A couple of weekends ago a group of us went by train to the city of Guangzhou. It’s about an hour train ride north of Shenzhen and is the capital of Guangdong Province, which both Shenzhen and Guangzhou are part of. Guangzhou is also known as Canton. It’s the largest city in Guangdong Province and is located on the Pearl River. It’s the 3rd largest city in China and China’s largest southern city. It has like 14 million people or something. Half the people speak Cantonese and the other half Mandarin. Like Shenzhen, Guangzhou has a subway system that I thought was more crowded and harder to navigate than Shenzhen’s.
We left on a Friday night and came back Saturday night. A couple of us stayed at a hostel which is the first time I stayed in a hostel I think. It was pretty cheap. There were two bedrooms I think and the room I stayed in had 4 bunk beds, so the room can sleep 8 people. We really just ate dinner and hung out Friday night and did most of our sightseeing all day Saturday.
Our first stop was Qingping Market which is a famous shopping area. It’s the largest street market in Guangzhou and has over 2,000 stalls or something. I read over 60,000 people shop there every day. It’s very crowded and you can find a lot of stuff. It’s probably best known for being able to buy pretty much whatever animal you want to eat, though I have been told this has been curbed back due to food illnesses of late like SARS. You can find jade and antique stalls. The alleys also contain herbalists, spice sellers, and fruit/vegetable stalls. As I mentioned, there is a meat market where you can buy dogs, cats, and other endangered species though I didn’t get a good look at that as I was probably intentionally avoiding that. Also, due to the SARS scare, I read that the dogs, cats, and other endangered caged animals are hidden from public view. You just gotta know the right people to find them, but they’re there. You can also find jewelry, Mao stuff, and other collectibles. Qingping is a little frustrating as there are no signs and it’s really hard to know where the market starts/stops. But Qingping market was cool. It was pretty neat walking the back alleyways. Saw lots of slaughtered fish, small animals, and lots and lots of bugs/insects to eat. I did not buy anything. There was nothing there that interested me. But it was fun. We spend like 45 minutes walking around.
AH CANTON! I REMEMBER LEARNING OF CANTON IN SCHOOL. THE PEARL RIVER. WONDER IF THERE ARE OYSTERS IN THE PEARL RIVER. THE MARKET PLACE WHILE BEING INTERESTING IS UNSANITARY. EGGS WITH NO REFRIG. MEAT SO CLOSE TO THE GROUND ON A PLATFORM WITH NO REFRIG. UNLESS A PIPE COMES FROM UNDERNEATH TO COOL IT. NICE CAT BY THE DRY GOODS. I KNOW THEY USE BUGS FOR MEDICINAL PROPERTIES, IT IS IN MY NEW CHINESE COOK BOOK. THE SPACE TO MOVE IS SO NARROW! HOLY SMOKES. THE LANGUAGE BARRIET. MANDARIN AND CANTONESE SPEAKERS CANNOT COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER RIGHT? I WOULD THINK IN SUCH A BIG CITY AS CANTON WHICH I LIKE BETTER THAN THE MODERN NAME THERE WOULD BE MORE ENGLISH SPEAKING PEOPLE.SARS IS SO DEADLY..IT WAS THE CAUSE OF THE 1918 INFLUENZA OUTBREAK ALTHOUGH THEY DID NOT KNOW WHAT THE SPECIFIC ORGANISM WAS AT THE TIME AND ALL BIG TEACHING HOSPITALS HERE AND EUROPE WERE RACING TO ISOLATE THE ORGANISM. GRANDMA LOST HER BRO IN THAT EPIDEMIC AND NEARLY HER MOM. WHAT A HARROWING BOOK. SARS IS VERY VERY SCARY.................
ReplyDeleteThis is Duke. Greg, how many provinces are there in China?
ReplyDeleteThere are 26 provinces if u include Taiwan, which China does.
ReplyDeleteNo refrigeration.
For the most part, Mandarin & Cantonese cannot speak intelligently with each other. Two separate languages.
Nice kitty in the picture!
ReplyDelete