Haimen Square

Haimen Square

Haimen Square is located on Jiefang South Road. It was first built on New Year's Day in 2000 and covers an area of 25,800 square meters. The square features the iconic relief sculpture — Haimen, which consists of two relief gates, front and back. The front gate is composed of "Port Opening" and "Soaring." During the Western Han Dynasty, merchants traveled from the Central Plains down the Xiang River, through the Lingqu Canal into the Gui River, and then joined the Nanliu River to reach Hepu for maritime trade, making Beihai Port one of the starting points of the ancient Maritime Silk Road that extended as far as the Persian Gulf. In the eighth year of the Taiping Xingguo era of the Northern Song Dynasty (983 AD), the Taiping Army was stationed in Haimen Town, and Beihai Port began to be referred to as "Haimen." In the second year of the Guangxu era (1876 AD), the Qing government signed the Chefoo Convention with Britain, opening Beihai as a foreign trade port. The back gate represents "Liberation" and "Opening." On December 4, 1949, Beihai was liberated, bringing new life to Haimen. In April 1984, the State Council approved Beihai as one of the first 14 coastal cities to further open up to the outside world. Starting in 1992, Beihai saw a wave of large-scale development, transforming the former Haimen into a modern port city serving as a gateway to the sea for Southwest China.