Yu Street of the Song Dynasty Capital

Yu Street was built on the north of the old Yu Street in Song Dynasty which led to the Imperial Palace. The street is a total of 400 meters long, 30 meters wide and covers a floorage area of 16,963 sq. meters. It is built next to the Longting Scenic Zone. The entire street was designed to maintain a distinctive Song Dynasty architectural style with 2 or 3 story buildings. There stand small stores row upon row as well as taller and bigger towers in an ancient style. Here you can find not only blue bricks and gray tiles, brown columns and painted beams, but also red fences and carved windows decorated with stone, brick and wooden carvings showing classic beauty and elegant tastes. The most typical structures in Yujie street would be the Corner Towers, the Fan Tower and the Memorial Archway. At the South entrance of Yujie street lies the Memorial Archway. Two Corner Towers are just on the wings of the Memorial Archway, each with stories, decorated with green glazed tiles and graphite bricks. Fan Tower is located on the west side of Yujie Street's north end, which is set up according to the description in "the Imagination Records in Dongjing. It contains five separate towers in five different directions — east, west, north, south and middle. Separate as they are, the five towers are connected to one another by suspension bridges, corridors and railings. The unique and ingenious structures deserve praise.

Yujie Street is also a cultural and entertainment center where tourists can find catering, accommodation, shopping and amusements. The horizontal inscribed boards, couplets on pillars and names of shops are predominantly adopted from certain records of the Song Dynasty. The service people and attendants all dress in costumes of the Song style, which seems to transport tourists to the ancient world.