It is always crowded on the bus to Dongmen. Many visitors to the Dongmen Commercial Area are from Hong Kong and other cities. They may be from different places but they all have one thing in common: They are all heading to one of Shenzhen's shopping heavens.
But don't mistake the place for just a fancy shopping arcade simply because of its name. Known as Dongmen Old Street, it is not just a popular shopping mecca but more importantly it retains the style of a traditional Chinese commercial street. Established in the 17th century during the Ming Dynasty, it has been the city's busiest street for over 300 years.
Originally called Shenzhen Old Ruins, Dongmen was renamed as Shenzhen's frontier town in the early 1980s. It was also described as the center of the city's commercial development. Covering 130,000 square meters, it boasts a total of 400,000 square meters of retail floor space. Over 3,000 shops of various sizes sell everyday items, various kinds of domestic and foreign brand-name clothes, leather products, antiques, calligraphy, paintings, cultural relics, pottery and porcelain. There is a saying that you can't call it a worthwhile trip to Shenzhen without visiting Dongmen.
Today, when you walk on Dongmen Old Street, you can still savor the delights of old-style buildings. Located between Yiheng Street and Erheng Street, off Renmin Road North, the so-called Old View Street transports the visitor into the traditional small town that often features in TV series.
Travel tips
You can get to Dongmen by taking the following buses: 1, 3, 5, 11, 102, 103, 113, 203, 211, 223, 300 and 351.