Tradition beats on Taiping Road

The old buildings, intricate stone carvings and beautiful calligraphy found along Paifang Street in Chaozhou, Guangdong province, create an amazing corridor of art. Paifang refers to commemorative arches, and these structures, reminiscent of the legends of the Chaoshan region (which includes Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang), are silent witness to the fact that flesh may wither, but memory endures.

The street, which is also known as Taiping Road, has been one of Chaozhou's main thoroughfares for a very long time, and traces of the past, tangible and intangible, continue to thrive.

Covering the street and a small area of nearby alleys, the Taiping Road historical area is one of four blocks in the ancient layout, which is located in the western part of modern Chaozhou, a coastal city on the South China Sea.