Xijindu Ancient Street 西津渡

About Xijindu Ancient Street

The lanes preserve a layered streetscape connected with river travel, religion and the treaty-port period.

The Yuan-period Zhaoguan stone pagoda spans the street, while Daidu Pavilion recalls waiting for the ferry. The former British Consulate provides a different architectural chapter nearby. Compare these structures along the historic street rather than treating every building as belonging to one period.

The crossing was first named Suanshan Ferry (蒜山渡) during the Three Kingdoms period; it was renamed Jinling Ferry (金陵渡) in the Tang dynasty and took its present name, Xijindu, only after the Song dynasty. The street itself is less than 500 metres long and retains its antique character through the Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties to the present.

Several Tang and Song poets and travellers, including Li Bai and Su Shi, are recorded to have waited for boats or landed at the crossing and left poems about it, and Marco Polo is also recorded as passing through. The Qing-dynasty Jiangnan-style houses along both sides of the street remain well preserved and have not undergone large-scale commercial development, and the street is known as the China Ancient Ferry Museum (中国古渡博物馆).

In 2006 Xijindu Ancient Street was listed, as part of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, among the sixth batch of Major Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at the National Level (全国重点文物保护单位). The Zhaoguan Stone Pagoda (昭关石塔) and the former site of the Zhenjiang British Consulate (镇江英国领事馆旧址), both along the street, hold the same national-level designation.

What to look for

• Zhaoguan stone pagoda spans the old street.
• Daidu Pavilion recalls the district’s former ferry function.
• The former British Consulate adds a later treaty-port layer.

Location & getting there

Getting to Xijindu Ancient Street

Approach Xijindu at the foot of Yuntai Hill in western Zhenjiang, using the old-street visitor area as the specific destination.