Participants in the Nihao China: European Travel Media and Influencers' Hainan Tour gather for a group photo on Qilou Old Street in Haikou on May 26, 2026. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

In Haikou — capital of China's Hainan province — Qilou Old Street is a century-old district that is shaped by the integration of Southeast Asian architectural styles and local Hainanese culture.

On the morning of May 26, some 24 guests who were taking part in the Nihao China: European Travel Media and Influencers' Hainan Tour explored the historical street — stopping at every turn to photograph its colonnaded walkways, arched windows and wonderful, narrow lanes.

Qilou — the covered arcade-style architecture that gives the street its name — stands as one of Haikou's most iconic cultural symbols, and its story is inseparable from the generations of Hainanese who crossed the seas to seek their fortunes in Southeast Asia.

The neighborhood's origins trace back to the city's early days as an open trading port, which brought a boom in shipping and commerce.

From the mid-19th century through to the first half of the 20th century, many overseas Chinese of Hainan origins who built businesses throughout Southeast Asia returned home and brought with them the architectural tastes of coastal cities across the region.

The result was a remarkable blend: European arched windows, Roman columns and Baroque carvings fused with local Hainanese wood carvings, Lingnan stucco reliefs and the distinctive overhanging eave structure — giving Qilou Old Street the unique East-meets-West character it retains to this day.

European travel media guests and influencers saunter around Qilou Old Street in Haikou, Hainan province, on May 26, 2026. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

At its core, the Qilou architectural style was a practical response to the tropical climate. The upper floors were for living; the ground floors were for trade.

Each building extended outward at street level to form a continuous covered walkway — providing shelter from the sun and rain and a natural invitation to walk. This blend of commerce and everyday life once made Qilou Old Street the beating heart of Haikou's economy, and today the street still hums with the same lived-in energy.

That energy is what sets it apart. Unlike many historical districts that have been polished into open-air museums or have been overcommercialized, Qilou Old Street feels like a place that is still breathing, authentic. The foreign bloggers on the tour sensed it as soon as they turned into Datie Lane — a narrower alley off the main street lined with household goods shops, snack stalls and souvenir sellers, all refreshingly unmanicured.

Some guests lingered at corners, framing and reframing their shots. Others tilted their heads back to photograph the hybrid columns overhead. A few simply strolled, eyes tracing the carved details along the parapets.

Hans Diddo Walter Wilhelm Ramm, editor-in-chief of Meine Reise magazine from Germany, was drawn to the history behind what he was seeing. He photographed the map at the entrance, read the street signs and information panels carefully and paused at the sign for Bo'ai Road to ask about its origins. For him, the architecture was not just a visual experience — it was a window into the city's past.

British blogger John Michael Chapman, visiting Hainan for the first time, was more interested in the life happening around the buildings. While filming a video about the street's history, he invited two local children to join him on camera.

A blogger explores the lanes of Qilou Old Street, camera in hand, taking in the street's quaint mix of local shops and century-old architecture on May 26, 2026. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

But for many of the foreign visitors, what felt most surprising was not the history itself — it was how naturally the past and present coexist here.

At one point, an elderly woman selling vegetables beneath a Qilou colonnade reached for a traditional steelyard weighing balance — the kind with a hanging counterweight — to weigh her produce. Seconds later, she picked up a WeChat Pay QR code for the customer to scan.

A century-old arcade, an ancient weighing tool, and a mobile payment app, all in the same moment. Time here has not been severed from the present; it simply keeps moving, languidly, along this old street.

A blogger photographs the Qilou facades in Haikou on May 26, 2026. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

That layering of eras is perhaps what makes Qilou Old Street so evocative. History has not been sealed behind glass, nor has the neighborhood rushed to erase its older traces. Shop signs hang beside Roman columns. People drink tea, chat and buy groceries in the shadow of flaking, centuries-old walls.

Long ago, Hainanese families left their hometowns to build new lives across Southeast Asia. Today, their descendants and neighbors run small businesses and go about their days in the same spaces. The times have changed, but the hope for a good life has not.

As the visit drew to a close, one of the bloggers summed it up simply: Qilou Old Street, he said, is the kind of place that deserves to be taken slowly.