Must-see attractions in Guangdong

  • Guangdong Museum of Art

    Guangzhou

    On the southern shoreline of Ersha Island (Èrshā Dǎo), this colossus of an art museum showcases the works of important Cantonese artists and has been the…

  • Fēngcǎi Hall

    Guangdong

    Not a typical ancestral hall, this compound built in 1906 retains an exquisite southern Chinese architectural style, but with Western elements…

  • Huā’è Lóu

    Guangdong

    The majestic 400-year-old ‘house of calyx’, 120km east of Meizhou, is the largest circular earthen castle in Guangdong. It comes complete with three rings…

  • Zhaoqing Hall

    Guangdong

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

  • Xinhai Revolution Museum

    Guangzhou

    Browse engaging but propaganda-ish exhibits on famous Cantonese revolutionaries, with a section dedicated to the life of Sun Wan, Sun Yatsen’s daughter…

  • Shenzhen Museum

    Shenzhen

    The hulking Shenzhen Museum provides a decent enough introduction to Shenzhen's brief but breakneck march into modernity, both before and after the…

  • Chaozhou Confucian Academy

    Guangdong

    This 4000-sq-metre compound has murky lily ponds teeming with koi and a main temple dedicated to Confucius that is supported by 48 pillars. Confucious is…

  • Litchi Park

    Shenzhen

    When big-city fatigue sets in, you can seek refuge in this spacious inner-city park. It may still get busy but here the mood is created by musicians,…

  • Luányú Táng

    Guangzhou

    Luányú Táng is a 200-year-old union for actors playing martial-arts and acrobatic roles in Cantonese opera. The union still gives theatrical martial-arts…

  • Haiyuan Inn

    Guangdong

    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…

  • Hanbi Building

    Guangdong

    Near West Lake is the Hanbi Building, which served as a military office during anti-warlord expeditions in 1925. Inside, a small display in Chinese, with…

  • Church of Our Lady of Lourdes

    Guangzhou

    Dating from 1890, this Roman Catholic church marks the edge of the French concession (everything due west of here on Shamian Island was administered by…

  • Emperor Xu’s Son-in-Law’s Mansion

    Guangdong

    This breezy mansion originally built in 1064 retains some of its ancient stonework and wall coverings. The high door saddles, unique to southern China,…

  • Shamian Clubhouse

    Guangzhou

    The ‘Red Mansion’ (c 1907), once Shamian’s grandest abode, fuses features of British colonial architecture such as colonnades and louvre windows with the…

  • Hanwen Ancestral Temple

    Guangdong

    On the east bank of the Han, this is the oldest and best-preserved temple dedicated to the Tang dynasty philosopher Han Yu, who was banished to ‘far-flung…

  • Chaozhou City Wall

    Guangdong

    The remains of the ancient city wall run alongside and back from the river. You can walk on the top of most sections.

  • Sìwàng Lóu

    Guangdong

    A shuttered building in West Lake, designed in a period style reminiscent of 1970s kung fu movies.

  • Peasant Movement Institute

    Guangzhou

    Marking a brief period of concord between the Kuomintang and the Communists, this school, at the site of a former Confucian temple, was a joint…

  • Martyrs' Park

    Guangzhou

    East of the Peasant Movement Institute on Zhongshan Sanlu, this lavish memorial park commemorates communists killed after an attempted coup in 1927, which…

  • Guangzhou Art Gallery

    Guangzhou

    Not to be confused with the far more impressive Guangdong Museum of Art, this dusty old museum has middling displays of concession-era porcelain, silks…

  • Spring Garden

    Guangzhou

    Located in the historic Dōngshān area, Spring Garden was the headquarters of the central committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 1923. Mao Zedong…

  • Guangji Gate Tower

    Guangdong

    Part of the Guangji Bridge complex. It's also a popular rendezvous point for locals meeting up with friends.

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