Where to Go
T he crowded Kowloon peninsula and the booming New
Territories on the mainland call for some serious sightseeing; but we
begin across Victoria Harbor on Hong Kong Island, where the city was
first founded and which remains the center of government, business, and
commerce.
Hong Kong Central
No matter how many tunnels and transit systems speed
cross-harbor traffic, nothing matches the ride on the Star Ferry from
Kowloon to the Central District across Victoria Harbor. As the
double-decker boats get ready to leave the pier, bells ring, the
gangplank is raised, deckhands in blue sailor suits man the hawsers,
and a couple of hundred commuters begin a seven-minute sightseeing
tour. The big green-and-white boat weaves its way through an
ever-changing obstacle course of both large and small craft, and the
soaring skyline of Hong Kong Island draws nearer.
As you get off, the 52-story Jardine House with
porthole-shaped windows catches the eye. There are restaurants and a
Starbuck’s in the basement, and you can access the raised pedestrian
crosswalk from the escalators on the ground floor. Next to the Jardine
building is Exchange Square, a complex with a large shopping mall; just
behind it is the General Post Office with a philatelic center on the
ground floor.
Farther west is the ferry terminal for the outlying islands.
On Connaught Road Central, you’ll find one of Hong Kong’s curiosities,
the 244-m- (800-ft-) long Mid-Levels outdoor escalator. It ferries
commuters from the Mid-Levels apartment complexes downhill from 6 to
10am, and uphill from 10am to midnight. Nearby is Central Market, the
wholesale food market of Hong Kong, and the Hang Seng building (private
offices).
Just east of the Star Ferry terminal, you’ll come to City
Hall. No longer a center of government, it now functions as a cultural
center. Go through the underground walkway to Statue Square; on the
east side of the square is the Legislative Council Building, one of the
few colonial buildings left in Hong Kong. So great is the pressure on
the available land that most of Hong Kong’s colonial architectural
heritage has been demolished and replaced by new skyscrapers. Despite
protests by preservationists, there was little alternative.
Nearby is Chater Garden and a number of notable
architectural landmarks. Most famous is the striking 74-story I.M. Pei
Bank of China Tower, not beloved by the people of Hong Kong — its
triangular prisms and sharp angles violate the principles of feng shui
(see box, page 68) and its radio masts stick up like an insect’s
antennae. The rival Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank is by architect Norman
Foster; built on a “coathanger frame,” its floors hang rather than
ascend. From inside the vast atrium you can view the whole structure as
well as the mechanical workings of the building. Two bronze lions,
carrying out feng shui principles, guard its doors.
You can catch one of Hong Kong’s historic trams along Des
Voeux Road and ride from Central to Causeway Bay (see box, page 66). In
1904, the narrow, double-decker trams ran along the waterfront, but
land reclamation has placed them far inland.
From the Bank of China Tower, make a short detour up Garden
Road and turn into Battery Path to reach the landmark St. John’s
Cathedral. Built 1847–1849, this usually deserted Anglican foundation
is Hong Kong’s oldest church. During World War II, the church was
turned into a club for Japanese officers; it was restored after the
war. Note the stained glass windows in the Quiet Chapel, designed by
Joseph Edward Nuttgens in the late 1950s. Behind the church is the 1917
French Mission Building, now used as the Court of Final Appeal.
Across from the I.M. Pei tower a winding path leads up to
Hong Kong Park. The park’s 10.5 hectares (25 acres) of landscaped
gardens and lakes contains a large greenhouse that holds many species
of plants, and an aviary of exotic birds. In the park is the Flagstaff
House Museum of Tea Ware (see page 54). It’s in Hong Kong’s oldest
colonial building, with exhibits describing the history of tea from the
Warring States period (475–221 b.c. ) to the present.
If you leave the park and walk up Cotton Tree Drive, you
will find the Peak Tram terminal.
To the Summit
For more than a century, the most exhilarating way up
Victoria Peak has been by funicular. The Peak Tram starts its scenic
climb just across the street and around the corner from the American
Consulate in Garden Road and makes its way, sometimes at a startlingly
steep incline, to the summit at 398 m (1,305 ft). The right-of-way
travels past fancy apartment blocks, bamboo stands, and jungle flowers.
Passengers crane their necks for dizzying glimpses of the harbor. The
Peak is still the most fashionable place to live in Hong Kong, but real
estate prices here are astronomical; rents run around HK$50,000 a
month.
The Peak Tram, originally steam-powered, was built to speed
the wealthy taipans to their mountainside retreats. Before the tram was
built, sedan chairs and rickshaws were the only way to get here. Since
the tram’s inauguration in 1888 it has stopped only for typhoons and
World War II.
The modern 120-passenger cars make the journey in around
eight minutes. However, on sunny Saturdays and Sundays you may have to
brave a crowd lining up at the lower terminal. During the spring and
autumn festivals, when people traditionally seek out the hilltops, the
throngs are so large you would be better advised to try another
time.
At the upper terminus there is a four-level shopping
center, the Peak Galleria, and the Peak Tower, which resembles an
airport control tower and has shops, entertainment, and
restaurants.
You can walk around the peak for impressive views of Hong
Kong, the coastline, and the islands in 45 minutes on Lugard and
Harlech roads. The view is especially effective at night. There are
also souvenir stands, benches for a rest, and perhaps Hong Kong’s last
surviving rickshaws — however these are not for rides, but are a
tourist photo opportunity. If you’re up to a climb, take the Mount
Austin road to the Victoria Peak Gardens. These gardens used to belong
to the governor’s mountain lodge, but the building was demolished by
the Japanese during the occupation of Hong Kong.
From the lower terminal of the Peak Tram it’s only a short
walk to the former governor’s residence, Government House, now a
museum. Across from the mansion, the Zoological and Botanical Gardens
(gardens open daily 6am–10pm; zoo 6am–7pm; admission free) provide a
welcome oasis amid the big-city pressures. In the very early morning
the park is taken over by people doing tai-chi exercises. Both young
and old go through ballet-like movements in slow motion to discipline
the mind and body. The park’s zoo has a collection of weird and
wonderful chattering jungle birds.
More Hong Kong Island Sights
Western District
The Western District is one of Hong Kong’s oldest
neighborhoods, and its narrow streets hold a collection of fascinating
traditional shops and enterprises. Opposite the Macau Ferry Terminal
you’ll find the Western Market (open 10am–7pm). It is more interesting
for its architecture than for its shopping; it’s situated in a
four-story Edwardian building built in 1906. For an interesting glimpse
of small and family-owned shops, walk along Bonham Strand East and
West, Man Wa Lane, and Cleverly Street. You’ll find herb and medicine
shops, incense shops, chop makers’ shops (makers of Chinese seals), and
more.
Hong Kong University’s campus is spread along Bonham Road.
When it opened in 1912, the university had a total of 72 students. At
the top of a sloping driveway, the stately Edwardian structure that was
the original university building presides over the institution’s newer
buildings. The University’s Fung Ping Shan Museum, 94 Bonham Road (open
Monday–Saturday 9:30am–6pm, admission free) holds a significant
collection of antiquities: bronzes, dating from 3000 b.c. , and
ceramics, including Han Dynasty tomb pottery. It also has the world’s
largest collection of Nestorian crosses from the Yuan Dynasty
period.
Around Hollywood Road
Take the Mid-Levels Escalator to Hollywood road, known for
its antiques and curio shopping. Here the windows and open doors of the
shops reveal an alluring selection of Asian furniture, carpets,
carvings, tomb figures, porcelain, and bronze.
Walk west along Hollywood Road until you come to Man Mo
Temple, the island’s oldest house of worship (though the date of its
founding is subject to dispute). Visitors entering the temple are
confronted by a dense pall of smoke from all the burning joss sticks
and the incense coils hanging from the ceiling (these will burn for as
long as a month). The gold-plated sedan chairs on the left-hand side of
the temple were once used for transporting the statues of the temple’s
gods in religious processions. The statues in the main shrine represent
Man, the god of literature, and Mo, the god of war, a curious
juxtaposition. The temple is always crowded with worshipers.
Just past the temple is the aptly named Ladder Street. Go
down one flight of steps to Lascar Row, popularly known as Cat Street,
for more antiques and curio shops. Walk up the steps to reach Caine
Lane, where you’ll find the Museum of Medical Sciences (open
Tuesday–Saturday 10am–5pm; admission by donation). The interesting
Edwardian building was formerly the Pathological Institute, founded to
combat the 19th century’s 30-year-long outbreak of bubonic plague. The
old laboratory is still intact, and there are exhibits on Chinese
pharmacology and the history of medicine in Hong Kong.
Wan Chai
Just to the east of the financial district, Wan Chai was
once an area of sleazy clubs and topless bars; this was the setting for
The World of Suzy Wong. Servicemen relaxing from the rigors of the
Vietnam War poured millions of dollars into the Wan Chai boom of the
1960s. There are still bars and clubs here, but the area has become
almost mainstream, and office towers are replacing many of the sinful
old premises.
The Wan Chai waterfront is dominated by the Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre, the largest in Asia, which includes
hotels, theaters, and exhibition halls. The convention center, an
extension on reclaimed land, affords stunning views of the Wan Chai
waterfront. Adjacent, just west of the convention center, is another
modern highlight, the Academy for the Performing Arts on Gloucester
Road.
On Wan Chai’s Bowen Road, Maiden’s Rock, also called
Lover’s Rock, is the gathering place for the annual Maiden’s festival.
Although it is not a tourist attraction, the rock is steeped in
tradition. Every August young women convene to light joss sticks and
some even climb the nine-meter (30-ft) rock to pray for good
husbands.
Causeway Bay
About 2 km (a mile) east of Wan Chai, Causeway Bay is
second only to Tsim Sha Tsui as Hong Kong’s place to shop. A prosperous
tourist district, it is full of shopping centers and department stores,
along with a number of good restaurants. The busy night-and-day crowds
make this area vibrant and lively.
On the nautical side is the Causeway Bay typhoon shelter,
where expensive yachts are anchored almost gunwale to gunwale, and the
Hong Kong Yacht Club has its headquarters. Across Gloucester Road,
opposite the World Trade Centre, is the Noonday Gun, which under
British rule was sounded on the stroke of midday. Silent for a time,
the tradition has been revived and is a tourist attraction. It’s not
clear how the custom started. One story has it that traders Jardine,
Matheson & Co fired a private salute for a visiting tycoon, an act
that incensed the colonial authorities, who felt that they had the sole
right to issue such a 21-gun welcome. As a result, the merchants were
forced to limit their salvoes to one a day — and from then on, they
signaled the noon hour daily for all to hear. The gun was made famous
by Noel Coward’s satirical song, “Mad Dogs and Englishmen. ”
Farther east is Hong Kong’s largest park, Victoria Park,
with sports grounds and other facilities. On the eastern side of
Victoria Park on Causeway Road is Tin Hau Temple, dedicated to Tin Hau,
the Taoist Queen of Heaven and patroness of seafarers. Originally the
temple was on the shore but reclamation projects have now left it high
and dry. On the 23rd day of the Third Moon, the birthday of the goddess
is celebrated here and in all Hong Kong fishing communities.
Inland from the bay is Happy Valley. At one time it was a
very miserable valley, a swampland conducive only to breeding malarial
mosquitoes. It is home to Hong Kong’s first racetrack. Hong Kong’s
gamblers are so eager to play the horses that, despite the opening of a
bigger and better racetrack at Sha Tin, the Happy Valley Racecourse is
thriving.
Up Tai Hang Road behind Causeway Bay is Aw Boon Haw (Tiger
Balm) Gardens (open daily 9:30am–4pm), founded in 1935 by the late Aw
Boon Haw, who became a millionaire by producing the medicinal Tiger
Balm. (It does not, in fact, contain any ingredients from tigers, but
does promise to cure a wide range of problems such as colds, headaches,
rheumatism, gout, toothache, and scorpion bites. ) With its garish
pagodas, artificial caves, and brightly painted statues of well-known
Taoist and Buddhist legends, the garden is an obvious photo
opportunity.
around the Coast
Aberdeen, the island’s oldest settlement, once a pirate
lair, is home to the “floating population” — the boat people who spend
their entire lives on the junks in the harbor, some proudly claiming
never to have set foot on land (except for funerals, which don’t
count). The junks are a picturesque sight: children frolicking on the
poop deck, women preparing food or playing mah-jong, elderly folk
watching the sunset, dogs and cats underfoot, songbirds in bamboo cages
overhead — and all afloat.
The boats may appear deceptively primitive, but many of
them have their own electric generators and all the modern
conveniences. There are fewer boats now than in the past; many boat
people, especially the younger generation, have moved to housing
projects. You can take a tour of the port in one of the small sampans,
propelled by hand by women drivers. A half-hour tour costs HK$50; pay
at the end, or the driver may cut your trip short.
Aberdeen’s theatrical floating restaurants have been a
tourist attraction for many years. The food may not live up to
expectations, but the fantasy environment makes up for it. If you can
get up early enough, you can attend the pre-dawn auction held at the
vast local wholesale fish market; otherwise, have a look at the street
market that goes on later in the day.
The peninsula opposite the east coast of Ap Lei Chau island
contains Ocean Park (open daily 10am–6pm; admission HK$150 adults,
HK$75 children), which has become one of Hong Kong’s biggest
attractions. It is divided into three areas: a highland, a lowland, and
the Middle Kingdom. Linking the lowland and highland sections of the
park, a cable-car system offers spectacular views across to the islands
of the South China Sea.
The Oceanarium is said to be the largest in the world, and
the Ocean Theatre features displays by dolphins, killer whales, seals,
and pelicans. An enormous roller-coaster rising way above the sea,
space wheels, and high-diving shows guarantee a day of excitement. The
Middle Kingdom is a recreated “living” history of China’s past,
presented through a number of full-size replicas of shrines, temples,
pagodas, palaces, and street scenes. There are also demonstrations of
traditional Chinese crafts, including silk-weaving, pottery, and p
apermaking. Water World, formerly in the complex, has closed for
redevelopment.
Continuing around the coast in a counter-clockwise
direction, Deep Water Bay offers a good beach and harbors. The next
inlet is Repulse Bay, a roomy, sandy crescent, with green hills. It’s
so attractive and so easy to reach that it’s packed with sunbathers all
summer long.
Stanley was once one of the main fishing villages on Hong
Kong Island. The well-known Stanley Market (see page 55) is a major
source for bargain clothing and other merchandise. Stanley is also a
favorite place of residence for ex-pats. The waterfronts at Repulse Bay
and Stanley are lined with good cafés and restaurants.
Kowloon
Though much smaller than Hong Kong Island, Kowloon has
almost twice the population. In many areas, the density reaches the
equivalent of 150,000 inhabitants per square km (a quarter square
mile).
Most of Kowloon’s attractions for visitors are centered
near the tip of the peninsula in the district known as Tsim Sha Tsui.
Adjacent to the Star Ferry terminal is Ocean Terminal, where
international cruise ships dock, and the gigantic Harbour City, a
complex of malls, hotels, and restaurants.
If you walk east on the Star Ferry terminal concourse, you
will find yourself on the wonderful Promenade, which begins at the
clock tower, all that remains of the once grand Kowloon-Canton Railway
Terminus. The waterfront here offers unparalled views of the harbor and
Hong Kong Island. If you continue to the end of the promenade, you will
be in Tsim Sha Tsui East, a busy commercial district built on more than
60 hectares (150 acres) of reclaimed land.
Flanked by the clock tower is the imposing Hong Kong
Cultural Centre. Hong Kong’s major venue for the performing arts, the
building has been criticized for its fortress-like architecture and
windowless façade. The interior is a comfortable amalgam of Chinese and
Western design, with an impressive main lobby. The center contains a
concert hall with acclaimed acoustics, theaters, a library, an
exhibition gallery, shops, restaurants, and bars.
Next door is the Hong Kong Space Museum and Theatre (open
Monday, Wednesday–Friday 1–9pm; Saturday, Sunday 10am–9pm; closed
Tuesday; admission HK$10 adults, HK$5 children; separate admission to
theater). Its futuristic dome design is striking; inside are
interactive exhibits, including one in which you can experience
weightlessness. The theater presents “sky shows” and IMAX films. The
Hong Kong Museum of Art (see page 54) stands behind the Space Museum
next to the cultural center. It contains the Xubaizhi collection of
painting and calligraphy; galleries devoted to antiquities and
ceramics; and a gallery of modern Chinese art. Particularly interesting
is the collection of paintings and photographs of old Hong Kong. The
museum mounts special exhibitions and has an excellent gift shop.
A few blocks up Chatham Road South are two more major
museums. The Science Museum (see page 55) is a state-of-the-art
interactive museum that will teach you how everything and anything
works from ancient sailing ships to the latest technology. The Museum
of History (open Tuesday–Saturday 10am–6pm, Sunday 1–6pm; closed
Monday; admission HK$10 adult, HK$5 child) opened its new permanent
collection at the end of August 2001. The fascinating collection of
artifacts pertaining showcases 6,000 years of Hong Kong’s history and
Chinese culture.
Just across Salisbury Road from the cultural center is the
historic Peninsula Hotel, now expanded and modernized by a 32-story
tower. Its restored lobby is Hong Kong’s most elegant gathering place;
afternoon tea here is a visitors’ ritual.
Alongside the hotel runs busy Nathan Road, Hong Kong’s
fabled shopping street, lined with shops, hotels, and restaurants.
Kowloon’s main street was created by Sir Matthew Nathan when he was
governor of Hong Kong at the turn of the 19th century. At the time it
was built, many thought it absurd to have a tree-lined boulevard
running through what was practically a wilderness. Now the former
“Nathan’s Folly” is known as the “Golden Mile. ”
A few blocks up Nathan Road is Kowloon Park (open daily
6am–midnight), elegantly laid out with fountains, promenades, and
ornamental gardens; be sure to go up the steps to see the Sculpture
Walk.
Farther up Nathan Street you will reach Yau Ma Tei, one of
the older parts of Kowloon. Turn off Nathan and walk down Kansu Street
to find the Jade Market (open 10am–3pm; see page 80), with more than
100 stalls spread out in a large tent, just before you reach the
overpass.
Hong Kong’s liveliest market scene is the Temple Street
Night Market (see page 55), near Jordan Road. Everything is sold here,
from clothing to souvenirs to electronic goods, and the market is known
for its street-side food stalls, where you can dine inexpensively on
seafood. The market runs all the way up to Tin Hau Temple, where you
will find fortune tellers’ tables (some speak English) and possibly
street performers singing Chinese opera or pop songs. The temple is one
of the many dedicated to Tin Hau, goddess of seafarers; this one also
houses an altar to Shing Wong, the city’s god. In the daytime the
temple (open 8am–6pm) attracts worshipers, and its park attracts
strollers and mah-jong players.
Nathan Road goes all the way up to Boundary Street, which
marks the boundary between Kowloon and the New Territories. Near
Boundary Street, off Prince Edward Street West, is the Yuen Po Street
Bird Garden (open 8am–7pm). Birds are favorite pets in Hong Kong,
valued for their singing rather than their plumage, and here you’ll
find all kinds of birds for sale as well as elaborate teak and bamboo
cages.
Off the beaten path in Sham Shui Po, west of the junction
of Nathan Road and Boundary Street, is the Lei Cheng Uk Han Tomb and
Museum on Tonkin Road (open Monday–Wednesday and Friday–Saturday
10am–6pm, Sunday 1–6pm; closed Thursday). This ancient burial vault is
believed to date back to the Han Dynasty (a.d. 25–220). The
barrel-vaulted chambers were discovered while excavating for a nearby
housing project.
New Territories
Hong Kong’s New Territories begin at Boundary Street.
Surprises spring up on all sides: new industrial complexes alongside
sleepy farming villages, skyscraper towns blooming in the middle of
nowhere, Hakka women in their traditional flat straw hats with hanging
black curtains, water buffalo, and flashes of azalea everywhere.
The New Territories can be explored by taking the
Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR), which makes 10 stops between the station
in Kowloon and Sheung Shui, the last stop before entering China. Ask
the tourist authority about its interesting Heritage Tour from Kowloon
and other countryside tours (see page 113).
The main highway makes a circuit of the New Territories,
beginning with the new town of Tsuen Wan, situated in an area of heavy
industry just west of Kowloon. North of the town, a commanding view
over all the New Territories to the north can be seen from Tai Mo Shan,
Hong Kong’s highest peak at 957 m (3,140 ft). The highway continues
parallel to the coast. One-third of all Hong Kong’s beaches are to be
found in a single 14-km (9-mile) stretch of this region’s shoreline.
Place names are often based on the distance to the nearest mile-post,
as measured from the tip of the Kowloon peninsula. Thus you will find
“191/2-mile Beach” at Castle Peak Bay.
The main road continues clockwise around the New
Territories. As you approach the border, you can glimpse the
skyscrapers of Shenzhen. The lookout point at Lok Ma Chau was once
known as Hong Kong’s “window on China” — in the years of China’s
isolation from the West, tourists would come to the lookout point here
and rent binoculars in order to get a glimpse of the great mystery
beyond.
Set amid Tseun Wan’s residential towers is the 18th-century
walled village of Sam Tung Uk, now preserved as a museum, and a short
walk from the MTR station. Not far away, at milepost 21 near the large
new town of Tuen Mun, is a Taoist retreat known as Ching Chung Koon.
This “Temple of Green Pines” is a spacious complex containing temples
and pavilions, statues, and gardens. It is known for its collection of
bonsai and houses a jade seal more than 1,000 years old. Among the
ponds is one inhabited by turtles: Visitors toss in coins in the hope
of bouncing one off a turtle’s head, a sure way of achieving good
fortune.
An even more interesting image out of Chinese history is
the walled village of Kat Hing Wai, in the village of Kam Tin just
outside the market town of Yuen Long. This is the most easily
accessible of the New Territories’ walled villages. It is built in a
square, and the only way in is through the gate in the brick defensive
wall. Kat Hing Wai was built four or five centuries ago by the Hakka
Tang clan, one of the Five Great Clans that migrated here from North
China (see page 11). Many of the old houses in the village have been
replaced by modern structures.
The Tang clan’s earliest walled village was Lo Wai, which
also has its defensive wall intact and is entered by a narrow gate.
Adjacent to the village is the restored Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall.
Few traditional ancestral halls remain in China since the
anti-historical destruction during the Cultural Revolution, so these
New Territories ancestral halls are rare survivors. Another such hall,
belonging to the Liu Clan, is Liu Man Shek Tong in the village of
Sheung Shui.
One of the most interesting sites in the New Territories is
Tai Fu Tai, another rare survivor, this one a mansion that belonged to
a Confucian high official. The house was built in 1865 by a member of
the Man clan who achieved the rank of tai fu (mandarin) by doing well
in the Imperial Examinations. The preservation of this wonderful home
is ongoing; a projected restoration of the original garden is still in
progress. The traditional Qing Dynasty style of the mansion is
enlivened by a few Western touches: a Baroque-style ceiling and
stained glass above the doorways, showing the builder’s up-to-date
attitude at the time of construction.
The highway and the railway stay close together from
Fanling, site of the best golf courses in the area. Tai Po, just south
of Fanling, is known for its market, Tai Po Market, which buzzes with
activity daily from 7am to 6pm. Just up a lane from the market is the
Man Mo Temple, with long-burning incense coils hanging from its
ceiling, a popular spot dedicated to the Taoist gods of war and
literature.
The railway line then curves gracefully around Tolo Harbor,
an idyllic body of water well-protected from the open sea. You can take
a ferryboat through the harbor, past the ingenious Plover Cove
reservoir, a water catchment area appropriated by damming and draining
a broad inlet from the sea. The boats go on to the friendly fishermen’s
island of Tap Mun, in Mirs Bay, with stops in remote hamlets of the Sai
Kung Peninsula. The Sai Kung area is the location of two official parks
and nature preserves, while on the south side of the peninsula are some
of the territory’s best beaches.
From the next railway station, the modern campus of the
Chinese University of Hong Kong is visible. Teaching here is conducted
in both Chinese and English. The Art Gallery in the Institute of
Chinese Studies Building is worth a visit for its painting and
calligraphy collections.
Sha Tin is the site of the Monastery of 10,000 Buddhas,
which looks down on a burgeoning town. There are hundreds of stone
steps in the hillside to walk up before you reach Man Fat Temple with
its regiments of small gilt statues of Buddha lining the walls. Some
indefatigable climbers will want to go up to the top of the nine-story
pink pagoda for a panoramic view. There is a total of 12,800 Buddha
statues here, plus the remains of the monastery’s founder embalmed in
gold leaf. Also here is the Hongkong Heritage Museum (call Tel. 2180
8188 for open hours). The museum has an art collection, and displays of
toys and other artifacts.
Down to earth, the Sha Tin Racecourse can accommodate over
80,000 spectators and is equipped with every imaginable luxury,
including a giant video screen facing the stands, and for the horses,
air-conditioned stables. Opposite the Sha Tin railway station, New Town
Plaza features shops, cinemas, and even a computer-controlled musical
fountain.
Two natural rock formations are always pointed out on
excursions. Sha Tin Rock, better known as Amah Rock, is actually a pile
of several rocks that resemble a woman with a baby in a sling on her
back. Legend has it that a local woman climbed the hill every day to
watch for her husband returning from across the sea; one day the wife
and her child were turned to stone as a permanent symbol of her
enduring faith. Closer to town is Lion Rock, shaped like a lion lying
in wait. It really looks the part; the tourists know its name even
before the guide can translate it.
The Islands
Excursion companies sell a variety of orientation cruises
of Hong Kong harbor that include a look at some of its 235 outlying
islands. These pleasant, but expensive, outings can lay the foundation
for your own explorations aboard the cheap but usually comfortable
ferries used by the islanders themselves. From the ferry terminals on
Hong Kong Island you can escape to islands without cars or cares, where
the local people smile “hello” and, if you’re lucky, point you to a
secret beach for the ultimate in quality leisure time. For ferry
information, call Tel. 2542 3081 or 2525 1108.
Lantau Island
The mountainous island of Lantau is the biggest in the
colony, and covers nearly twice the area of Hong Kong Island. Chek Lap
Kok airport sits on reclaimed land just off Lantau; plans to build a
bridge may change Lantau, but at present it is sparsely populated and
makes a perfect getaway.
At 934 m (3,064 ft), Lantau Peak is high enough to attract
the occasional rain cloud — refreshingly cool breezes blow on most hot
summer days. More than half the island is parkland, and there is a
70-km (45-mile) circular hiking trail (see page 92). Ferries depart
from Central every two hours between 6:10am and 10:30pm to Silvermine
Bay (Mui Wo), where a bus terminal has buses to all parts of the
island. There are also ferries to Discovery Bay.
A short bus ride away is Cheung Sha Beach, 3 km (2 miles)
long, and popular for its white sand and excellent facilities.
The most famous site on the island is the world’s tallest
seated bronze statue of Buddha at 22 m (72.6 ft), the Tiantan Buddha
(see page 55). The statue and a small museum are on a peak, up 268
steps, above Po Lin Monastery. The monastery is strictly vegetarian,
and visitors are warned not to bring any meat with them. You can have a
delicious vegetarian lunch here.
From the monastery, hikers enjoy the two-hour cross-country
trek down to Silvermine Bay, but the authorities have warned walkers to
be on the lookout for snakes, which can be plentiful in the Lantau
hinterland, especially in summer. The hillsides that surround the
monastery are the site of Hong Kong’s only tea plantation. Visitors are
welcome to visit the 24-hectare (60-acre) establishment, and may sample
the end product, Lantau tea.
The island’s largest community is Tai O. The people of this
picturesque village make their living by fishing, duck-breeding, and
food-processing. Many of the inhabitants live — by choice, not
necessarily through economic hardship — on the water, aboard houseboats
or in houses on stilts in the main creek.
A Trappist monastery, situated on a hillside overlooking
the east coast of Lantau, is also open to visitors. To get here, follow
the path from the southwest end of Discovery Bay; the walk takes about
30 minutes.
Cheung Chau
Some 10 km (6 miles) west of Hong Kong lies this small,
crowded island, only one square mile in size. More than 25,000 people
live here, mostly by fishing, but there are also ex-pats, attracted by
its laid-back Mediterranean ambience. The island has a checkered past
of smuggling and pira cy. That era is gone now, but other elements of
the island’s old life are preserved. The people still carve jade and
build seaworthy junks, all by hand. Fish (heads discreetly wrapped in
paper) are still hung out to dry in the sun.
Cheung Chau becomes the center of Hong Kong life once a
year, usually in May, during the Bun Festival, a folklore extravaganza
(see page 89). The rest of the year, life goes on at its accustomed
pace: rickety machines chugging in two-man factories, children in
school uniforms being ferried home to houseboats, and the old fishermen
stirring shrimp paste.
By way of formal tourist attractions, Pak Tai Temple, built
in 1783, has some fine carvings and a great iron sword said to be 600
years old. But the most interesting thing to do here is to explore the
two villages on the island, Cheung Chau and San Wai. They are an easy
walk apart by the harbor road, or a longer 45-minute hike on the scenic
Peak Road. The Praya, the promenade in front of the ferry pier, is a
good place to observe the many junks and fishing boats in the harbor.
There are also several open-air restaurants where you can enjoy fresh
seafood.
Lamma Island
Only 35 minutes by ferry from Central, Lamma Island is
perfect for swimming, hiking, picnicking, birdwatching, or just sitting
back to watch the bananas grow. Hong Kong’s third largest island has a
population of only about 12,000; it is still largely undeveloped, and
life on Lamma, if not totally primitive, is close to the essentials.
Archaeologists indicate that Lamma has probably been inhabited for some
4,000 years, and the island is known as “Hong Kong’s Stone Age Island.
”
The principal settlements are Yung Shue Wan on Lamma’s
northwest, and Sok Kwu Wan, on the east coast. Both villages offer good
waterfront restaurants with homestyle Chinese food, principally seafood
fresh from the tank. The ports are within hiking distance of several
beautiful beaches, and within a one-hour hike of each other on a marked
trail. You can build an appetite for dinner by making your way from the
beach to the restaurant. Yung Shue Wan is still a very British
residential enclave, with many nice pubs.
An Excursion to Macau
Macau, the final bastion of Portugal’s great 16th-century
empire, is much more than just a quirk of history. Here, where East and
West first met, life combines the spirit of Asia with something of the
sunny atmosphere of the Mediterranean.
Macau’s historic center, with its colonial architecture,
has a distinctly Mediterranean flavor. Colonnaded public
buildings, iron balconies, winding streets, flagstoned squares and the
many churches all speak of the Portuguese inheritance as well as the
Chinese, a fusion of East and West that has produced the unique
Macanese culture.
The story of the Western discovery of Macau begins in 1513
when Portuguese explorer, Jorge Alvares, reached the south coast of
China. Traders followed in his wake, setting up bases in several parts
of the Pearl River estuary. Finally, in 1557, they were all
consolidated in Macau. It was the only European gateway to China, and
through Macau flowed Western technology and religion. In 1576 Pope
Gregory XIII created the Macau diocese, covering all of China and
Japan.
No less impressive were the secular challenges. China and
Japan were not on speaking terms, so trade between them had to be
channeled through a neutral middleman. Lucky Macau fit the
specifications exactly. Portugal’s resulting near-monopoly of East–West
trade understandably awakened the competitive instincts of other
European powers. The Dutch sent an invasion flotilla to Macau in 1622,
but the defenders triumphed. However, the end of the golden age was
drawing near. China began to relax trade restrictions, and with the
rise of Hong Kong, Macau became an isolated Portuguese outpost.
A haven for persecuted Japanese Christians in the 17th
century, Portugal’s neutrality during World War II assured the
territory a flood of refugees. They were joined by a swarm of spies of
all conceivable nationalities, and Macau won a name for international
intrigue.
Portugal’s very precarious foothold on the Asian coast
ended in 1999 with a formal handover to China. Macau, now the Chinese
Special Economic Zone of Zhuhai, is becoming something like a boomtown
as an exporter of toys, furniture, and electronics. New construction in
the past 10 years has changed the city’s skyline; with new, glittering
hotels and highrise apartment blocks, the city is beginning to look a
little more like Hong Kong.
Macau’s population is estimated at around 450,000, an
appallingly high figure for such a small area; recent land reclamation
has eased the situation to some extent. If a trace of tropical lethargy
still adds to the charm in this city of sidewalk cafés, palm trees, and
pedicabs, any torpor definitely ends once inside the doors of Macau’s
casinos, scene of some of the liveliest gambling west of Las Vegas.
Gambling provides almost 40 percent of the government’s tax revenues,
and is a major source of employment. Its spin-off industries,
prostitution and pawn shops, also thrive.
Arriving
The easiest way to get to Macau is by jetfoil, operated by
TurboJet (Tel. 2859-3333). The 40-mile trip takes about an hour.
Departures are from the Macau Ferry Terminal, just west of Central in
the Shun Tak Centre, 200 Connaught Road, Central, in Hong Kong.
Jetfoils leave every 15 to 30 minutes 24 hours a day.
Entry procedures are similar to those in Hong Kong — most
nationalities need only a passport to enter Macau. Macau’s own
currency, the pataca, is pegged to the Hong Kong dollar, and you can
use your Hong Kong currency freely in Macau.
Upon arrival in Macau, be sure to stop by the Macau
Government Tourist Office for a map, brochures, and directions. Outside
the terminal, you will find taxis as well as buses to all points (take
3, 3A, 10, or 10A to the historic center; exact change is required).
You’ll also be approached by pedicab drivers; these are tricycles
carrying two passengers. Pedicabs were once the most common form of
transportation in Macau, but today they are mainly a tourist
attraction.
Sights in Macau
Directly across the street from the wharf where passengers
arrive from Hong Kong is the first surprise to greet visitors to
Macau — the vast Jai-alai Palace, said to be the world’s most luxurious
frontón. In an effort to provide yet one more thing to bet on, players
are imported from Spain to take part in this lightning-fast Basque ball
game.
The grandstand situated on the seaside road, the Avenida
da Amizade (Friendship Avenue), marks the finishing line for the Macau
Grand Prix, the international car-racing event held here every
November. Also in front of the ferry terminal is a new Cyber fountain,
with 86 water spouts that shoot up to 70 m (230 ft) and are illuminated
at night by 288 spotlights producing 80 colors.
Continuing around the peninsula in a clockwise direction
brings you to the Rua da Praia Grande (Big Beach Street) — a pleasant
promenade with shaded benches under the banyan trees. Along this
elegant avenue is Government House, a modest pink palace.
The central square of the historic city center is Largo do
Senado. For an authentic feel of old Portugal, slip into the cool
entrance hall of theimpressive Leal Senado (“Loyal Senate” building), a
fine example of colonial architecture. On the inside walls are flowered
blue tiles (azulejos) and coats of arms. The inscription over the
archway reads, “Cidade do nome de Deus, não ha outra mais leal” (“City
of the Name of God, None is More Loyal”) — a bit of praise attributed
to Portugal’s King John IV in the 17th century. For all its historic
grandeur, the loyal Senate now is the equivalent of a city council, its
statesmanship dedicated to water supplies, sewage lines, and the
establishment of playgrounds.
Macau’s most memorable monument is the Baroque façade of
the ruins of São Paulo, the only remains of a beautiful 17th-century
Jesuit church. On top of a hill in the center of the city, it’s
approached by a grand staircase. The rest of the building and an
adjoining college were destroyed in a typhoon-fanned fire in 1835. The
rich sculptural effects on the façade mix Eastern and Western symbols:
familiar saints, Chinese dragons, and a Portuguese caravel. Beneath the
church, the Museum of Sacred Art houses a collection of sacramental
objects.
The ambitious Museum of Macau (open Tuesday–Sunday
10am–6pm; admission HK$15) opened in 1998 in the lower levels of the
Monte Fortress. Entrance is by escalator, near St. Paul’s. It gives an
overview of Macau’s history and its daily life and traditions. A
re-created street of colonial Macau is lined with traditional Chinese
shops. The fort, built by the Jesuits in the 17th century as a defense
against the Dutch, was largely destroyed by the same fire that burned
St. Paul’s.
Luís Vaz de Camões (1524–1580), the Portuguese national
poet whose work immortalized that country’s golden age of discoveries,
may have stayed in Macau. Local legend claims that he wrote part of his
great saga, Os Lusíadas, in what is now called the Camões Grotto,
situated in the spacious tropical Camões Garden.
Next to the museum, behind a gate (opened to anyone who
knocks), is the Old Protestant Cemetery. Those whose fate was to die on
some far foreign field could not have wanted a more peaceful, lovely
graveyard. The small, whitewashed chapelwas the first Protestant church
built in China.
For a different vision of Old China, spend a few quiet
moments in the classic Lou Lim Ieoc Garden. Here, arched bridges,
pagodas, fish ponds, and stands of bamboo create the mood of a timeless
Chinese painting. Nearby is the Memorial House of Dr. Sun Yat-sen,
founder of the Chinese Republic. Photos and documents tell the life
story of the physician-revolutionary-statesman, who lived for a time in
Macau, but never in this building.
Kun Iam Tong, off Avenida do Coronel Mesquita (open daily
8am–6pm), is a 17th-century Buddhist temple of considerable splendor
and charm. Surrounded by statues, carvings, and incense burners, here
the faithful make their devotions and check their fortunes, and
traditional funerary displays give a cheerful send-off to the recently
departed.
An unexpected piece of historical memorabilia turns up in
the monastery garden, where guides point out a small stone table used
for a treaty-signing ceremony in 1844. The signatories, who were the
Chinese viceroy from Canton and the minister plenipotentiary of the
United States of America, put their names to a historic document — the
first-ever treaty between the two countries.
Another important ceremony took place in 1999 when Macau
became part of China. The Handover Pavilion was meant to be a temporary
structure, but public outcry ensured its preservation (located on Xian
Xing Hai; open weekdays 10am–6pm, until 10pm weekends). Nearby is the
Macau Cultural Center and the Museum of Art (open Tuesday–Sunday
10am–7pm; closed Monday; small admission).
Macau’s oldest museum, the Maritime Museum
(Wednesday–Monday 10am–5:30pm; admission HK$10, HK$5 children over 10)
traces the history of Macau’s connection to the sea. Exhibits cover
fishing, seaborne trade, sea transport, and there is an aquarium. The
museum also offers boat tours aboard a fishing junk.
The museum is almost on the spot where the Portuguese
first landed. When they came ashore they found the A-Ma Temple
(properly called Ma Kok Temple; open daily dawn to dusk), dedicated to
the favorite goddess of fishermen, who is also known as Tin Hau. The
area was called A-Ma Gau (“Bay of A-Ma”), and in this way, Macau got
its name. The ornate, picturesque temple dates from the Ming Dynasty
(1368–1644) and is the oldest building in Macau.
The remains of the 17th-century Barra Fortress, which once
defended the southern tip of the peninsula, contains the chapel of
Santiago (St. James). The saint is much revered in the surrounding
area. Among other legends surrounding the statue is a very modern one:
During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, when Red Guards were running
rampant on Wanchai island, just a swim away, the image of St. James is
said to have stepped down from the altar and halted an invasion. Part
of the fortress has been converted and is now used as a luxury inn. The
northernmost point in Macau is the frontier between two contrasting
worlds. The Barrier Gate (Portas do Cerco), which was built more than a
century ago, marks the boundary between the enclave of Macau and the
People’s Republic of China.
Trying Your Luck
Macau’s casinos are a source of non-stop excitement. There
are 12 of them; you can’t miss the eye-popping Lisboa, which has
several floors of gambling, but there’s also the Hyatt Regency, the
Mandarian Oriental, and Taipa’s Jockey Club. The fancifully decorated
Macau Palace, a floating casino moored on the western waterfront, is
fitted out with gambling tables, slot machines (known locally as
“hungry tigers”) and, for hungry humans, a restaurant. Gambling is
wildly popular with the Chinese of Hong Kong, and they make up nearly
80 percent of all visitors to the casinos.
The casinos offer familiar international games — baccarat,
blackjack, boule, craps, roulette — along with more exotic Chinese
pastimes. Watch the fantan dealer for a few minutes and you’ll almost
be an expert: It’s simply a matter of how many odd buttons are left
after he has divided a pile of them into groups of four.
Dai-Siu (Big and Small) is a dice game in which the
croupier throws three dice inside a glass container. Players bet on the
numbers that will come up, and on whether the result will be “big” or
“small. ” Keno is a variation of bingo in which the player chooses
numbers to bet on before the draw is made.
The casinos have no admission charge and formal dress is
optional, though long pants for men are required. They keep busy 24
hours a day, but if you want a change of scene there are always more
gambling opportunities available. You can try your luck at pari mutuel
betting on jai-alai at pari mutuel, greyhound-racing at the Canidrome
(one of the largest in the world), and harness-racing on Taipa.
Shopping in Macau
Like Hong Kong, Macau is a duty-free port. It is famous
for its gold jewelry. Market prices per tael (34 grams/1.2 ounces) of
gold are set daily. You should always ask for a certificate of
guarantee when you buy gold or jewelry. Look for jewelry shops along
Avenida do Infante D. Henrique and Avenida de Almeida Ribeiro.
Browsing is a real pleasure in Macau’s main streets and
byways, where shops aimed at the tourist market are interspersed with
the more workaday ironmongers, herbalists, and noodle stalls.
Knowledgeable visitors look for antiques — either Chinese heirlooms or
leftovers from the gracious Portuguese colonial days. However, you are
not likely to find bargains, and you should be aware that unless you
are an expert, you can end up with a fake. Also worth investigating are
contemporary handicrafts, both Portuguese and Chinese, from across the
border.
Food and Drink
Gourmets award Macau high marks for dependable Chinese
cooking with an exotic bonus: Portuguese food and wines. Macau’s own
cuisine is a combination of Chinese flavors with the flavors imported
from Portugal, Brazil, and Africa. Whether you choose to dine in one of
the Macanese, Chinese, traditional Portuguese, or international-style
restaurants, you will be treated to a hearty meal at a good price.
The ingredients, especially the fresh fish and seafood,
are first-rate. A delicate, delicious fish is Macau sole (linguado).
Imported dried cod (bacalhao) is the Portuguese national dish; several
varieties are available, usually baked.
Macau has an ample supply of Portuguese wines. Try a vinho
verde, a mildly sparkling young wine from northern Portugal, or a
hearty red Dão or Colares. After dinner, a glass of Madeira or port is
recommended to round off the meal. The more abstemious can stick to
Portuguese mineral water.
Taipa and Coloane
Bridges link Macau with its two islands. Since the
construction of the New Macau-Taipa Bridge has allowed easy access to
the airport, the population has grown to more than 30,000, with
industrial development, new apartment blocks, and luxury resort
hotels.
The quaint Taipa Village, with its narrow lanes and
colonial buildings painted yellow, blue, and green, has almost been
completely swallowed up by the development of nearby housing projects.
The island is also the designated home of the University of East Asia.
Pay a visit to the Casa Museu da Taipa, and you’ll be able to get a
glimpse of how Macanese families lived in former days. A grand colonial
house, fully restored and outfitted with period furnishings, provides
the centerpiece for this expanding “cultural village. ”
Farther away is Coloane, connected to Taipa by a causeway
and a large land reclamation project. Not as developed as Taipa, it
offers the joys of sand and sea and is known for its beaches. Cheoc Van
and Hac Sa (“Black Sands”) are both popular resort areas, with
lifeguards on duty in summer and windsurfing boards for rent. There are
restaurants, swimming pools, and changing facilities. The village of
Coloane is picturesque, with a central square lined with cafés. The
waterfront drive parallels the shore of a Chinese island, and boats
headed to China pass through the narrow waterway. The small Chapel of
St. Francis Xavier is dedicated to the 16th-century patron saint of
missionaries, and has on display the elbow of the saint, along with the
bones of numerous Japanese and Vietnamese martyrs.
Seac Pai Van Park, on the west coast of the island is an
interesting natural preserve with aNatural History Museum.
An Excursion to Guangzhou (Canton)
Guangzhou was China’s major seaport for 2,000 years and
the center for European traders in the 19th century. The city still
maintains its important gateway role. Ever since 1957 the Canton Trade
Fair (officially the Chinese Export Commodities Fair) has attracted
throngs of international business people every spring and autumn.
Guangzhou, with a population of more than 5 million,
straddles the Pearl River — China’s fifth longest — which links the
city to the South China Sea. This waterway accounts for much of the
local charm and excitement, as the daily drama of the ferryboats,
junks, sampans, freighters — and even small tankers and big
gunboats — unfolds right in the center of town. The river also
irrigates the carefully tended surrounding farmlands, creating a
beautifully lush, subtropical scene. Guangdong Province has some of
China’s most fertile land, and grows two crops of rice a year, along
with vegetables of all kinds.
Guangzhou today is mostly about business and industry,
featuring new development, skyscrapers, a whole new business area, and
raised expressways. The scary traffic is a real experience — vehicles
of all kinds jockey for position on crowded streets, missing each other
by inches, and speeding on the freeways is rampant. Guangzhou is
interestingly one of China’s most prosperous cities, determinedly on
the move into the modern world. It seems that the picturesque older
sections with their old houses, narrow streets, and winding alleyways
may not be around much longer.
Arriving in Guangzhou
There are many package tours to Guangzhou from Hong Kong
(see page 113), and this may be the easiest way to visit the city.
However, it’s also easy to get to Guangzhou by train or ferry. Four
comfortable express trains depart the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR)
Station in Hung Hom, Kowloon, making the trip in less than two hours.
Turbo Cat ferries leave the China Hong Kong City (CHKC) terminal twice
a day; the journey takes two hours. Citibus also travels to Guangzhou
from CHKC; there are five round-trips a day, taking 31/2 hours.
You will need a visa to enter China (see page 109 for
information). Hong Kong currency is widely accepted in Guangzhou, or
you can change your currency into RMB (yuan) at any bank or hotel.
Note, however, that the exchange does not go the other way (see page
116).
Guangzhou, like Hong Kong, is primarily
Cantonese-speaking, but many people also speak Mandarin. English is
spoken in hotels and tourist destinations.
If you travel by train, you will arrive at the Guangzhou
East Station, a large modern complex, which connects with the subway,
buses, hotel transfer services, and taxis. The train station is in the
newer business district; nearby is Asia’s third-tallest building, at 83
stories, which will often be pointed out to you.
Sights in Guangzhou
Yuexiu Park, situated near the Trade Fair in the northern
part of the city, is Guangzhou’s largest; it covers a hilly 100
hectares (247 acres). The park is landscaped with lakes and gardens. In
the park is the 1380 Zhenhai Tower, one of the city’s oldest buildings.
Actually a five-story pavilion on a hilltop, it contains a fine
collection of historical exhibits. Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Memorial Hall
honors the founder of the Chinese Revolution, flanked by his heroic
statue in copper. Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925) began his political
career in Canton. This enormous, modern version of a traditional
Chinese building, with sweeping blue tile roofs, contains an auditorium
big enough to seat 4,700 people. It was built in 1931 with
contributions from overseas Chinese. The center of the park is the Five
Rams Statue. It celebrates the founding of Guangzhou, when five spirits
rode their goats down from the celestial realm to present the
inhabitants of the city with their very first grains of rice.
Guangzhou’s most important Buddhist monument is the
1,400-year-old Temple of the Six Banyan Trees (open 8am–5pm). Although
the banyan trees that once flourished here are now no more, the
often-restored complex has remained a focus of local Buddhist
activities. Golden Buddha statues in several of Buddha’s aspects adorn
the temples, and overlooking them is the 17-story Flower Pagoda, a
slender relic of the Song dynasty (a.d. 960–1279).
In the early Middle Ages, Canton had a significant Muslim
population as a result of its trade with the Middle East. This explains
the presence in Guangzhou of the Huaisheng Mosque, reputed to be
China’s oldest, and traditionally dated a.d. 627. Rebuilt in modern
times, the mosque serves the small local community of Muslims. The
modern minaret is known as the “Plain (or Naked) Pagoda,” in contrast
to the Flower Pagoda of the Buddhist temple.
Chen Jia Ci, the Chen Family Institute (open daily
8:30am–5pm), was built in the late 19th century to promote arts and
crafts. An architectural wonder, it is itself a beautiful piece of
craftsmanship with its sculpture and carved stone balustrades.
Porcelain friezes adorn the rooftops and ridgepoles, telling the story
of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Inside is a collection of
ceramics, carvings, and furniture. There is also a market and a
porcelain shop.
A former Confucian temple is presently the home of the
historic National Peasant Movement Institute, where the Chinese
Communist Party trained its leaders in the 1920s. Mao Zedong himself
directed the institute in 1926, and gave lectures on geography, rural
education, and “The Problem of the Chinese Peasantry. ” Zhou Enlai also
taught here.
The atmosphere of 19th-century Canton is best evoked on
Shamian Island, a haunting, nostalgic place in the Pearl River. This
small formerly residential island, beautifully shaded by banyan trees,
was the home of the closed community of the foreign colony in the era
of “concessions. ” The bridges were barred by night with iron gates to
keep the Chinese out. Its stately European-style buildings have since
been restored, largely for use as government offices and foreign
legations. The island also has Guangzhou’s first modern luxury resort
hotel.
A popular optional excursion is an hour’s detour to
Guangzhou Zoo, founded in 1958. It houses more than 200 animal species,
most famous of which is the giant panda, and has an imaginative monkey
mountain behind a moat.
Not to be missed is a visit to Guangzhou’s famous open-air
market, Qing Ping. Guangzhou is famous for its food. The Cantonese love
to eat and have the reputation of eating almost anything that walks on
four legs. The market bears this out: Along with the usual ducks and
chickens, you will see for sale snakes, dogs, bats, and sometimes
monkeys — all are highly prized as delicacies. More pleasantly, you can
browse among lanes of antiques, flowers, herbs, fruit, goldfish,
songbirds, and more.
A Side Trip to Foshan
A very popular day-trip from Guangzhou goes to Foshan, a
city of nearly 300,000 people, renowned for its handicrafts for more
than a thousand years. The individual artisans’ shops are no longer
here, but you can visit a silk-weaving factory, a ceramics plant, and
the Foshan Folk Art Studio, where you can observe workers making
Chinese lanterns, carving sculptures, painting scrolls, and cutting
intricate designs in paper. The Foshan Art Porcelain Factory has
traditional designs, but also some attractive modern pieces.
Foshan’s most outstanding artistic monument is Zu Miao,
the Taoist Ancestral Temple, a Sung dynasty establishment rebuilt in
the 14th century and well worth visiting. Constructed in wood, brick,
stone, ceramic, and bronze, this is a work of extravagant beauty,
uniting many ancient art forms. The complex contains the oldest wooden
stage in China, used by the Wan Fu Tai Chinese opera.
An Excursion to Shenzhen
Shenzhen was China’s first Special Economic Zone.
Literally created out of rural farmland, it was set up in the 1970s as
the answer to Hong Kong. From a population of 20,000 it has grown into
a metropolis of 2.5 million, with tightly clustered skyscrapers and
some of China’s highest grossing industries.
Because Shenzhen is much cheaper than Hong Kong, it is a
popular weekend destination for Hong Kong’s Chinese, who come to relax,
dine in its resorts, and play golf — Shenzhen hosted the World Cup of
Golf in 1995. It is even becoming something of a commuter town — owning
or renting an apartment here costs a fraction of what it would in Hong
Kong.
Shenzhen is easy to reach — the KCR commuter train runs
throughout the day, the trip taking about 40 minutes. Visitors need a
visa to enter China, and must disembark at the border (now called
“boundary”) checkpoint, Lo Wai. City buses also go to Shenzhen. A Turbo
Cat ferry makes a one-hour trip (7am–7pm) from Hong Kong’s Macau Ferry
Terminal to Shekou on the Natau Peninsula, which is part of the
economic zone.
Shenzhen is a premier shopping center, and much cheaper
than Hong Kong. It is known for its inexpensive (but well-made)
knock-off designer goods. You can use your Hong Kong dollars here, so
there’s no need to change currency. Some places take credit cards, but
cash is better for bargaining. Just across the border is the huge Lo Wu
City shopping mall, to which you can walk; other shopping malls are
nearby.
Shenzhen’s main tourist attractions are its enormous theme
parks. One of them — Splendid China — purports to show “all of China in
one day. ” It contains elaborate replicas of China’s chief monuments in
impressive detail, including a scaled-down version of the Great Wall.
The 24 China Folk Culture Villages represent China’s ethnic variety;
they feature craftspeople in traditional costumes along with folksong
and dance performances.
In Shekou is a large Free Market, and an exhibition of
Xian’s terra-cotta warriors.