My next stop was Tunxi. Technically, this refers to the Tunxi District of the city of Huangshan. But perhaps more to the point is it’s old name: “Huizhou”.

Anyone who has carefully followed my “Learning Chinese Provinces” video series on YouTube might recognize the name Huizhou.
Combined parts of two cities’ names, Anqing and Huizhou provide the name of their province: Anhui.

The prime tourism / shopping destination is a pedestrian thoroughfare named “Old Street”. My hotel was located there.

Taxis and other cars cannot get too close to the location of the hotel. After rolling my bags close to where I knew it was located, and began to query shopkeepers. Most drew a blank. But then a guy I asked pointed and gestured. Although one side of the hotel overlooks “Old Street”, its entrance is located on a tiny alley, barely four feet wide.

The hotel is a gem. (Thanks for the recommendation Marlene!)
The manager reported that the building had belonged to her family for several generations. My room was equipped with two traditional Chinese “kang” beds: a sort of raised platform with a canopy.

I felt a bit guilty to have such a large room, but from the online booking sites it seemed to be the way to get a balcony looking over Old Street.

I browsed the shops a bit. Their wares were very nice and also very expensive.

Marlene had mentioned a factory that made ornate “ink sticks” of a variety used in traditional calligraphy. So, of course I had to check it out!

In addition to the process of incorporating the material that, when rubbed into a little bit of water, would become ink, these sticks were beautiful. Cast in molds that created artistic images on the surface, those images were then hand-colored at the factory.

Back on Old Street, I window shopped a bit more, resisting the lure of various fine items that I could not afford.

At a store filled with calligraphy tools and supplies, I started an idle conversation with a young fellow who worked there. His command of English was great. The conversation progressively became more involved. We discussed Chinese geography and history. Soon our talk delved into the evolution of the written Chinese language and some subtle nuances of the transition from “traditional” characters to the “simplified” characters used by most Chinese today.

He was extremely knowledgeable and quickly two hours passed. Eventually he needed to help attend customers. But we agreed to meet up and continue the conversation over a bit of food after his shop closed.

Both the food and the conversation were excellent! The man’s “English name” is Jim. But when I talk to m wife, I appreciatively refer to him as “the young scholar”.