Reliving Haikou's glory days

Haikou used to be where Chinese from Hainan Island started their journeys to Southeast Asia to make a better living and where they plowed some of their money back as investment. Now that history is coming alive in the form of an old commercial hub in its early 20th-century enchantment, write Raymond Zhou and Huang Yiming.

The newest part of Haikou happens to be its oldest, with its decades-long wear and tear stripped away and its former glory re-emerging.

A grid formed by five streets, with about 200 sotto portico buildings occupying 25,000 square meters, is being renovated, one street at a time. Like the proverbial phoenix rising from the ashes, this district is soon to be the brightest spot when it dusts off long years of neglect.