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Southern China's Goat City
and Guilin
by Mary Ashcraft
Old
Canton (Guangzhou) has been going about its business and has been associated
with trade routes passing through its province for centuries. The origins of
Guangzhou in Southern China are not specifically known, but perhaps the fable
of its beginnings recounted to every school child tells us something.
The
high Nanling Mountains looming over its fertile valleys have been an influence in somewhat isolating Guangzhou
from the rest of China and allowing the growth of its unique identity, dialect
and venturesome spirit. Whampoa Port has traded with the Roman Empire, has
had ancient links with the Middle East
and India and has traded not only goods but ideas and scientific discoveries
since 264 B.C. This is also where caravans began their long journey across Asia
on the old Silk Route.
Guangzhou
is at once old and new. Tall, bold, glass and steel
corporate buildings gleaming and shimmering in the sunlight cast shadows over
dingy, cement apartment complexes where colorful laundry hung out to dry
decorates windows and verandahs. The streets are teeming with
cars, bicycles, commercial vehicles, motor scooters and pedestrians, all
adhering to some difficult-to-discern right-of-way not completely governed by
stop lights or right side of the road regulations. In order to get around and enjoy
what the city has to offer, one has either to speak Cantonese or to hire
a good guide. Then the incomprehensible becomes interesting. At
night both sides of the city streets are lighted with brightly colored Neon, so
appropriate in this setting. Large
Chinese characters are fueled by brilliant reds, yellows and greens, like the
embroidery on a Chinese silk robe, announcing a restaurant, motor scooter sales
room or clothing store. Dimly lit Mom and Pop grocery stores seem to stay open
all night as much for the owners to chat with friends as to make sales. The
traffic of people and business never stops, and flowing through the center of
it all is the timeless Pearl River. Ferry boats and sightseeing boats travel their prescribed courses through the day
and industrial barges, large and small, ply the river during the day and slip
through the night.
Yue
Xiu park is a good place to unwind a little and join the people with a stroll
down any number of tree lined paths or a boat ride on the lake. There is a Hall
of Flowers, an orchid garden and a statue of the fabled flying goats.
To
soak in the atmosphere of how and where Europeans lived in Guangzhou in the 1850's a short ride over a bridge
from the mainland to Shamian Island is quick and easy. After the second Opium War a colony of
mostly British and French traders was formed on this sandbar called Shamian
island. Here they built mansions along the waters edge, tennis courts,
garden walks, yacht clubs, their consulates and a Christian house of worship.
The grand old buildings are peeling
paint and dropping plaster, but a feeling of their former opulence is still
there. School children now play ball or tag at recess under the giant Banyan
trees where once wealthy merchants strolled and enjoyed their shade.
Guilin
The
city is famous for it's unusual rock formations that are more like pointed verdant hills or mountains. They are
so unusual as to be almost eerie or magical depending upon one's frame of mind.
They , cover the countryside and line
up along the sides of the River Li where 300 million years ago they were forced
up from the bottom of the sea. While these sharp craggy hills were forming
above ground, amazing caves and grottoes were left underground.
Reed
Flute Cave is Guilin's largest of the many caves and the most impressive. Its
vast grotto called the Crystal Palace of the Dragon King is large enough to
hold 1,000 people and in times of trouble village people ran to the cave for
protection. Paths lead visitors through
twisting halls of stalagmites and stalactites where one imagines seeing forms
of lions, pagodas or even the Statue of Liberty. There is much here to spark
the imagination and red, blue or green lamps illuminate hidden corners that
might go unnoticed. Near
the center of downtown Guilin is Duxiu Feng hill called the Peak of Unique
Beauty. It is one of the bizarre rock formations with a lookout on top and well
worth the climb of 300 steps to see the view of the city and rice fields below.
If you are lucky enough to be there in the autumn, you'll find the scent of
Cinnamon trees filling the air. In
your journey to Southern China, you will see the familiar pictures of its
hard-working people practicing the exercise of Tai Chi Chuan in the mornings,
playing card games in the parks, boating on the lakes and bicycling to work or
play, and you will find them warm, kind and polite. And you will find yourself thoroughly enjoying the variety of
flavors and textures and visual originality of their highly praised Cantonese
cuisine, keeping the fable of the five goats alive. For
those in the process of adopting Chinese babies, a travel and accommodations
package that can be helpful is offered by China Southern Airlines:
888-338-8988; and The White Swan Hotel next to the American Embassy on Shamian
Island, Guangzhou, China: Website, http://www.white-swan-hotel.com
For
details on travel to Guangzhou, Guilin and other parts of China, try the China International Travel Service
(CITS/US), a huge governmental travel ministry with offices in San Francisco.
To access their Website, go to: http://www.citsusa.com PHOTO
CREDITS: Mary Ashcraft, Beijing Slide Publishing Co.(Two Contributed Slides: Goat Statue and Guilin's Li River) |
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Once upon a time five celestial beings in colorful robes
were riding through the air on the backs of five flying male goats. Each goat
carried in his mouth a stem of rice to guarantee that the place they chose to
land would ever be free from famine. Finding a spot to their liking with
sub-tropical climate combined with a rich delta land and a long coastline, they
landed and named the spot Goat City. Since this fabled landing, the area has produced an abundance of fruits,
vegetables and fish. The happy circumstance is that the people here have been
well fed and have created an astonishing cuisine enjoyed throughout the world.
Goat City with it's energetic, outward thinking people, bustling harbor of
Whampoa and more than 2,000 years of trading with the world is better known to
us as Guangzhou in the province of Guandong. 
Amongst
the many temples in the city are two contrasting temples not to be missed. One
is the fifth century Zen Buddhist Temple of the Six Banyan Trees so named by one of China's
great Song Dynasty poets Su Dong po.
The Banyan trees are gone now, but there are several impressive Qing Dynasty
brass Buddhas and the landmark, 19 story Flower Pagoda. It is a busy place with
many Buddhists coming to worship, and the air is redolent with the smoke of burning joss sticks and
offerings of fragrant flowers.
The complement is a classic private mansion in
Southern Style architecture built by the Chan family for ancestor worship and
the study of Confucius. Elaborate clay carvings on the roof top, wood carvings
on doors, temple halls, windows, door and column surfaces are perhaps the
temple's most admired features. Here in the
serene atmosphere of its six courtyards, the moral teachings of Confucius were
stressed-education, loyalty and filial duty.
More
contemporary sights are the Sun Yat -Sen memorial hall with celestial blue
tiles for the roof. The blue tiles are a special honor for the founding father
of the republic. Or you may find your
way into the thick of things at Qingping Free Market where much bargaining, and trading goes on in over 2,000 stalls
with fruits, vegetables, fish, meat and herbal medicines. In government
sponsored craft stores are artists and crafts people. One
of the artists who paints in the classical style, uses only his thumb as a
paint brush to create extraordinary impressions of landscapes and running
horses.
Towering
over this old European enclave in its Fung Shui chosen spot is the five-star
White Swan hotel. The lobby is an oasis of
flowers and greenery, intricate jade carvings and very old Bonsai trees. In its
atrium a Chinese pavilion sits high on a rock cliff overlooking a cascade splashing into a pond of gold fish. It is
the ideal base for exploring Guangzhou. Wandering souls have found it a good
place for dining or just dropping by for a cool drink. Realizing that many
North Americans have discovered China as their answer for adopting the baby
they've longed for, the hotel, together with China Southern Airlines has put
together a travel package to accommodate and ease this process. The fact that the American Embassy is
immediately next door to the hotel couldn't be more convenient. 
One of the highlights of a trip to Southern China is
only a 45-minute plane ride from Guangzhou. It is the wonderland of Guilin,
founded in 214 B. C. The city is less hectic than
Guangzhou, and there are many more bicycles than cars. Streets are lined with
large Cassia trees with fragrant yellow flowers. The flavor of these flowers is
captured in the local teas and wines. Several streams flow through the city and
rice fields color the surrounding countryside a luscious green. When you are there you will understand why
this landscape has inspired poets and painters through the ages. 
A boat trip down the Li River will take you into the
heart of these beautiful ancient rock formations, bamboo forests and dense reed
beds. A constant part of the scenery are the fisherman standing on bamboo
rafts, fishing with cormorants as they pole their way to favorite fishing
spots.