ESCAPES
guangzhou
getaway
Photos by Catharine Nicol
Catharine Nicol explores the cultural awakening of the former Factory of the World – and finds there’s an awful lot of fun to be had just across the border
I
’m strolling the quiet lanes lined with art galleries interspersed with cafés and shops, trees stretching over the smattering of people and cool industrial buildings. A sign points to Can Street, and left and right are Thaw Street and Refrigeration Street, but you’ll also find Hanging Garden café with its chilled patio and the hip little diner, Ant Kitchen. This is the delightfully crumbly Redtory, an old canning factory complex turned art hub in Tianhe – Guangzhou’s version of Beijing’s 798 Art Zone. In theory there could be numerous Redtories, after all this is the city previously known as the Factory of the World, however Guangzhou’s new nickname would be more accurately Display Room of the World. The factories have been edged out, in their place armies of malls, shops and markets below skyscrapers and shiny hotels. In place of bicycles: cars. The traffic gets gradually sleeker and slower as more and more cars are added to the road.
it was a key port for the Silk Road, and later, during the 1970s, it was one of Deng Xiaoping’s showcase cities for his Open Door Policy. Today 14 million people live in China’s third largest city after Beijing and Shanghai, and 150,000 more flood into the city twice a year to import and export at the Canton Fair. But it’s not all work and no play in Guangzhou and with the easy two-hour train trip, soon to be slashed by highspeed trains, Hong Kongers are beginning to migrate up for long weekends. These getaways provide expats with all their favourite pursuits – shopping and eating, with a bit of sightseeing thrown in. Note that, unless you’re hoping to squeeze in a little business, it’s best to stay away during the bustling Canton Fair weeks in April and October. Autumn and winter are dry and temperate, the best times to visit, as you’ll avoid the humid summer monsoon.
Cultural charm Despite the crawling traffic, Guangzhou and its entrepreneurial, trade-obsessed citizens work at warp speed, or as they call it, Guangzhou speed. The city has long been a forerunner of trade for China. In the 7th century
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To get an anchor on the city’s cultural past, make a trip to Lihuan’s Chen Ancestral Temple, originally set up as an academy for children of the Chen clan, a big family name