The most exotic street in Guangzhou is like a small "United Nations", but there are few tourists.

As we all know, Guangzhou is the first city in China to open to the outside world. As early as the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many foreigners came here to do business. Since the late Qing Dynasty, a large number of houses, villas and arcades have been built in Guangzhou.

Although Guangzhou has a history of more than 2,000 years, the cultural imprint of distant years is already very light, but the modern customs are relatively rich. There are few big attractions in this city, and small attractions are everywhere. Most of them are not well known to tourists, and few people visit them, such as Yide Road.

Yide Road connects Renmin South Road, Haizhu Square and Haizhu Bridge in Guangzhou, running from east to west, with a length of more than one kilometer. Most of the buildings on both sides of the road are arcades built in the early years of the Republic of China, as well as Sacred Heart Cathedral, the largest Gothic Catholic cathedral from South China to Southeast Asia.

Yide Road used to be the ancient city wall of Guangzhou in Qing Dynasty, and all the places outside the city wall were suburbs. In A.D. 1920, the city wall was demolished and converted into a road, which opened a prosperous history spanning a hundred years.

After a century of development, Yide Road has become the largest wholesale market of fine products, toys, new year's goods, dried seafood and daily necessities in South China. Walking on the road, you can always smell dried seafood.

At the end of each year, Yide Road is always crowded with people, and people who buy new year's goods are in an endless stream. Usually, this road is not quiet. From morning till night, hand tractors, bicycles and cars can be seen everywhere.

Due to the variety of goods and relatively reasonable prices, Yide Road has successfully become a famous commodity distribution center, with customers from all over the country and buyers from Southeast Asian countries everywhere. Walking along Yide Road, you can pass a black friend at any time. On Christmas, Christmas Eve and other festivals, there are more blacks and whites on the road, and they usually gather in Sacred Heart Cathedral to hold celebrations.

Some whites and blacks who shop in Yide Road are also businessmen. They purchase products and ship them back to their own countries for retail by sea, thus earning due profits. In a sense, Yide Road in Guangzhou is a "small United Nations".

Occasionally, some photographers or tourists make a special trip to Yide Road to collect the scenery, but because most businesses are quite resistant, they can only shoot churches, street scenes and the periphery of buildings.

Yide Road, with a history of one hundred years, witnessed the prosperity and transformation of modern Guangzhou. Some houses are very old and once became dangerous buildings. After maintenance and reinforcement, they look brand-new. The most commendable thing about this street is that all the old houses have not been painted with new colors, and most of them have been repaired in the same way, retaining the sense of vicissitudes of history, which is very good.

Sacred Heart Cathedral, commonly known as Stone Chamber, is the most conspicuous and famous building on Yide Road. 1863, which took 25 years to build. The designer of this building is French, but the builder is China, and some architectural details are integrated with China characteristics. With a total area of 2754 square meters, this church has a magnificent appearance, which can be compared with Notre Dame de Paris in France. The stone room is open to the public free of charge. Visitors can visit it during the opening hours, but they can't take photos during mass. It is forbidden to take photos with flash lights in the church.