Daokou Ancient Town 道口古镇

About Daokou Ancient Town

The waterway beside the town is the Wei River, the Hua County reach of the Grand Canal, a World Heritage property and a national key cultural heritage protection unit. Its channel began as the Baigou; in 608 the Sui emperor Yang had it widened into the Yongji Canal of the Sui and Tang system, it was called the Yu River under the Northern Song, and the Ming renamed it the Wei, the name still used. It carried traffic for nearly 1,800 years, until the 1970s. Within Hua County the reach retains 8,240 metres of original channel, nine old wharves and more than 3,000 metres of old city wall.

The town itself kept its shape. The old streets that line the canal, Shunnan, Shunbei and Yimian, survive over about 3,000 metres, and Shunhe old street is a relatively large and relatively well preserved group of old dwellings, described officially as a museum of Ming and Qing northern vernacular building. More than a thousand rooms of old shopfronts and houses remain, mostly two storeys with flush gable ends, single eaves and small grey tile roofs. Daokou is rated a national 4A tourist area.

What to look for

• Shunhe old street, a relatively large and relatively well preserved group of old dwellings in the town.
• The street frontages themselves: two-storey buildings with flush gable ends, single eaves and small grey tile roofs, more than a thousand rooms in all.
• The line of the old canal beside the streets, which within Hua County retains 8,240 metres of original channel and nine old wharves.
• The old roast-chicken shops, the trade for which the town is best known; Daokou roast chicken dates from the Shunzhi reign of the Qing and was made from a method taught to Zhang Bing by a cook named Liu Yi, after which his shop became Yixing Zhang.
• The surviving stretches of old city wall along the canal reach, more than 3,000 metres in total.

Location & getting there

Getting to Daokou Ancient Town

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

• Search for 道口古镇 with 安阳市 and 滑县.