Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King Museum of the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King, located on the Jiefang North Street, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou city, is the tomb for the second king of Nanyue Kingdom of Western Han dynasty-Zhaomo, who ruled from 137 BC to 122 BC. The tomb was discovered in 1983 by accident, after being excavated, the owner of this tomb was confirmed. It is regarded as the largest and oldest color-painted stone chamber with more than 10,000 pieces of relics, reflecting the political and economic development of Nanyue Kingdom before 2000 years ago, which is the historical heritage of the Lingnan area and one of the major archaeological discoveries in China. If you are Chinese history and culture fan, don’t miss it when you travel to Guangzhou.

What to see

The Treasure of the Tomb-Golden Seal

The Golden Seal is the first imperial seal excavated in China. Many imperial seals were described as a white jade seal with tiger decoration and graved imperial seal on the bottom in the ancient document, while this seal we discovered in Nanyue King Tombs is made by golden, curving as a dragon with the graved imperial seal. It’s a special imperial seal made by a craftsman of Nanyue Kingdom independently.

Besides, the golden seal decorated with turtle graved Taizi and Youfurenxi were discovered. While Taizi golden seal is the only one excavated in China and no one never seen it in Chinese history.

Well-preserved Color-painted Stone Tomb

The tomb covers around 100 square meters, making by 750 gigantic sandstone. The inside walls were painted beautiful colorful murals decorating with clouds which is the symbol of royal court. It is the earliest painted murals of Stone Tomb found in China. 

More than 10,000 pieces of precious relics

These precious relics are the most important relics to discover the history of the Nanyue Kingdom, ranging from politics, economy, culture, lifestyle, art, etc. They are displayed in the exhibition hall, such as silverware, copperware, musical instruments, weapons, ironware, jade, pottery, etc. The incredible silk-jade garment shouldn’t be missed. It was made by more than 2,300 pieces of superior jade, connecting by red silk threads and looking so gorgeous. Most of jade garments were connected by gold, silver or copper threads, but this one used exquisite and fragile silk thread! It’s the only silk-jade garment discovered in China and you can imagine how difficult to make and well-preserved until now. Besides, you’ll have a glimpse of Maritime Silk Road history by viewing exotic relics such as silver-box, large ivory etc. Apart from that, there are ceramic pillows that were filled with natural pearls which is the first one discovered in China. It is said that pearls have the function of being calm and beautiful, even keeping evil spirits away.

Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall 

The Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, located on the Dongfeng Middle Road, Yuexiu District, Guangzhou city, for commemorating the democratic revolutionary pioneer Mr. Sun Yat-sen who ended the 2000-year feudal monarchy system. It started to built in 1929 and completed in 1931, covering an area of more than 60,000 square meters surrounded with iron fences.

What to see

Bronze statue

When you entering into the gate of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, you will notice there is a bronze statue in the middle of the hall, 5.5 meters high, 3.9 tons weigh. The bronze statue describes that Mr. Sun is delivering a speech when he was Sun Yat-sen University. Under the basement of white granite, it carved content of “The Outline of Founding”, the work of Mr. Sun.

The traditional and western building

The Memorial Hall is a grand and octagonal ancient palace building with a height of 49 meters, covering 3700 square meters. It looks like a dragon bones after placing four double roof architecture on each side. Red pillars, yellow bricks and sapphire blue glazed tiles, the whole building is so elegant and traditional. In the middle, it hangs a plaque written four words “Tian Xia Wei Gong” by Sun Yat-sen, which means the whole world belongs to all. When you walk closer, you will enjoy the exquisite carving on the pillars, ceiling and beam, five big rectangular-shape glass bronze chandeliers are hanging on the ceiling along the corridor. While entering inside, there aren’t pillars that make this hall spacious and bright. Dividing into two floors, it can hold 5000 persons. The oval ceiling was placed superior gold foil, looking so splendid and magnificent.

Exhibition hall

The exhibition hall is on the northwest of the memorial hall, mainly introducing Mr. Sun’s life and deeds, who has made countless efforts for the liberation of Chinese people, no wonder he is respected as the founding father of China.

Ancient trees

Kapok trees live for more than 300 years, which were considered as the oldest kapok trees in Guangzhou city. You will enjoy the beautiful blooming kapok flower if you travel in early March. Besides, there are two biggest Magnolia trees planted on the completion of the hall, blooming fragrant and spotless white flowers in June and October, and it's a great opportunity to take pictures here.

Huacheng Square

Huacheng Square is the biggest square in the center of Guangzhou city, opened to the public in 2010. Covering an area of 139 acres, it built many famous buildings surrounding the square, such as Guangzhou Library, Guangzhou Opera House, Guangdong Museum etc. Since 2001, the light show held at the end of the year, which was listed as one of Three Major Light Shows with France and Sydney. With the Canton Tower as the center and the night view of the Pearl River and the central axis landscape as the background, live music and splendid light show will be played in Huacheng Square.

What’s to visit

Guangzhou Library

Guangzhou Library is a new modern architecture on the central axis of Guangzhou, covering an area of 24.7 acres with more than 6.58 million books used for citizens in Guangzhou.

Guangzhou Opera House

Guangzhou Opera House was designed by famous architects Zaha Hadid. The shape looks like two unique stones along the Pearl River. The main colors are black, white and gray. The whole building was designed into an irregular geometry, including 64 faces, 41 corners and 104 edges on the outer surface, which results in a distorted and slanted appearance. A very iconic and modern place to take some pictures from outside.

Guangdong Museum

The Guangdong Museum is on the east of Opera House, covering an area of 16.5 acres. The shape of Guangdong Museum just like a carved box, elegant and traditional. It divides into four halls, such as history, nature, art and temporary exhibition hall, displaying more than 0.16 million preserved precious relics, which is worth a visit to explore Chinese history and culture.

Guangzhou No. 2 Children’s Palace

Guangzhou No.2 Children’s Palace covers an area of 11.5 acres. The outlook building looking like laying letter K and gives people a sense of brightness when entering inside. The building consists of 90 multi-function classes, 7 large halls, 7 meeting room and an advanced performance center. With nearby Guangzhou Library, Opera House and Guangzhou Museum, it becomes another representative building for children to learn knowledge and have fun.

Guangzhou International Finance Centre

Guangzhou International Finance Centre, also called Guangzhou West Tower, looks like sprouting from the group to the sky with the main tower for a height of 440.75 meters, there is the helipad on the top for sightseeing of whole Guangzhou city. The modern building consists of offices, shopping center, hotels, which make this place more entertaining and commercial. 

Food Street

There is a food street under the ground of Huacheng Square, selling various Cantonese food or other street food.

Night View

It’s the best place to have a leisurely walk in the evening where you can enjoy the appealing night view, even look up to the mighty Canton Tower changing its color continuously, enjoy the rippling manmade lake and beautiful fountain. Experience the rapid development of China.

The Pearl River, the second largest river in China including the tributaries of the Dongjiang, Xijiang and Beijiang rivers, joins in Guangzhou city which boasts the frequent shipping business and beautiful city landscapes.

The piers for the cruise are Dashatou pier, Tianzi pier and Xidi pier. No matter when you experience the Pearl River cruise, you will enjoy the charming city view under a clear blue sky in the daytime, or enjoy the sparkling city views at night.

Most travelers prefer the night cruise, soak up Guangzhou display of colorful lights as it consistently changes, just like a huge Christmas Tree. On the deck, view the most charming scenic sites such as White Goose Pond, Shamian Island, Oi Kwan Hotel, Sea Pearl Stone, Star Sea Concert, Yongan Hall, Monument of Shakee Massacre, Canton Tower, Haixinsha etc. Cross many beautiful bridges and enjoy the refreshing river breeze, listen to the soothing music, sip cold drinks, and have a seafood barbecue from time to time. The two sides of the pearl river colorful lights deep shallow, bright, glittering, which will create a fantastic travel experience. Don’t forget to take some beautiful photos!

The cruise takes about 70 minutes, the price varies from different ship, floor and time. Some cruises also provide food, drinks and night show, wouldn't it be great to savor a romantic meal with someone you loved and enjoy the most breathtaking landscapes?

History

Temple of Six Banyan Trees is situated at Liurong Road of Guangzhou city. It was built in the year of 420-479 of the Song dynasty, got rebuilt and rename frequently. The current name of Temple of Six Banyan Trees comes from Sushi, one of the reputed Chinese poets who wrote an inscription when he saw six verdant banyan trees in the temple. The temple was listed in the "Four Buddhist Sites of Guangzhou" with Guangxiao Temple, Hualin Temple and Hoi Tong Monastery. In 1997, the temple was listed as one of the ten tourist attractions of Guangzhou.

Main Attractions:

Flowery Pagoda

In the beginning, it was a quadrilateral wooden pagoda then transformed into the octangular brick-wood pagoda in order to make it stronger. The flowery pagoda with 57.6 meters high is the outstanding building in the temple. It has 9 layers when you look from the outside, while inside there are 17 storeys. You will enjoy the bird's eye view of the whole city from the top. The appearance of the pagoda is so gorgeous dotted with bells hanging on the eaves angle, which looks like a blooming bud and stamen will be the tower top. There are solemn wooden carving and bronze pillars engraved thousand Buddhist figures on the top.

Main Hall

Main Hall is on the west of flowery pagoda, with 14 meters high and covers an area of 300 square meters. There are 3 sets of bronze Buddha statues cast in 1663, each of them standing 6 meters high and weighing 10 tons with kind face and postures, now they are the biggest copper statues in Guangdong province.

Friendship Hall

Friendship Hall is on the left of Main Hall, placing a bronze statue of Sakyamuni sent by the Thai Ministry of Education in 1985, with 2.6 meters high and weighing 1 ton.

Guanyin Temple

Guanyin Temple is on the front right side of Main Hall, placing a bronze statue of Guanyin with 5 meters high and weighing 5 tons.

Other Sites

There are Hall of Heavenly Kings, Maitreya Hall, Weitou Hall, Lecture Hall, Scripture Library, Portrait of Sushi, and more than 10 sets of ancient monuments, etc.

Sacred Heart Cathedral

Located on Yide Road, Sacred Heart Cathedral is the most magnificent and distinctive Catholic cathedral in Guangzhou. It covers a total area of 2,754 square meters, 35 meters wide from east to west, 78.69 meters long from north to south, and 58.5 meters high from the ground to the spire. It is one of the four great Gothic stone Cathedral architectures in the world (the other three are Notre Dame de Paris, Westminster Cathedral, and Cologne Cathedral). As the majority of the materials of wall and pillar construction are granite stone, so it was called the stone house.

After the outbreak of the Second Opium War in 1856, Anglo-French allied troops took power in Guangzhou and ruined the Viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi Governor of Liangguang. While the cleric Ming Jizhang took the advantage and occupied the place to build the church and got funds support from Emperor Napoleon III. Sacred Heart Cathedral started to build in 1861 and held Found Ceremony in 1863, buried carved stones on the west and east parts to represent Catholicism born in Jerusalem and develop in Rome. Designed by architects Vonutrin and Humbert, the whole church was imitated from St. Clotilde Cathedral in Paris. It was completed until 1888.

The cross-shaped church has three floors. The ground floor has three pointed arch doors with seven deep graved lines into the door which has a strong perspective effect when travelers looking into it. Beautiful and colorful round rose windows decorated on the front, east and west sides, used by dark red, dark blue, purple and yellow glasses, covered stone carving from outside, thus it looks like a blooming rose. On the glass, it painted famous Bible stories, worth a visit! Two octagonal steep towers can easily be noticed on the top, installed four copper clocks imported from France on each side of the church. Copper clock named by Blessed Virgin Mary hanging on the east and three Roman letter clocks were placed on the other sides.

When entering inside, the pillars in the hall divided it into two parts, atrium and corridor, with pointed ridges on the ceiling, which make the church more solemn and grand. The carefully carved stone inside and elegant chandelier, remind people of getting to Europe!

While you will surprisingly discover Chinese elements in the church. For example, the water outlet on the roof was decorated by the shape of a lion, and the ground paved with Guangdong brick for dame proof, even the door was decorated with traditional Cantonese woodcarving! 

Opening Time: 8:00-17:30

If you are a disciple, don't miss the Mass in Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Shamian Island is located in the Lizhi District of Guangzhou city and was an important port for foreign trade during the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, however it was given to France and the United Kingdom by the Qing Dynasty government after the failure of Second Opium War. Afterwards, many European companies and embassies built mansions on this small island. Now it’s a famous historical relics block and the colonial area which well preserved the atmosphere of British and French concession.

The famous western architecture are Catholic church in the French quarter, English church of Christ, Former Hong Kong and Shang Hai Banking Corporation and consulate etc. After being restored, these elegant buildings were put into commercial use now.

Although it only covers an area for 300 square meters, surrounded by beautiful river and flanked by towering trees, even more than 150 exotic elegant buildings with European, Baroque, Neoclassical style etc, which make this place so tranquil and worthy to have a leisurely walk. It always gives you a nostalgic and unique travel experience when roaming or riding a bike in this area by enjoying these exotic buildings. And this is a great place to take beautiful pictures and pick up some souvenirs.

Due to the transportation restriction on the island, there isn’t heavy traffic jams and air pollution. Just like small towns in Europe, there are many cafes, restaurants, and bars placing with elegant chairs and tables along the road. Take a short break and experience the charm of Shamian Island.

Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street

Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street is one of the traditional shopping centers in Guangzhou city, located in the middle of Shangjiu Road, Xiajiu Road and No. 10 Road. With the road length for 1237 meters, it planked with many shops, stalls and restaurants along the side, attracting visitors more than 0.6 million every day.

What’s to see and do

Traditional Qilou architecture

The shopping street is famous for the unique traditional Qilou arcade built in the Qing dynasty, which absorbed the style of South European and Chinese Manchu. It not only adapted to the hot and rainy climate in the south area, but also provided convenient shopping activities at any kind of bad weather. Very beautiful corridor and a good place to take pictures, experience the Lingnan culture.

Shopping

There are various shopping stores, including the famous clothing market, ranging from cheap to upscale clothing, even selling fabric and accessories. Some popular brands even give an incredible discount, who wouldn’t like this place? Besides, you will see plenty of jewelry, furniture and antiques, bedding etc, which cater to all the needs of the local citizens even travelers! 

Food paradise

Plenty of time-honored brands run their store in this bustling street, like Nanxin Dessert Shop, Ouchengji Noodle Shop, Lianxianglou, Taotaoju etc. The various street food makes this street more popular, not only can you taste the authentic Cantonese food, but also the famous food of other cities even western meals. If you travel to Guangzhou, better spare a couple of hours to explore this street.

Folk culture

A set of vivid like bronze statues will appear on Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street, which is also a popular site to take pictures. Created by Wan Zhaoquan in 2002, these sculptures described the lifestyle of Guangzhou in the 1920s, reminding us to trace back to the old-time of Guangzhou. Besides, a man in multicolored rooster clothing, wearing a bamboo hat and imitating the sound of the rooster by suona horn, a traditional woodwind instrument in China, try to sell the delicious Chinese olive which is top-rated food in the 1940s, and this activity also aims at protecting its traditional culture as well.  

History

The building was supported to build by 48 Chen family members, providing accommodation for the sons of the clan for preparing imperial examination or dealing with personal affairs, and placing the ancestral tablets if Chen family member is willing to pay for it. It started to built in 1888 and finished in 1894. Afterwards, it also served as middle school, Guangdong Folk Arts Museum, printing factory. In 1986, it was promulgated by the State Council as a national key cultural relics protection unit. In 2002 and 2011, it was chosen as one of the top Eight Scenes of Guangzhou.

Layout

It situated on the No.7 Zhongshan Road in Guangzhou city covering 8,000 square meters, consisting of 9 halls, 6 yards, 10 adjacent accommodation and long corridors. The hall in the center is the main building where the Chen clan member held sacrifices or meetings in spring and autumn. Continue entering, ancestral tablet of Chen family and sacrifice hall has appeared. The side of the rooms is slightly low which was used for class in ancient time.  

Things to do in Chen Clan Academy

Wood Carving

Almost all of the wooden part was engraved numerous historical stories and auspicious patterns, main craftmanship are embossment and carving. The first beam above the front door described with Heaven Queen Birthday and Romance of the Three Kingdoms etc. In the middle of the hall, placing 20 double-sided carved screens featuring historical stories and folk tales, which was praised as the historical story corridor by folk artists by wood and steel knife. 11 gigantic carved wooden cages with 8 meters height on the rear part, engraving countless images of dragons, phenixes, flowers, characters and stories, which is the largest wood carving masterpiece of the Qing dynasty in Guangdong province.

Stone Carving

The stones using in Chen Clan Academy are granite which is dampproof, mould proof and strong enough. The handrail and balcony are decorated with flowers, birds, and fruit carving, which is full of the atmosphere of the Lingnan area and sincere respect to ancestors and gods. Besides, stone carving can be seen at pillars,  beam, breast board, stone lion, base and wainscot etc with vivid storytelling.

Brick Carving

The main craftsmanship of brick carving is embossment, partly the use of pierced carving, three-dimensional carving etc. All the brick carvings were made by famous folk artists, enriching the boring walls and emphasizing the style of Guangdong brick carving. The 6 large brick carvings on the front wall of Chen Clan Academy are made of Dongguan black bricks with fine texture, which combines with paintings, calligraphy and poems perfectly.

Lime Carving

Lime carving is wildly used in the traditional architecture decoration amoung Pearl River Delta. Use lime and fermented straws to make the shape then painted with a variety of colors. The lime carving of Chan Clan Academy is the outstanding part of the Lingnan area with 2,562 meters long and covering 2,448 square meters, which is mainly used for roof base, gable vertical ridge, porch roof, wing rooms, courtyard gallery and roof ridge.

Pottery Carving

Pottery ridge carvings, also called colored ridge, which is made by calcining clay sculpture, is mainly decorated for large buildings like temples, ancestral halls, guild halls etc. The front ridge has 11 pieces of Foshan pottery sculptures, it reflects the economic power of the Chen clan in Guangdong province. With 27 meters long, 2.9 meters high and carving around 224 characters with classic topics.

Copper and Iron Casting

It's very rare in the traditional architecture of the Qing dynasty to use copper and iron casting. The folk artists skillfully put the iron casing board in the frame of the stone fence, which looks very beautiful and unique.