Visitors to the Taiwan folklore street in Zhouzhuang on April 26, 2009. [Huang Ying/CNS]

The first themed Taiwan folklore street on the mainland opened to visitors in Zhouzhuang, the famous water city of Jiangsu Province, on April 26, catching the eye with old Taiwanese buildings, typical scenes of early Taiwanese life, and typical Taiwan food.

Buildings along the street follow the traditional Taiwan style of the 1950s and 1960s, decorated with typical customer goods of that time, capturing realistic scenes of Taiwanese life from half a century ago. Contemporary adverts, shop keepers using slang, patrolling policemen, glove puppet show and old films – all these take visitors back to the past. Also they can find the most popular Taiwan food here such as braised pork rice, and pineapple cake.

Chen Yizhi, project director of the folklore street, said the street always inspired him with reminiscences of his childhood. He said Taiwanese like him can find here the very snacks and drinks they had, the films they saw and the old record player they used when they were young. Thus the folklore street not only helps people on the mainland get to know the early life of Taiwanese, but also help Taiwanese to recapture their childhood memories.

Chen Yizhi said most sets and props in the street were carefully collected based on historical material and field visits. For example, a manual phone installed in a grocer’s shop was plucked from a junk shop at a fairly high price.