I have been wondering if Miri, or Sibu, or even Kuching be able to put a street entirely dedicated to women. I visited this place not too long ago and I was very impressed.
It would have a great value for tourism. But would our conservative country permit this kind of open mindedness and vibrancy?
Jukou Street, also called Women Street, is the most famous side street of Zhongshan Road. This small street, with 423 years of history, is only 200 metres long and 2 metres wide. Dozens of fashion shops and snack bars dwell in this narrow street and attract many Xiamen women every day.
The first written record of Jukou Street appeared in 1684. It was the entrance of a military camp of the Qing Dynasty. Since many local merchants gathered here and sold daily necessities and military ordnance parts to the soldiers, the street gradually formed the first business street of Xiamen.
Jukou Street used to be the busiest street in this city. It attracted a wide variety of people including rogues, thieves and gamblers. The most famous gambler here was “Burglar Guy”, the son of a cloth store owner. One evening, “Burglar Guy”, who just gambled his money away, asked his father for money. After a quarrel, angry “Burglar Guy” suddenly threw a cigarette butt into a powder keg in his father’s store. The blast killed 60 people and destroyed over 50 houses. This was one of the biggest fires in the Qing Dynasty.
The street started to catch the eyes of women in the 1980s. With the implement of reform and the opening policy, Xiamen women began to be influenced by the fashion trends from all over the world. Jukou Street, which mainly sells high-grade clothes from Hong Kong and Taiwan, gradually became a shopping heaven for Xiamen ladies.
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