Nantou, Shenzhen

A few weeks ago I took the bus and went to Nantou.  Nantou is an area at the back of Nantau Peninsula and is a part of Shenzhen that, were it not tucked discreetly out of the way, would stick out like a sore thumb amongst Shenzhen's modern high rise buildings and skyscrapers.  It’s a historical gem in a very new and modern city.

It was formerly a walled city facing Tai Shan Bay for coastal defense in Bao'an County and now is the capital city of the Nanshan District (the district I work and live in) in Shenzhen.  The city was on the sea route in South China and regarded as the gatekeeper of Pearl River and Guangzhou.

History of Nantau can be dated back to 331.  The current walled city was built in 1394, when Ming revived the coastal defense after the fall of Mongolian rule and the town's South Gate is one of the few remaining sections of that wall.  Nantau gradually lost its prestige as the completion of Kowloon-Canton Railway made the market town of Shenzhen east of Nantau more prosperous.  However, it is of much greater modern historical significance, as after the first Opium War was won by the British Empire, Hong Kong island was signed away by a few Chinese mandarins in a small government building within the city's walls.  The capital city of Bao'an County was moved to Shenzhen finally in 1953.  

Nantou's streets are always packed.  More than 30,000 people are packed into half a square kilometer.  Most of the residents are migrants who live in walk-up apartment buildings built by the indigenous Cantonese villagers.

But what is unique about Nantou is that it seems very much like Nantou has been forgotten by most of the city dwellers.  Nantou doesn't really appear on many maps, and very few of Shenzhen inhabitants seem to know it's even there.  In fact, you could walk right past the walled entrance (which is actually just set back off Shennan Avenue, arguably the biggest road in the whole city) and not even notice.  And in a very symbolic-China kind of way now – where ‘old’ and ‘new’ are frequently clashing – on the other side of South gate is a giant Wal-Mart accessed by a huge foot-bridge.

Outside the South Gate is the Nantou Ancient City Museum which offers a look at Nantou's history, with old photos and artifacts.  Also located near the museum was a temple.

I entered through the old stone-walled tunnel built into the wall and walked around for about 20 minutes – it was drizzling off and on – it really wasn’t that pleasant.  Just about everything is for sale on Nantou's streets: fresh vegetables, electrical appliances, kitchenware, clothes, pets, etc.  Some pics of Nantou are below.