Guangzhou Hotels

<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> <h2 align="center">Guangzhou Hotels</h2> <p>Find a hotel in Guangzhou. Get the best discounts on <a href="http://www.hotels-travelnow.com/asia/china/">Guangzhou hotels</a> - up to 70% off the regular rate. Make reservations online. China travel information.</p> <p>Guangdong Victory Hotel Guangzhou from $42.05 USD • Rosedale Hotel & Suites Guangzhou from $47.26 USD • Furama Hotel Guangzhou</p> <p>Along the waterfront</p> Guangzhou's most vigorous quarter, and the most interesting for idle strolls, abuts the northern bank of the Pearl River. This, together with adjacent Shamian Island, forms the oldest and most congested part of the city; during the <b>spring flower festival</b> , a southern Chinese tradition originating in Guangzhou, the backstreets here are almost impassable, crammed to capacity with crowds buying blooms of every colour and shape for good luck in the coming year. To get into the area, take bus #5 from the train station square to <b>Yanjiang Lu</b> , the waterfront's main boulevard; the closest metro station is Huang Sha, at the junction of Huangsha Lu and Liuersan Lu, just west of Shamian Island. <p>Walking west down Yanjiang Lu from the bottom of Renmin Lu towards Shamian Island, you pass the old <b>Customs House</b> and a tight grouping of colonial buildings - worth observing from a distance for their unlikely roof gardens - and bear right under the complicated overpass associated with Renmin Bridge to <b>Liuersan Lu</b> . Recently widened to relieve chronic traffic congestion, "Liuersan" means "6, 23", referring to June 23, 1925, when fifty people were shot by colonial troops during a demonstration demanding, among other things, the return of Shamian Island to Chinese control. East along Liuersan you'll come to the southern entrance of the <b>Cultural Park</b> (daily 6am-late; ¥2), where gangs of children queue for their turn on arcade games and fairground rides, and theatre and sound stages host weekend performances of anything from local rock to opera. Alternatively, continue west and you'll find yourself at the mouth of Qingping Lu, gateway to the infamous <b>Qingping Market</b> . This is huge, extending far into the backstreets here, each intersecting east-west road forming a natural dividing line for the sale of different goods - dried medicines and herbs, fresh vegetables, livestock, bird and fish stalls. One of China's most exotically exciting markets, it can be a taxing one, too, if you're at all squeamish, as the Cantonese demand for fresh ingredients is met by slaughtering chickens - or fish, deer, turtles, owls, cats and dogs - on the spot. Just as interesting, north of here along Dishifu Lu and Xiajiu Lu (both of which are restored 1920-style streets) you'll find the <b>Yuexiu District</b> , Guangzhou's first commercial quarter opened under the Free Market Policy of 1978, and renovated for "Twenty Years" celebrations in 1998 - a lively collection of narrow back lanes, shopping complexes, small family busineses, restaurants and evening alfresco stalls.</p> <p>Baiyun Shan</p> <p>Just 7km north of downtown, Baiyun Shan (White Cloud Mountain) is close enough to central Guangzhou to reach by city bus, but open enough to leave all the city's noise and bustle behind. Once covered with numerous monasteries, Baiyun's heavily reforested slopes now offer lush panoramas out over Guangzhou and the delta region. A park (¥15) encloses almost thirty square kilometres, and it's a good three-hour walk from the entrance off Luhu Lu to Moxing Ling (Star-touching Summit), past strategically placed tea houses and pavilions offering views and refreshments. There's also a cable car (¥20) from the entrance as far as the Cheng Precipice , a ledge roughly halfway to the top which earned its name when the Qin-dynasty minister Cheng Ki was ordered here by his emperor to find a herb of immortality. Having found the plant, Cheng nibbled a leaf only to see the remainder vanish; full of remorse, he flung himself off the mountain but was caught by a stork and taken to heaven. Sunset views from the precipice are spectacular. Baiyun Shan's entrance is a thirty-minute ride on bus #24 from the south side of Renmin Park, immediately northeast of the Jiefang Lu-Zhongshan Lu crossroads.</p> <p> Downtown Guangzhou</p> <p>The Jiefang Lu-Zhongshan Lu crossroads form the crux of downtown Guangzhou's mix of old and new roads, alleys and buildings, the hyperactive heart of the city's small businesses. There are few obviously quiet corners, and everything is rather grubby, too, though here and there you'll see newly painted facades, with litter kept down by an army of streetsweepers. The numerous sights revolve around some excellent temples and fairly dry historic monuments , mostly concentrated between Jiefang Lu and Renmin Lu, with the rest scattered farther east or west. Buses aside, most sights are within a few minutes' walk of metro .</p> <p> Eastern suburbs</p> <p>Hemmed in on all other flanks by rivers and hills, Guangzhou inevitably expands east to accommodate its ever-growing population. Shadowed by highrises and cut by expressways, Huanshi Lu and Dongfeng Lu comprise the city's most modern, fastest-growing area, mostly the domain of corporate headquarters. The architecture is outwardly impressive, but under the surface all is not well here; on Huanshi Lu, the towering GITIC Plaza is a monument to China's first corporate bankruptcy . The investment arm of the Guangdong Provincial Government, GITIC (Guangdong International Trust and Investment Corporation) was closed by the Bank of China after defaulting on an interest payment in late 1998, leaving debts estimated at 2.5 billion US dollars. Illicit loans, bribery, overborrowing and simply bad investments were all fingered for contributing to GITIC's collapse, and, with a stable Chinese economy vital to long-term financial security in Southeast Asia, the Chinese government is now desperately investigating the country's numerous other ITICs.</p> <p>Leaving all this behind, Huanghua Gang Park (daily 8am-5pm; ¥2), northeast off Huanshi Dong Lu along Xianlie Lu, holds reminders of Sun Yatsen's abortive Canton Uprising against the Qing government in April 1911. The empire was already crumbling, and this failed coup was one of many enacted across the country in the months before events in Sichuan and Hubei finally demolished the dynasty. In 1918 a Mausoleum to the 72 Martyrs killed in Guangzhou was built at Huanghua Gang, a very peculiar monument designed to reflect the nationalities of numerous donors who had contributed to its construction - Buddhist iconography rubbing shoulders with a Statue of Liberty and Egyptian obelisk. Of more general appeal is Guangzhou Zoo , about a kilometre farther out along Xianlie Lu (9am-4pm; ¥10; take bus #6 from Dongfeng Lu, one block east of the Sun Yatsen Memorial Hall). This is the third largest in the country, with the animals kept in relatively decent conditions - though far below what you'll probably consider pleasant. Among the rarities are clouded leopards, several species of wildfowl and, of course, pandas.</p> <p>Surrounding the train station 2km due east of the zoo, Tianhe is, in some ways, a monument to the bureaucratic urban planning which includes people as an afterthought - you'll most likely find yourself out this way en route to the East train station . A designed, rather than evolved, area of vast spaces of concrete paving, broad roads and glassy towers where pedestrians are reduced to specks - the total antithesis of Honan - the showpiece here is a huge sports stadium built for the 1987 National Games (Xiuyu Zhong Xiao metro). Tianhe's eastern side is slightly more liveable, featuring residential blocks home to expat families, and a few bars and restaurants catering to them.</p> <p> The Islamic Cemetery and Orchid Garden</p> <p>Cut by a modern urban backdrop of expressways, hotels and office towers, the area surrounding Guangzhou train station above Dongfeng Lu has the best of the city's parks and museums - something for both fine and wet weather. Most of the attractions here are in the vicinity of Jiefang Lu or Renmin Lu, which are covered along their lengths by buses #5 and #31 respectively.</p> <p>Despite the frenetic atmosphere outside the train station, there are two oases of peace and quiet in the immediate vicinity. East of the station and on the south side of Huanshi Lu, look for a bus compound whose gateposts sport little green minarets and Arabic script; walk through to the lane behind, and you're among the bamboo stands of Guangzhou's Islamic Cemetery . The cylindrical stone graves are all aligned roughly northwest towards Mecca, and on the right is a walled courtyard built around the tomb of Abu Waqas , a seventh-century missionary who brought Islam to China. The details are a little sketchy, however, as Abu Waqas supposedly died around 629, three years before Mohammed, and the Quran wasn't collated for another generation afterwards. The courtyard's wooden gates are usually locked, but you can peer through at the brightly coloured atrium within, a nice blend of Islamic and Chinese design.</p> <p>For pure pleasure, however, it's hard to beat Guangzhou's delightful Orchid Garden , just next door (daily 8am-5pm; ¥8, entry includes tea in the central pavilion). Though fairly small, there are far more than just orchids here, including ponds surrounded by tropical ferns and lilies, winding stone paths, palms and giant figs with drooping aerial roots and pink-flowering azaleas. Apart from the filtered traffic noise, it's hard to believe that the city lies just outside.</p> <p>Pearl River and Ershadao</p> <p>Shamian Island</p> <p>Honan</p> </body>