Tales of Asia - Part 10 - Lost in Guangzhou, China
Late in August and again early in September, I took the opportunity for a couple of quick trips up to the Gateway of Southern China, Guangzhou. (pronounced something like "Gwon Joe"). This city is close to Hong Kong and only takes two hours on the express train.
Guangzhou is the capital city of Guangdong, and the center of its political, economic, scientific, educational and cultural life. Sui (Ears of Rice) is short for Guangzhou and the City of Ram (Yang Cheng) is also an alias of Guangzhou. Guangzhou is located north of the Pearl River Delta. It lies close to the South China Sea, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Covering an area of 7434.4 square kilometers (2870 square miles), Guangzhou is home to more than 11 million people, including a 3.7 million transitory population. With the opening of China to the outside world, a large number of people from other regions of China swarmed into Guangzhou, one of the first “open” cities in China. This has accelerated its economic development.
Guangzhou is also a famous historical city. In ancient days, Guangzhou was the capital city for three Chinese dynasties: the Nan Yue (South Yue), the Nan Han (South Han) and the Nanming (South Ming). Thus it was put in the list of the 24 most famous historical cultural cities and became a tourist destination. You can not understand most Chinese cities deeply until you know their history. This is true of Guangzhou. Many historic sights: the Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb Museum, the Zhenhai Tower and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall tell us the 2,000-year history of Guangzhou.
Today, Guangzhou retains its ancient customs, but is also a large city full of vigor and current fashions. You can find something worth taking home in Shangxia Jiu Lu, Beijing Lu and Di Shi Fu Lu.
During my travels in Guanzhou I visited Zhen Hai Lou. This was built during the Ming Dynasty as a five-story tower located at the hilltop of Yue Xiu Park. This is one of the oldest edifices of Guangzhou which was originally used as a watch tower. Nowadays it has become a museum showcasing Han porcelains, artifacts and treasures.
I also visited the largest park of Guangzhou, home to the Statue of the Five Goats statue and Zhen Hai Lou. It's situated on the Yue Xiu Mountain as well as six other minor mountains. Besides the beautiful views the park offers, there are other famous edifices such as the Five Rams Statue, the River View Pagoda of Ming Dynasty, the Tomb of King Nanyue of Eastern Han, and the Cannons of Ching Dynasty.
There are many other places of interest in Guanzhou such as the Jade Market, rows and rows of merchants in buildings selling precious jade and other stones. if you go make sure you cut the merchants opening price in half to start with. The Chinese have a belief that foreigners have loads of money and therfore should pay a highre price than Chinese people. Don't take this as an insult, just acccept it for what it is and bargain for a "Chinese" price. You'll be amazed at the bargains. (for example an RMB135o pair of shoes in Shenzhen a week prior was bought at a final price of RMB50. Yes, its not a typing mistake, I said RMB1350 to RMB50 in less than 5 minutes)
Until next time, this is Tales of Asia signing off.
Guangzhou is the capital city of Guangdong, and the center of its political, economic, scientific, educational and cultural life. Sui (Ears of Rice) is short for Guangzhou and the City of Ram (Yang Cheng) is also an alias of Guangzhou. Guangzhou is located north of the Pearl River Delta. It lies close to the South China Sea, Hong Kong, and Macau.
Covering an area of 7434.4 square kilometers (2870 square miles), Guangzhou is home to more than 11 million people, including a 3.7 million transitory population. With the opening of China to the outside world, a large number of people from other regions of China swarmed into Guangzhou, one of the first “open” cities in China. This has accelerated its economic development.
Guangzhou is also a famous historical city. In ancient days, Guangzhou was the capital city for three Chinese dynasties: the Nan Yue (South Yue), the Nan Han (South Han) and the Nanming (South Ming). Thus it was put in the list of the 24 most famous historical cultural cities and became a tourist destination. You can not understand most Chinese cities deeply until you know their history. This is true of Guangzhou. Many historic sights: the Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb Museum, the Zhenhai Tower and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall tell us the 2,000-year history of Guangzhou.
Today, Guangzhou retains its ancient customs, but is also a large city full of vigor and current fashions. You can find something worth taking home in Shangxia Jiu Lu, Beijing Lu and Di Shi Fu Lu.
During my travels in Guanzhou I visited Zhen Hai Lou. This was built during the Ming Dynasty as a five-story tower located at the hilltop of Yue Xiu Park. This is one of the oldest edifices of Guangzhou which was originally used as a watch tower. Nowadays it has become a museum showcasing Han porcelains, artifacts and treasures.
I also visited the largest park of Guangzhou, home to the Statue of the Five Goats statue and Zhen Hai Lou. It's situated on the Yue Xiu Mountain as well as six other minor mountains. Besides the beautiful views the park offers, there are other famous edifices such as the Five Rams Statue, the River View Pagoda of Ming Dynasty, the Tomb of King Nanyue of Eastern Han, and the Cannons of Ching Dynasty.
There are many other places of interest in Guanzhou such as the Jade Market, rows and rows of merchants in buildings selling precious jade and other stones. if you go make sure you cut the merchants opening price in half to start with. The Chinese have a belief that foreigners have loads of money and therfore should pay a highre price than Chinese people. Don't take this as an insult, just acccept it for what it is and bargain for a "Chinese" price. You'll be amazed at the bargains. (for example an RMB135o pair of shoes in Shenzhen a week prior was bought at a final price of RMB50. Yes, its not a typing mistake, I said RMB1350 to RMB50 in less than 5 minutes)
Until next time, this is Tales of Asia signing off.
posted by Alan at
6:02 PM
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