Old Culture Street, in the northeastern part of Laojie, extends to the north and south of the Mazu Palace. The square in front of the palace is big enough to hold a thousand people. Built around the square are theatres and ballad halls, where fine performances are given on almost all festival days. A spectacular "Imperial Festival" is held in and around the square every year on the 23rd day of the third lunar month.

A giant archway inscribed with the words "An Old Neighbourhood of Tianjin" stands at the entrance to the street, and behind the archway is a street of 600 metres long lined with buildings in the Qing-dynasty architectural style. The most noteworthy things here are the boards inscribed with the names of shops and with couplets at the shop fronts, which are written by famous calligraphers.

Walking through the archway, the first shop that comes in sight is the shop of Zhang, the Sculptor of Clay Figurines. There is also a special shop selling the famous New Year pictures of Yangliuqing.

Studio of Living Stone is the name of another eye-catching shop because it is decorated with a long string of multiple national flags and advertisements written in both Chinese and English. Most of the things sold in the shop are curios, including portraits of emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Next to the studio is a stall selling chatang, a soup made with millet flour and brown sugar. To attract patrons, the stall keeper demonstrates his skill of holding four bowls in one hand while pouring boiling water into them from a huge pot with a dragon-shaped spout.
It took about 70 minutes to walk through Old Culture Street and back. It will certainly take more than half a day if you want to take more than cursory glances.