Indian Street in Guogeli Avenue 果戈理大街

I decided that I will be walking down the length of Guogeli Avenue at least back to Hongbo Square where I plan to take a bus back to the hostel. I didn’t have anything at hand right now, so I just wanted to take it easy and observe Haerbin. Guogeli Avenue may not be very representative of Haerbin but it was one of the more accessible places for me. It is a known commercial area and lots of colonial buildings line the avenue. One of the more bizarre places I saw here in Guogeli Avenue was an Indian Street.

Indian Street? Here in Haerbin? Chinese are known for their fondness of foreign cultures as they try to incorporate them into their buildings. Even entire European villages have been replicated in China. The Indian Street is no European village ripoff but it was still foreign. I suspect that the Chinese know less about the Indians than about the Europeans. In Haerbin, that might be truer than the rest of China. The Indian street intrigued me so I had to check it out.

It was a covered area probably about a length of a city block. The street’s buildings were designed Indian style probably more accurately, Mughal style. This was not surprising since the Mughal style also incorporates onion domes in their architecture. Probably the most well known Mughal structure is the Taj Mahal. Aside from that there was like a bazaar in the center of the street, which ironically was selling Russian themed stuff. It was quite disappointing to see those here, as it kind of defeats the purpose of building the Indian Street. I didn’t really see Indian stuff there at all. Most likely the Russian themed stuff sells more than Indian stuff here and the store owners were forced to adapt.

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