Last summer, I visited Central Street (Zhongyang street) located in Harbin, which is China’s longest walkway. The street was built at the end of the last century, including a variety of buildings with different western architecture styles, such as Byzantine, Baroque, Neo-artistic, and castle Style. Therefore it is described as a small Paris or Moscow in the Orient., which has attracted a lot of producers to make movies here.

Harbin was once a semi-colonial city controlled by foreign powers in politics, economy and trade, which marked a strong influence on this street and left it with prosperous development of foreign trade. This street began to take shape as an international street in the 1920s. There were over a hundred shops and among the owners were Russians, Greeks, Czechs, Swedes, Swiss, Frenchmen, Germans and Englishmen. They built their shops in their individual styles and made it a foreign street.

Today the street has been kept in its original beauty and prosperity. There are many shops, western restaurants, hotels, Jewelers’ and photographers’, which comprise of an international shopping mall. At the end of this street there is a wharf at the Songhua River, so you can get close to water and travel along the river in boat.

On such a street, I took photos of those exquisite buildings, shopped around specialty shops, tried delicious western food, and appreciated the colorful street radiated by bright neon lights. This is not only an open museum of buildings, but also a modern shopping and entertaining center. It forms a sharp contrast and a wonderful combination of the classical and modern life.

    Maybe you have been dreaming of a tour in Europe for a long time, and this street can offers you with a European feeling in China.