The Immortals

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Once upon a time, in the reign of Zhou Yi,

"five immortals each rode a ram with a wheat ear in its mouth to fly to Guangzhou...and wished people in Guangzhou would never suffer hunger"

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(Quintessential travel in Guangzhou; Guangzhou travel and tourism press ISBN 7-80653-615-9).




I spent longer than I expected in Guangzhou because of the Chinese Golden Week holiday. May Day is the start of a major week long holiday in China. During the Golden Week over 150 million Chinese tourists were on the move according to CCTV9 (which is China's English language TV channel). During the Golden Week public transport is packed and hotel prices rise. Guandong was the latest leg in my multi year world trip.



I arrived in Guangzhou on the 28th of April from Hong Kong (see my last blog). The train journey was
fast and comfortable. I had to go through immigration when leaving Hong Kong and arriving at
Guangzhou. Although Hong Kong is now part of China it maintains separate border controls and laws.
When I got through immigration I found my way onto Guangzhou's efficient, modern and cheap Metro.

First impressions

My first impressions of Guangzhou (which used to be known as Canton to the British) were not good. It's a city of 8 lane highways, tall buildings, urban sprawl and air so polluted you can taste it. I emerged from the underground Metro at the Huangsha station. I looked at a map and tried to work out which way to walk towards Shamian Island. I looked around for the sun to get my bearings, so I could work out which way to walk. The sun was just visible behind the thick haze of the city's smog. The smog didn't stop the power of the heat from the sun. It was a hot and humid struggle across a pedestrian bridge to Shamian Island. The pedestrian bridge crossed over an eight lane highway. Unfortunately I had arrived at the back end of the Guangzhou Trade Fair. This is the biggest event in Guangzhou. Its been held twice yearly since 1957. It attracts over 150,000 buyers, which means that hotel prices rise. I didn't have a problem finding a room but it was expensive.



On the positive side Guangzhou has a number of very good museums and cultural sites amongst the urban sprawl, which are relatively easy to visit because the city has a very good and modern public transport system. It's also full of world class restaurants. I think the people of Guangzhou live to eat. Shamian Island is a leafy colonial relic on the Pearl River. It was a British and French concession. The Chinese were forced to cede the island as a trading base for foreigners after the Opium Wars (see my last blog).

Zhaoqing and a thousand years of tourism!

I spent a day in Guangzhou before catching the bus to Zhaoqing. The Canton Fair lasted till the 30th of April. My first night in Zhaoqing was cheap but the second night was twice the price because of the start of the Golden Week. Zhaoqing is bordered by a series of lakes and limestone formations known as the 7 Star Crags. The limestone formations are supposed to resemble the 'big dipper' in the night sky. It is a beautiful scenic spot which has been a tourist attraction for 1000 years! There are 1000 year old poems inscribed on the sides of cliffs and huge caves which contain rivers which can be navigated by boat. When I was there the place was packed with Chinese tourists at the start of their holiday.

Return to Guangzhou

I decided not to attempt to travel during the Golden Week. Instead I returned to Guangzhou, where the hotel prices had fallen because the Trade Fair had ended. So, the foreigners had all left and many of the locals had deserted the city for more scenic places. During the next few days I visited a number of sites in the city which included:-


1)
The Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb and Museum. This is the is the oldest and largest Han tomb South of the Nanling Mountain Area. It's the tomb of the second king of the Nanyue State of the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 24 AD).Built next to the tomb is an outstanding museum with many funerary objects excavated from the tomb including a silk-jade garment made up of 2,291 pieces of jade. This garment with jade pieces connected by silk is the only one of its kind in the world. The museum itself is very well organised with everything in English as well as Chinese. The museum also rents out multi-lingual audio guides.


2)
Yuexiu Park. This is the largest park in the city which contains many of the city's historical sites. Its a haven of green space in the centre of the city. The Park contains the following places that I visited:

i)The Five Rams Statue. Guangzhou is also known as the City of the Rams because of the legend that I
mentioned at the start of this blog. This statue was built to commemorate the legend.

ii)Zhenhai Tower. First built in 1380 it is now a museum. It was occupied by British forces during the
first Opium War.

iii)Sun Yat-sen's monument. Sun Yat-sen (Chinese= 孫逸仙 ) is considered the father of modern China. He played an important role in the overthrow of the Qing Dynasty and was the first president of the Chinese Republic briefly in 1912. He is unique for being revered both in mainland China and Taiwan.


3)
Peasant Movement Institute. This was originally a Ming Dynasty Temple. During the 1920's it was used as a school to train political leaders who would then later go to the countryside to build a political and social base. One of the directors of the school was Mao Zedong.


4)
Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, Guangzhou. Its nicknamed the 'stone house' because it is built of granite blocks. It is the largest Gothic building in China.


5)
Six Banyan Tree Temple. This is an ancient Buddhist temple built in 537AD in the Southern Liang Dynasty.

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Photos

Poem Gallery of a 1000 years of History, 7 Star Crags, Zhaoqing
Some of the poems on this wall are 1000 years old.

Mausoleum of the 72 Martyrs
Memorial to the soldiers who died under the command of Sun Yat-sen during the Chinese Revolution of 1911.

5 Rams Statue, Guangzhou
Legend has it that 5 immortals each rode a ram down to Guangzhou from the heavens. The immortals carried stems of rice as a sign that the city would be forever free of famine.

Shamian Island, Guangzhou
This small island in the Pearl River became a British and French concession after the Opium Wars.

Tomb of the Nanyue Kings, Guangzhou
This is the tomb of Emperor Wen, the 2nd ruler of the Southern Yue Kingdom (c.100BC). Next to the tomb is a very good museum.

Zhenheu Tower, Guangzhou
This tower was built in the 14th century. It was occupied by the British during the first Opium War.