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- Guangzhou
lies 45 km upriver rom Tiger Gate (Humen) and has
around 5 million inhabitants of whom 2,2 million
live in the city’s boundaries. Guangzhou was
probably founded in 214 BC by the armies of the
Qin emperor, Shi Huangdi, as an encampment.
It was
called Panyu before it was renamed Guangzhou
during the period of the Three Kingdoms (222 -
280). During the Tang period, the city was
already an international port but
remained second to Quanzhou for centuries.
The population of Guangzhou is very different
from that of the north. While it is urban, it has
been marked more by trade than industry, although
light industry is now quite strongly represented
in Guangzhou. The language spoken here is
Cantonese that has nine different tone as
compared to Mandarin’s of five different
tone.
- Shamian
Island, in the south-west of the city is a
relic of
the
colonial past which has been preserved. The
island extends about 600 metres from east to west
and almost 400 metres from north to south. Some
of the interesting sights includes Memorial of
the Martys of the Shaji Massacre, where Chinese
demonstrators died on 25 June 1925 in a hail of
bullets fired by the foreign troops guarding the
Concession. Culture Park (Wenhua Gongyan) which
offers roller-skating rinks, open air theatre,
theatre halls, art exhibitions and performances
by the School of Acrobats from Guangzhou. It is
like a mixture of the Tivoli and a museum garden.
- Zhongshanlu,
in the northern side of the city, visitors can
find the Temple of Six Banyan Trees, whose
"Decorated
Pagoda" or "Flower
Pagoda" is a symbol of the city.
The temple, dated back to the year of 479, got
its name in 1099 in a calligraphic tribute from
the poet Su Dongpo, is the local seat of the
Chinese Buddhist Association. North-east to it is
the Guanxiao Temple, preserved during the
Cultural Revolution on ordered from Zhou Enlai.
Local legend has it that this temple is older
than the town. Yuexiu Park due north, is a
beautiful example of a landscaped park. It is
dominated by the Tower Overlooking the Sea, which
is a memorial to the seven great sea journeys
undertaken by the eunuch Zheng He between 1405
and 1433, when he travelled to East Africa, the
Persian Gulf and Java. Chen Family Temple, dates
from 1894 lies in the western part of
Zhongshanlu. It has six courtyards and a classic
layout and is decorated with friezes manufactured
in Shiwan. The north of the town is dominated by
White Cloud Mountain.
In the east of the Guangzhou, is the former Confucius Temple. It lost its religious function during the "bourgeois revolution" in 1912. In July 1924, the Peasant Movement Istitute was opened here. Directly next to it, eastwards is the Provincial Museum of the Revolution which is a reminder of the role of the Guomindang and its predecessors since the First Opium War.
- The
town of Foshan in Guangzhou, with one
million
inhabitants,
has a famous temple, the Taoist
Ancestor Temple, whose
history goes back to the Song Dynasty. It was
renovated in 1372 and contains a 2,540 kg bronze
statues of the Northern God Zhengwu, from the
year 1452. There is also a small museum on the
grounds, which has relics dating back to the Han
period. The building most of which were built
during the Qing Dynasty have been decorated with
ceramics produced in the factory of Shiwan which
is located in a suburb. Shiwan ceramics were also
used in the Chen Ancestor Temple.
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