General Information:

Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), a capital city, is the largest and most prosperous trading city in southern China. It is situated in the south of China, with the Baiyun Hill in the north and the Zhujiang (Pearl River) Delta Plain in front. The city is 125km northwest of Hong Kong on the Pearl River. The personality of Guangzhou differs significantly from that of northern China. While one can stand in the middle of Tian'anmen Square in Beijing and feel the backbone of Chinese authority, one can easily stand on any street in Guangzhou and feel the lack of order inherent in the traffic and commotion!  The spoken language of Guangzhou - Cantonese - is incomprehensible to northern Chinese, who typically speak Mandarin. A word in Cantonese has nine tones instead of the four tones in the Mandarin dialect. (The area around Guangzhou was overcrowded even 200 years ago, and many peasants from the region emigrated to Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe; as a result, Cantonese is the most common dialect among early overseas Chinese.) 

History:

With a history of 2,200 years, regarded as the the earilest among the international trade port cities in the world; built as Chuting by the Chu people on the middle reaches of the Yangtse River in the 9th Century BC; established as Nanhai Prefecture in the Qin dynasty and became Nanyue Kingdom in the Western Han dynasty; the starting point of the Silk Road on the sea which links China with the Arabian and western countries in trading; the China's only foreign trade port at sea before the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911 AD).

Travel:

By Rail:  Guangzhou railroad station is the largest and busy one in the southeast part of China. There are over 100 trains leaving from guangzhou everyday. Daily passenger volume could be well over one hundred thousand people. Guangzhou Railroad Station connects with all the big and middle sized city in China. The express railroad between Guangzhou and Hong Kong has brought the economic prosperity in these areas. Everyday there are 23 Ultra High Speed trains leaving Guangzhou for Shenzhen bordering Hong Kong (92 miles for 1 hour), and 8 Direct UHST arriving Guangzhou from Kowloon in Hong Kong (111 miles for 2 hours). By Road:  The highway network has been well developed around Guangzhou. The highways from Guangzhou to Zhuhai and to Shenzhen have brought great opportunity to the boom in Zhujiang Tri-angle Delta, Hong Kong and Macau. Easy ride from Guangzhou could reach Zhanjiang (300 miles), Shantou (295 miles), Guilin (452 miles), Shenzhen (92 miles), Zhongshan (188 miles), Taishan (183 miles), etc. Cross-country highway between Guangzhou and Beijing is under construction, which will be the highway artery of China. By Air:  Next to the Beijing International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, Guangzhou Baiyun Airport is the third largest airport in China. Guangzhou, now the largest civil aviation center in south China, was also the first city in China to open international airlines. Everyday there are over 100 flights flying to and from most of the cities in China. It also operates the international airlines flying to and from Hong Kong, Thailand, Philippine, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Amman, New Zealand, Australia, USA and Holland. Guangzhou Baiyun Airport is the busiest airport in China with the efficiency of one minute one landing during the high season. In 1996, Guangzhou became the first airport in China to put into operation Boeing 777 flying Guangzhou-Beijing-Shanghai-Guangzhou. Another new and more advanced airport is under construction with total investment around 3.2 billion US dollar (25 billion yuan), and it will be put into use in 2003. By Subway:  Guangzhou's subway is based on the cross-design subway network and was designed to service the planned three-sector city. The #1 line runs east-west, starting in the east with the Guangzhou Steel Station and heading west to the East Guangzhou Train Station, a total of 18.48km and 16 stations. The #2 line runs north-south, starting in the north with New City Shima and traveling south to Chigang in the Haizhu District, a total of 26km with 22 stations. The #3 line starts in the north at the Tianhe Athletic Center and continuing south to Xinzhou in the Haizhu District, a total distance of 13kms with 9 stations. The three subway lines form a ring, and the downtown are to be within the reach of the subway.

Attractions: ( = voted as the highly recommended attractions to visit)

Tours:

Guangzhou City Tour	Full Day Tour	Meet at hotel by guide at 08:30. You will be visiting Orchid Garden and Chen's Family Museum. The second stop will be History Museum of Guangzhou and the Sun-yat Sen Memorial Hall. Lunch will be at a local restaurant. After lunch, you will visit Six Banyan Buddhist Temple, with its famous pagoda. See Notes
Foshan Day Tour	Full Day Tour	Day tour today will start at 09:00. It takes about one hour from your hotel to get to Foshan, which is located 12 miles (20km) south-west of Guangzhou, a town renowned for its unique arts and crafts. You will be led either to visit a paper-cutting factory or paper-lantern factory observing the artists and craftsman concentrating on their masterpieces. After lunch, visit will be made to the magnificent ZuMaMiao (Temple of the Ancestors) decorated with a myriad of fine sculptures, ornamented roofs and scenic reliefs. See Notes