All provinces
Some of these places are towns where people live, shop and hang their washing out. Others were emptied of residents and rebuilt as attractions. Both carry the same official label, and photographs of the two look alike, so this layer records the difference as two numbers rather than leaving it to the pictures.
Researchers scored each place on how much daily life still goes on there (0 to 100) and how far it has been turned over to visitors (1 to 6). Both figures sit under every entry. 371 places across 31 provinces, grouped by province. The background is on the old towns page.
4 kinds
What the Labels Mean
| Kind |
Places |
What it is |
| Old town (古镇) |
164 |
a market town on water or road, built before the railways |
| Old quarter of a city (城市历史社区) |
82 |
an old residential quarter inside a modern city |
| Walled city (古城) |
80 |
a whole town inside its old wall, still a town |
| Historic street (历史街区) |
45 |
one protected street or a block of them |
The two scales
Lived-in, or Rebuilt
| Reads as |
Places |
What the two scores say |
| Lived-in, quiet |
249 |
high living, low commercial |
| Lived-in, busy |
80 |
high living, high commercial |
| Thin on both |
24 |
low living, low commercial |
| Visitor-facing |
18 |
low living, high commercial |
45 places
North China (华北)
| Province |
Places |
Most common kind |
| Beijing (北京) |
9 |
Old quarter of a city, 6 |
| Hebei (河北) |
9 |
Walled city, 5 |
| Inner Mongolia (内蒙古) |
5 |
Old quarter of a city, 2 |
| Shanxi (山西) |
17 |
Old town, 9 |
| Tianjin (天津) |
5 |
Old quarter of a city, 3 |
13 places
Northeast China (东北)
| Province |
Places |
Most common kind |
| Heilongjiang (黑龙江) |
6 |
Old quarter of a city, 3 |
| Jilin (吉林) |
3 |
Old quarter of a city, 2 |
| Liaoning (辽宁) |
4 |
Old quarter of a city, 3 |
127 places
East China (华东)
| Province |
Places |
Most common kind |
| Anhui (安徽) |
17 |
Old town, 11 |
| Fujian (福建) |
20 |
Old quarter of a city, 8 |
| Jiangsu (江苏) |
35 |
Old town, 18 |
| Jiangxi (江西) |
15 |
Old town, 11 |
| Shandong (山东) |
9 |
Old quarter of a city, 4 |
| Shanghai (上海) |
6 |
Old town, 4 |
| Zhejiang (浙江) |
25 |
Old town, 13 |
30 places
Central China (华中)
| Province |
Places |
Most common kind |
| Henan (河南) |
9 |
Old town, 4 |
| Hubei (湖北) |
6 |
Old quarter of a city, 2 |
| Hunan (湖南) |
15 |
Old town, 10 |
39 places
South China (华南)
| Province |
Places |
Most common kind |
| Guangdong (广东) |
22 |
Old quarter of a city, 8 |
| Guangxi (广西) |
10 |
Old town, 5 |
| Hainan (海南) |
7 |
Walled city, 4 |
76 places
Southwest China (西南)
| Province |
Places |
Most common kind |
| Chongqing (重庆) |
9 |
Old town, 6 |
| Guizhou (贵州) |
15 |
Old town, 10 |
| Sichuan (四川) |
21 |
Old town, 12 |
| Tibet (西藏) |
5 |
Old quarter of a city, 3 |
| Yunnan (云南) |
26 |
Old town, 16 |
41 places
Northwest China (西北)
| Province |
Places |
Most common kind |
| Gansu (甘肃) |
12 |
Walled city, 6 |
| Ningxia (宁夏) |
4 |
Old quarter of a city, 2 |
| Qinghai (青海) |
5 |
Old town, 2 |
| Shaanxi (陕西) |
13 |
Walled city, 6 |
| Xinjiang (新疆) |
7 |
Old quarter of a city, 4 |
Which of These Is Still a Town
The two scores narrow the list, and the last step is local: which lanes are worth the walk, which day of the week the place is itself, and where to stay inside the walls. Tell our local team the provinces you will be in and they will say which of these hold up.
Explore China Tours
