Dabaodao, representing the old Chinese residential area of Qingdao, Shandong province, embodies the unique blend of urban sophistication and traditional character that the city presents to the world. [Photo/IC]

Dabaodao, representing the old Chinese residential area of Qingdao, Shandong province, embodies the unique blend of urban sophistication and traditional character that the city presents to the world. 

The area not only reflects the daily lives, leisure activities, and culture of the local population, but also bears witness to the development of the city's flourishing native commercial culture. It carries the historical imprints of Qingdao residents' entrepreneurial spirit.

Today, the Dabaodao tourism and leisure block in Qingdao’s Shibei district comprises streets such as Haibo Road, Gaomi Road, Weixian Road, Jiaozhou Road, Huangdao Road, and Sifang Road, which together house 164 traditional  courtyards, including Sanxingli, Yongyili, Jiuruli, Guangxingli, Jieshouli, Taixingli, and Liuyuli.

As urban renewal continues to progress, the city has restored the spatial layout of the Dabaodao area. Visitors can still experience the grid-like street network established there over a century ago.

The liyuan - the main architectural style in the Dabaodao area - combines traditional Chinese courtyard houses, siheyuan, with European-style row houses, forming two- to three-story wooden structures. The first floor typically housed street-front shops, while the upper floors were residential spaces, with red-tiled roofs covering the buildings. This unique architectural form and spatial layout gave rise to Qingdao's commercial, urban, and local culture.

In December 2023, the Dabaodao cultural and leisure block was recognized as part of the third batch of national-level tourism and leisure districts by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. In April, it was named one of the top 10 innovative cultural tourism integration districts of this year.