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Destination China

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Guangzhou

Guangzhou bursts with energy and entrepreneurs. It’s Southern China’s main port and the centre of foreign trade. A bonus for travellers is Guangzhou’s close proximity to Hong Kong (only two hours’ flight south) and Yunnan province, which is home to some of China’s most beautiful and diverse scenery.

Guangzhou is also the mecca of Cantonese cuisine. Satiated visitors can walk off dining excess in historic havens including Shamian Island and Hualin Jade Street.

Award-winning Baiyun Airport is an impressive entrée to Guangzhou. Designed with the future in mind, it gleams with efficiency. A subway and express buses provide seamless ground transport into Guangzhou and once there, visitors are able to get around without difficulty, with modern, cheap and easily negotiated public transport.

With a 2800 year history behind it, the city also takes pride its cultural heritage and educational institutions.

The water view of Guangzhou is another pleasure. The city is traversed by the Pearl River, which flows into to the South China Sea. A Pearl River cruise past old and new city sights is a quintessential Guangzhou experience.

The elegant tree-lined streets and old mansions of Shamian Island are nostalgic reminders of Guangzhou’s colonial era – when the island was leased to the British and French, towards the end of the Opium Wars.

Spring and autumn are pleasant times of the year to visit subtropical Guangzhou.

Guangzhou Highlights

Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, built after the former leader’s death in 1925, is a splendid monument.

Chen Clan Academy is a magnificent collection of 19th century buildings and courtyards, built in the region’s distinctive Lingnan style of architecture. It houses the Guangdong Province’s Museum of Folk Crafts.

The Museum of the Southern Yue King is a 2000-year-old excavated mausoleum of Emperor Wen.

The Temple of the Six Banyan Tree has a 900-year-old, 54-metre-high pagoda.

Guangxiao Temple, an historic Buddhist temple, was founded during the 4th century by the Eastern Jin Dynasty.

Hualin Jade Street is Guangzhou’s best-known jade market but the alleyways of jade stalls a little north of Hualin are well worth visiting, too.

Haulin Temple is one of Guangzhou’s oldest and most interesting temples.

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FLAVOURS OF CHINA

HIGHLIGHTS: Making dumplings with a local family in Beijing, Wandering in ancient Pingyao Revealing cooking secrets in Yangshuo, Sampling the diverse cuisine of China throughout.

MORE INFO9 Days/8 Nights from ^$3699^*_pp