Guangzhou, GUANGDONG | 广州广东
Day 7 | 第七天
After returning from Shaoguan in Northern Guangdong via high-speed train (which took about 60 minutes at close to 300 km/h | 186 mph), we spent the day touring Guangzhou (Canton) | 广州.
Guangzhou was always one of those places I knew I had a connection to—even before I ever visited. It’s one of the main cities where both my paternal and maternal families can tangibly trace their connections to as part of the Chinese diaspora. It’s also a place where the indigenous language is familiar; I grew up in a community where Cantonese & Toishanese were the dominant Chinese languages.
The first thing that struck me was Guangzhou’s expansiveness. Looking over the horizon, I couldn’t identify an end point to the buildings. The architecture contained elements that were both daring and modern juxtaposed with the historic and conventional. This interplay made me think of Guangzhou’s history with the world as long being the only Chinese port accessible to foreigners before the First Opium War in 1839 - 1842, when Britain forced open more ports to international trade. During the Qing dynasty from 1700 CE onward, Guangzhou was the center of maritime trade in China. This is partially why international commercial trading is still very active in Guangzhou today. The population of Guangzhou in 2018 was 25 million, which is approximately three times the size of New York City.
Temple of the Six Banyan Trees | Liurong Temple | 六榕寺
Located along a busy street in one of the oldest areas in Guangzhou, the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees | 六榕寺 was built in 537 CE, and in many ways functioned as a public space where visitors and locals congregated, worshiped, and rested. The temple was integrated into the community, and offered a free vegetarian lunch for anyone—a common Buddhist tradition. Since the temple is near foreign consulates, it became a regular destination for international families adopting children from China to receive blessings.
Five Goats Sculpture | 五只山羊雕塑
Located in Guangzhou’s largest public park, Yuexiu Park, we visited the Five Goats Sculpture, which is considered to be the symbol of the city.
Legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago, there was extreme drought in Guangzhou that lasted many years. Food was in short supply, and people struggled to avoid starvation. One day, five gods riding on goats carrying stalks of rice appeared in the clouds. The gods taught the residents how to grow rice and ended the threat of famine. From that point on, Guangzhou had regular winds and rains, and rich harvests, and the five god goats became stone goats, standing on a hill overlooking the city. A sculpture was erected in Yuexiu park in 1959 to pay tribute to this story, and to the origins of Guangzhou’s nickname - City of Five Goats | 五羊城.
Our guide shared that there was once a fee to enter Yuexiu Park but it is now free for visitors. I took special note of this because I remember paying to enter public parks in China during the mid-1990’s—at that time almost all public parks had entrance fees.
Chen Clan Academy | 陈家祠
The Chen Clan Academy was a school created in 1894 during the Qing Dynasty for members of the Chen Family. The grounds consist of nineteen buildings, with nine halls and six courtyards, and is considered to be an exemplar of Guangzhou-style architecture and south China arts. These art traditions include wood, stone, and brick carvings, pottery, plaster, and iron engravings—many of which existed on walls inside and outside the halls as well as on almost every beam, ridge, and column. The subject of these decorations often featured flowers, birds, Cantonese fruits, and scenes from traditional folklore stories.
Today, the Chen Clan Academy houses the Guangdong Folk Art Museum | 广东民间工艺博物馆.
I spent a lot of time during my first visit to China seeing and experiencing the art traditions of northern China and the various ethnic minority communities of northwestern and southwestern China. The Guangdong Folk Art Museum felt different from this prior experience. I saw symbols that were familiar to me such as porcelain sculptures and engravings of flowers and fruits, which were similar to some of the imagery I grew up seeing in the Chinatowns of North America. ■