Xuan Villa

Top choice in Guangdong


Foreboding and beautiful Xuan Villa was built in 1936 by a wealthy Malaysian-Chinese member of a secret society tied to Sun Yatsen. Parts of the building doubled up as an air-raid shelter. If the owners let you in, you’ll see crumbling but elegant staircases and sweeping balconies with views of tea fields.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Guangdong attractions

2. Soviet Department Store Building

0.36 MILES

This weather-beaten, three-storey building just opposite Chayang Guesthouse (茶陽賓館, Cháyáng Bīnguăn) was a department store built in the 1950s with Soviet…

3. Zhongchuan Village

10.32 MILES

This is the ancestral home of the Burmese-Chinese businessman Aw Boon Haw, inventor of the medicinal salve Tiger Balm and owner of (in)famously quirky Haw…

4. Haw Par Villa

10.38 MILES

The Tiger Balm magnate built three museums, in Singapore, Hong Kong and here, his birthplace. The photos and newspaper clippings of the founder's family…

5. Jíqìng Lóu

11.58 MILES

This 600-year-old tǔlóu was built without using a single nail and is still pretty intact. It now houses an exhibition hall.

6. Qĭnán Villa

15.98 MILES

Lack of upkeep and old age (it dates from early 18th century) mean Qinan Villa looks a bit like a princeling-turned-pauper. The stone carvings around its…

7. Zhaoqing Hall

15.98 MILES

Inhabited by the third and fourth generations of the founder, a pharmaceutical merchant, this balmy courtyard residence (c 1914) features stone, wood and…

8. Haiyuan Inn

15.99 MILES

An eye-catching, early-20th-century mansion, the Haiyuan Inn combines Southeast Asian features, Western details and the attributes of a hakka (走马楼; zǒumǎ…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting:
    {
      "url": "china/dabu/chayang-old-town/attractions/xuan-villa/a/poi-sig/1439772/1339817",
      "destination": "Guangdong",
      "continent": "Asia",
      "country": "China",
      "region": "Guangdong",
      "position": "superzone"
    }