Guangdong Province in south China sprawls on the shore of the South China Sea and is in close proximity to the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions. With an ideal location, Guangdong was one of the earliest regions to benefit from the policy of reform and opening up to the outside world. Situated in the subtropical zone with a mild climate characterized by bright sunshine and a soothing average annual temperature of 22 degrees Celsius, Guangdong is a tourist attraction all year round. The horizon of the province is teeming with tourist attractions, including so many places of historical association, and the skyline of an idyllic landscape is graced with modern buildings. Guangzhou, Chaozhou, Zhaoqing, Foshan, Meizhou and Leizhou are famous historical and cultural cities of national caliber. The Guangdong schools of embroidery, opera and culinary art never fail to hold the visitor enthralled. A new 'triangular' tour program has been introduced recently to bring visitors to Guangdong and Hong Kong and Macao. Major cities include Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Shantou, Zhanjiang, Foshan and Zhaoqing.

Abbreviation: Yue
Land Area: 179,000 square km
Population: 67.89 million

THE PROVINCE'S MEAN TEMPERATURE ()

Guangzhou, the "City of Lambs", is capital of Guangdong Province, a well-known historical and cultural city and south China's leading industrial and commercial city and trade port. Vegetation is evergreen and flowers bloom all the year round thanks to a moist subtropical climate. There are more than 150 famed scenes and sights in Guangzhou, and a good variety of modern facilities for recreation and entertainment. China Guangdong Export Commodities Fair takes place twice a year in Guangzhou. Major attractions: Chens' Ancestral Temple, Baiyun Mountain, Zhenhai Tower, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Temb of King of Nanyue Kingdom, and Yuexiu Park. Chens' Ancestral Temple, also known as Academy of the Chen Clan, was built with money pooled by all those surnamed Chen residing in the 72 counties of Guangdong. A typical example of classical Lingnan architecture, the temple is marked for its elaborate and ingenious ornamentations. Today the temple is the site of Guangdong Museum of Folk Arts and Crafts. Liurong (Six Banyan Tree) Monastery, a legacy of Buddhism, is the site of an ancient bronze Buddhist statue and Flower Pagoda, the tallest ancient structure in Guangzhou. Baiyun Mountain is the most popular scenic resort in the suburbs of Guangzhou. The Moxingling, the major peak, is forever enshrouded in clouds. In the mountain there are such attractions as South China Tropical Botanical Garden, Mingzhu Pavilion, Nengren Temple and Nine-Dragon Spring. Yuexiu Park is located at the elegant-looking Yuexiu Mountain. Zhenhai Pavilion atop Yuexiu Mountain is a 600-year structure with five floors, with a rustic old fort right beside it. Mount the pavilion and one can feast his eyes on the landscape of the City of Flowers. The octagonal memorial hall for Sun Yat-sen was built with money donated by overseas Chinese and Guangzhou residents. The Tomb of the King of Nanyue, dating back to 2,600 years ago, is by far the largest stone sepulcher found in the Lingnan area. A museum has been built at the site with more than 1,000 burial objects on display. Nanhu, a 15-square-km affair that includes Dongfang Amusement Park, Nanhu Amusement Park, and Dajinzhong Reservoir, is one of 12 national tourist and holiday resorts in China. The resort is divided into three sections for leisure, holidaymaking and recreation respectively, and among the 30 or so facilities are luxury villas, China Taijie city, Oriental Amusement Centre, and a golf course. Dongfang Amusement Park is the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in China. The park's unmistakable local and ethnic characteristics are marked by the creative integration of modern structures and recreational facilities with the landscape. The world's miscellaneous scenes, architecture, sculpture, folklore and recreations are recaptured in World Park, which turns out to be an assemblage of 1:1 replicas of folk buildings from around the globe.
The South China Botanical Garden at Longdong in the northeast suburb of Guangzhou is the country's leading subtropical botanical garden with some 5,000 varieties of plants from at home and abroad. More than 10,000 fishes in 200 varieties and other rare ocean creatures are on display in Guangzhou Marine Aquarium. Visitors have the opportunity to learn something about the world under the sea and attend animal show. Yuyin Mountain Villa in Panyu, a suburban town of Guangzhou, is one of four major Qing gardens in Guangdong and a splendid gem in ancient Chinese garden history.

Shenzhen

Covering 2,020 square km with a population of 3 million, the central-south Guangdong city of Shenzhen is a major trading port that faces Daya Bay to the east and Pearl River to the west and is adjacent to Hong Kong to the south. Shenzhen is the earliest special economic zone to be opened in China to foreign investors. With a complete line of facilities, it is also a rising tourist city, where visa formalities have been simplified to facilitate the entry of foreign visitors. A variety of high-tech exhibitions take place in the city on an annual basis. Major attractions: "Splendid China", a miniature scenery park that epitomizes the charms of the Chinese landscape and cultural scene, enabling the visitor to finish a tour of the country and see the 5,000-year China Folk Culture Village, where folklore activities are held in 20-odd life-size replicas of villages of different ethic backgrounds; Window of the World is a park in which visitors can get a glimpse of the world's wondrous buildings, cultural ruins, natural scenes and folkways, and be entertained by folk singers and dancers from various countries; Wildlife Zoo, where there are nearly 3,000 animals in 150 species from all the continents of the world; Xiangmihu Summer Resort is a large tourist and recreational center where tropical garden scenes mingle imperceptibly with ethnic buildings.

Zhuhai

Located next to Macao in the southwest part of Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai is a nascent tourist city and one of the four major special economic zones in China. The city's 6,000-square-km sea territory is studded with 145 islands, the better known of which are Linding Island, Qi'ao Island and Gaolan Island. The new Yuanmingyuan garden is a new tourist zone in Zhuhai, which is an ideal destination for convention and award tour.
The city has developed a complete array of convention facilities with first-class services. Zhuhai International Air Expo., taking place once every two years, is sponsored by the Chinese government. Having built a F-1 racing course which is u[p to advanced world standards, Zhuhai is expected to host the F-1 racing soon.

Zhongshan

The city had been known as Xiangshan before it was renamed after Sun Zhongshan, or Sun Yet-sen, the pioneer of Chinese democratic revolution. Major attractions: Zhongshan Hot Spring Resort, and a golf course by the hot spring. Cuiheng Village, 29 km from downtown, is the site of Sun Yat-sen's former residence, a double-floored, three-bedroom building in an architectural style that mixes Chinese and Western elements; the building is furnished the way it was when Sun was living in it.

Chaozhou

Chaozhou, an eastern Guangdong city and the hometown for many over seas Chinese, is known for its traditional music, opera, arts and crafts, and culinary art. The east gate tower and part of the city wall are still in good conditions. Major attractions: Kaiyuan Temple, cliff carvings in Hulu Mountain, and ruins of Song porcelain kilns. Lord Han's Temple is an imposing building dedicated to Han Yu, a celebrated man of letter of the Song.

Zhaoqing

Known as Duanzhou in old days, Zhaoqing is a city in central Guangdong. It is also the site of Xinghu Scenic Zone, where the landscape is strewn with fabulous limestone peaks. Xinghu is divided in two parts, Seen-Star Rocks and Dinghu Lake. The world famous Seven Star Rock consists of seven razor-sharp monoliths covered with lush vegetation, standing by a 450-square-metre lake like the Big Dipper in the firmament. Dinghu Mountain is another world-famous place whose sub tropical rain forests, statuesque peaks and ancient temples, flying waterfalls and murmuring springs are enough to convince the UNESCO to adopt it into the Man and Biosphere Program in 1979.

Foshan

Foshan in south Guangdong derived its name from the discovery of three foxiang (meaning: Buddhist statues) during Zhenguan reign of the Tang. Major attractions: Foshan Ancestral Temple, Confucian Temple, Lord Huang's Temple, ruins of an ancient kiln at shiwan, and Qunxing Thatched Cottage. A salient feature of Foshan Ancestral Temple, built in the Northern Song as the domain of the "Northern Emperor" of Taoism, is sculptures fashioned out of every material conceivable-pottery stone, brick, clay, wood, bronze and cast iron-in a variety of themes.

SOUVENIRS

Guangdong Embroidery: As one of four major schools of Chinese embroidery, Guandong embroidery is characterized by rich coloration, graphic patterns and imagery, and well-conceived designs. A new branch of Guangdong embroidery is rising in Chaozhou, marked for balanced designs and impeccable needlework.

Shiwan Pottery: Figurines portrayed in a diversity of lifelike images and graphic expressions and crafted in meticulous skills and ancient-looking glaze are the forte of Shiwan, a pottery-making school with strong national and local styles.

Duanzhou Stone Inkslabs: Produced in Zhaoqing, Duanzhou stone inkslabs are made of stone that has the right texture for ink-making purposes. Duanzhou inkslabs are regarded a one of "Four Treasures of the Chinese Study" along with xuan paper from Xuancheng, inksticks from Huizhou, and writing brushes from Huzhou.

Guangzhou Ivory Carving: Guangzhou's artisans have a way of chiseling ivory into a good variety of objects of art. Perforated ivory balls are perhaps the best of all Guandong ivory carvings. Local artists today are able to carve ivory balls with 45 perforated layers-each layer contained in a ball can be turned anyway you want.

Guangdong Fruits: Guangdong Province is China's leading fruit producing region, which abounds in tropical ad subtropical fruits. Banana, litchi, orange, and pineapple are the four major local fruits.