Guangzhou Gourmet Tour

Welcome to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province. Guangzhou has always enjoyed the fame of “Flower City” because of the various flowers there. Your wonderful 3-day gourmet tour will start here. Our guide holding your name sign will be waiting for you at the airport arrival hall. Then we will drive you to the hotel and you can have a good rest.

Located in the Southeast of China, Guangzhou covers an area of 7,434 square kilometers with a population of more than 18 million people. With a history of more than 1,500 years, it has been the main port of the maritime Silk Road since the third century AD and it became the largest port in China in the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1279) Dynasties and a world-famous Oriental port. Thanks to its excellent geographical location, Guangzhou is playing a leading role in China’s foreign trade, which greatly boosts economic development. Now, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Guangdong Province as well as one of six megacities whose resident population in urban areas exceeds 10 million in China.

Guangzhou cuisine is representative of Cantonese cuisine. It uses a wide range of and high-quality materials. Its taste is fresh, tender, and fragrant. Guangzhou cuisine pursues the original and fresh taste of materials themselves. The famous dishes include white cut chicken, roast goose, roast suckling pig, braised pigeon, boiled shrimp, Guangdong dim-sum, etc. So, if you would like to experience traditional Cantonese life, you can also get up early to have a dim-sum with them.

After breakfast, our first stop is the Chen Family Ancestral Temple. Built in the Qing Dynasty (1636-1912), Chen Family Ancestral Temple, also known as Chen Academy, covers an area of 15,000 square meters. It is not only an ancestral hall for ancestor worship but also a place for young generations of Chen Family to prepare for the imperial examination. It is also known for its unique architectural style. Traditional architectural decoration such as wood carving, stone carving, brick carving, ceramic sculpture, gray sculpture can be seen everywhere in the Chen ancestral temple. If you are interested in Chinese traditional sculpture, this place cannot be missed.

Then your guide will take you to the Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street where you can feast on all kinds of special snacks in Guangzhou such as Cantonese moon cake, ginger milk, steamed bread with milk and egg, shrimp dumpling and so on. Cantonese moon cake is one of the representatives of Chinese moon cake. One thing we recommend is Cantonese moon cake. Chinese people will eat moon cake on the Mid-Autumn Festival. On that day, the moon looks round, and so do the moon cakes. The word ‘round’, its pronunciation in Chinese is ‘yuan’ and it symbolizes family reunion (tuan yuan) in Chinese. Different from the sweet taste of moon cakes made in northern areas, Cantonese moon cakes have both sweet tastes such as lotus seed paste and egg yolk moon cake, and salty taste such as cloud leg (gammon) moon cake.

After lunch, we will drive to visit Yuexiu Park. The main body of Yuexiu Park is Yuexiu Mountain, which is a famous mountain with a profound cultural heritage. In the Qin (221-207BC) and Eastern Han (25-220AD) Dynasties, it has been a scenic spot in Guangzhou. During the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949), Sun Yat-sen, the president, proposed that Yuexiu Mountain should be expanded into a large park. This is how it got its name Yuexiu Park. In the large park, the Zhenhai Tower is famous. It was built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). It is said that after the establishment of the Ming Dynasty by Zhu Yuanzhang when he toured Zhongshan Mountain in Nanjing with his friend, his friend pointed to the southeast and said to Zhu Yuanzhang that a tower was needed to be built in the southeast because he thought that a new emperor and a dynasty would be born and established there, which would endanger the Ming Dynasty finally. A tower was needed to suppress the spirit. For that reason, the Zhenhai Tower was built in Guangzhou.

And then we will drive to visit the Canton Tower. With a total height of 600 meters, the Canton Tower is the tallest tower in Guangzhou province. Standing on the top floor of the tower, you can see the panoramic view of Guangzhou. There are also many interesting experiences you can have in the tower, such as a sightseeing observation deck, bubble tram, sky drop and so on. These are not included in our package, and you can buy your own tickets if you want to experience those. You can choose to have dinner at the revolving restaurant at your own expense and it will definitely be an unforgettable experience for you.

Then your local guide will take you to the hotel and you can have a good rest!

Chen Family Ancestral Temple

Canton Tower

We will have buffet breakfast at hotel included, but if you want to try the local breakfast in Guangzhou, you can eat dim-sum in any local restaurant near the hotel by yourself. Many retired Guangzhou residents will choose to have dim-sum in the morning. Classical Guangdong dim-sums include shrimp dumplings, buns, rice rolls, and so on. Rice rolls have a variety of stuffing such as beef, chicken, pork, shrimp and vegetable. It is worthwhile trying.

After breakfast, we will go to visit Shamian Island. The Shamian island covers an area of only 0.3 square kilometers. Due to the traffic control on the island, it is a quiet place and the air is fresh. I am so confident that you will have a good impression of it. Before the founding of the People’s Republic of China (1949), British and French consulates were located there so you will have the chance to see all kinds of ancient western buildings. There are more than 150 European ancient buildings, highlighting the traditional Baroque and Neoclassical styles of European architecture.

Our next stop is the Qingping Market. It is located in a shopping street. It mainly deals in aquatic animals, aquarium equipment, and feed. Here you can see all kinds of fish and lovely small aquarium animals. In addition, some people also sell other pets like cats, dogs, rabbits, and hamsters. If you travel with your children, they may be very interested in these cute animals.

After lunch, our guide will take you to the Cantonese Opera Art Museum (closed each Monday). The Cantonese Opera Art Museum was open to the public in early June 2016, covering a total area of 17,200 square meters. It introduces the development process, artistic features, organizational structure, and important influence of Cantonese Opera at home and abroad through various means such as display boards, exhibitions, model reproduction, and scene restoration, as well as multi-media forms such as somatosensory interaction and touch screen.

Then we will drive to Wenming Road. It is also known as Tangshui street, gathering many famous desserts in Guangdong. There you can taste almost all kinds of delicious desserts in Guangdong, such as Shunde Double-layer Milk Custard, sesame paste, mung bean paste, guiling paste, etc. You can also choose to taste one of the stews here such as stewed pig bone with carrot, tangerine peel duck soup, stewed taro with fish head, and so on. If the weather is cold, the stews here will sure warm you up!

Your 3-day China culinary tour in Guangzhou will come to an end today. Your tour guide will accompany you to the airport to catch your flight back home. We hope you have a nice journey and look forward to serving you next time!

Shamian Island

Cantonese Opera Art Museum

Author: Jiang Lindi

Proofreader: Li Yiwen