Zhong Shan Lu - Xiamen

Zhong Shan Lu is Xiamen's Oxford Street, plush, fancy, full of tourist tat, fancy looking and astonishingly, worth a visit, even from a grumpy, anti shopping for fun, misery guts like me.

Located in the south west of Xiamen, Zhong Shan Lu is named after the great Sun Zhong Shan, a revolutionary who helped overthrow the Qing dynasty and form the Republic of China. Despite being a member of the Kuomintang, he is revered thorough the Peoples Republic as a great teacher of  the two greatest leaders of China, Jiang Jie Shi and my old buddy Mao Ze Dong. Common people were at the heart of his decision making. So it was easy for the Communists as well as the Nationalists to claim linage from him.

Philosopher Coco Wang with her parents in Zhong Shan Lu, Xiamen

Hence all the roads and the odd city named after him in China!

Go to Zhong Shan Lu if you like expensive boutiques round the corner from sprawling alleyways of street food markets and foot fish biting salons on every corner.

Warning, if you are fat you may find the alleyways off Zhong Shan Lu difficult to navigate, some of the gaps between the buildings are as little as 40cm wide, making Zhong Shan Lu, all the more tolerable for those who dislike shopping.

The ugly side of Chinese Culture. Sham Medicine made from dried Sea Horses widely available on Xiamen's Zhong Shan Lu.

One tip. If you go to Zhong Shan Lu, look out for big mall developments and lion dancers. They will give you free 10rmb vouchers for a Taiwanese food hall. I got at least twenty.