in the history of the Xinning Railway will find a different focus here than at the old commercial streets or arcade houses.

The Diaotai Ruins represent another historical connection: they are considered an important site for the study of Chen Baisha and the history of Jiangmen’s opening as a trading port. The site is located at the intersection of Dizhung Road and Diaotai Road. This distinguishes it thematically from places focused on the railway or the streetscape.

The Jiangmen Customs Ruins are the remains of an administrative building erected in 1904 by the Qing government for the customs office in Jiangmen’s Beijie area. The exact year of construction and the building’s former function give this place a distinct connection to the administrative history of the trading port.

Settlement History and Parkland

Qimingli is an overseas Chinese village in Jiangmen’s main urban area. It includes more than 100 century-old houses belonging to overseas Chinese. This gives the site a different focus from individual museum, customs or railway locations: the emphasis is on a historic settlement with a large number of older houses. For travelers interested in this type of settlement, it offers a distinct way to explore Jiangmen’s history.

East Lake Park adds a landscape perspective to the historic sites. Established in 1985, it covers 53 hectares, of which 16.5 hectares are water. The two figures distinguish the total area from the area covered by water and give a sense of the park’s size. In this way, a park with a clearly stated proportion of water complements the streets, buildings and historic sites.

Discover more destinations: Shantou, Heyuan, Maoming, Yunfu, Shaoguan, Yangjiang, Zhongshan, Zhaoqing.

For the broader travel overview: Guangdong.