Lovers' Road and the Fisher Girl, Zhuhai's Seafront Since the 1990s
Lovers' Road, Qinglü Lu in Chinese, is the coast road and promenade that runs along the eastern edge of Zhuhai, linking the Xiangzhou, Jida and Gongbei districts. Chinese Wikipedia puts its length at about 28 kilometres, from a rest stop in the north to a platform looking across at Macau in the south. Its best-known stop is the Fisher Girl, a granite statue of a young woman holding up a pearl, which has stood on a rock in Xianglu Bay since 1982. Both are free, and a walk along the middle section with the statue as its centre is the simplest way to see the city.
Building a road along the beach
Before the road, the shore from Xiangzhou to Gongbei was open sand. Zhuhai grew quickly after it became a special economic zone, and by the end of the 1980s the only road toward Zhongshan and Guangzhou was overloaded. Chinese Wikipedia, drawing on local records, says city leaders chose a new route along the coast that would use spare land on the shore and avoid cutting into hills or the natural coastline.
Work on a 2.9 kilometre middle section began in October 1991. At the bend at Lingjiaozui, builders left a large roadside boulder in place to keep the original look of the shore. It still takes up one lane, and that stretch is the narrowest on the whole road. The northern section, 4.05 kilometres, started in March 1992, and its earth fill was finished in 22 days by working around the clock. The middle section opened in August 1992, the first time people could drive right up to the Fisher Girl. The north opened that December, and the southern section, begun in 1993, reached the reclaimed land facing Macau and was completed in 1999. A 2013 plan proposed extending the road north toward Zhongshan and southwest toward Hengqin, to about 55 kilometres in all.
Where the name came from
The road was first given a working name, Xiangwan Avenue, after the bay. Lovers' Road began as a nickname that spread after the Yangcheng Evening News used it. The story most often told is that in the mid-1990s the city's party secretary, Liang Guangda, walked the sea wall with Premier Li Peng and his wife, told them it had no formal name yet, and Li suggested Lovers' Road. A former deputy head of the city's legislature recalled instead that several names were on the table and Liang chose this one himself, saying it suited the city's romantic image and the open spirit of the zone.
The Fisher Girl
The statue was planned before the zone was even founded. English Wikipedia says that in 1979 Wu Jianmin, later the city's first party secretary, proposed a landmark for the new city and asked the sculpture department of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts for designs. Many of the early ideas showed male figures. The sculptor Pan He proposed a fisherwoman instead, drawn from a local legend in which a daughter of the Dragon King comes down to the Pearl River Delta, lives as a fisher girl, and falls in love with a fisherman named Haipeng.
The finished figure is 8.7 metres tall, made from seventy pieces of granite and weighing about ten tonnes. She wears a fishing net, jade bracelets and a pearl necklace, with trousers rolled up, and holds a pearl above her head with both hands. An early version had her holding the pearl in front of her while standing on a fish, and the fish was dropped as too hard to carve. The cost, around 200,000 yuan, was controversial in a new city that was short of housing, but the statue was installed in 1982 and became Zhuhai's emblem. It appeared on a 2005 stamp for the zone's 25th anniversary and was listed as a cultural relic in 2014. In 2015 Pan He and his son Pan Fen finished a companion statue, Mother River, in Doumen District, showing the fisher girl teaching her child to swim.
Walking the sections
Chinese Wikipedia divides the road into three parts, split at the Xiangzhou north pier and the Jiuzhou port pier. The north section runs past Xiangzhou harbour. The middle section, from Xiangzhou to Jiuzhou port, is the one most visitors walk. It takes in the Fisher Girl, the Seaside Park, the public bathing beach, Yeli Island and the shell-shaped Zhuhai Grand Theatre. The south section continues past Jiuzhou port to the Macau viewing platform near Gongbei.
A boardwalk on the shore gives close views of the statue, which stands on a boulder a short way out in the water. A good half-day walk starts at Yeli Island, heads south past the bathing beach to the Fisher Girl, and carries on as far as your legs allow toward Jiuzhou port. Shared bikes help on the longer stretches. Check the rules posted for each segment, since bikes are not allowed everywhere.
Practical notes
Lovers' Road and the Fisher Girl are free and open at all hours. Early morning and late afternoon are cooler and the light is softer on the granite. Midday glare is harsh from May to October. Typhoons can close the seafront in late summer, so check weather warnings. The Zhuhai guide treats this walk as the minimum Zhuhai visit and adds the theatre at dusk.
Before you go
- Wear a hat and carry water on hot days.
- Check typhoon notices between July and September.
- Plan the walk in one direction and take a bus or taxi back.
- Watch for cyclists on shared paths.
Frequently asked questions
How long is Lovers' Road?
About 28 kilometres in its built form, with plans to extend it to around 55 kilometres.
Is the Fisher Girl free to visit?
Yes. The statue and the boardwalk in front of it are public and free.
Who made the Fisher Girl statue?
The sculptor Pan He of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. It was installed in 1982.
Which part of Lovers' Road is best for walking?
The middle section between Xiangzhou and Jiuzhou port, which passes the Fisher Girl, Yeli Island and the Grand Theatre.
Sources
Facts in this article were checked against the following sources, retrieved 12 October 2026.
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons under the licences shown in each caption.