Canton has can-do: Vibrant culture and shopping found in today's Guangzhou
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Redtory adds new colour to Guangzhou's culture. Photo: Chen Jieying |
No shortage for shoppers
The well-worn phrase "shop till you drop" was made for Guangzhou, perhaps explaining why so many tasty eateries can be found on and around the busy high streets. The problem is knowing how to shop clever. Guangzhou caters to every taste, from high-end designer gear to cheerful tat. Best of all, even for the non-shopper, there is much to enjoy in the city's markets, malls and streets.
Take Yide Lu as a classic example. Situated close to the Pearl River and Haizhu Square, it is a great place to browse, bargain and finally buy, whatever age you are. The beauty of Yide Lu is that One Link is just one of the shopping options, with even seemingly basic frontages masking huge shopping spaces in behind. This is a place where fortune favours the brave. Just dive in and enjoy the vast array of toys, tricks, decorations, scarves and heaven-knows-what else on offer at any particular time.
Nearby, there are a couple of interesting places to seek sanctuary, notably the impressive Stone Church on Yide Lu itself. For those needing a different sort of spiritual revival, opt for the beer garden of the 1920 bar beside the Pearl River, where weary shoppers can be found in the early evening surrounded by huge plastic bags full of their many purchases, sipping on a hard-earned happy hour cocktail.
If Yide Lu is tat-tastic, Kangwang Lu is the place for antiques, pearls and jade. The old face of this part of Liwan District has been changed, although thankfully not completely, with large shopping malls replacing simple street stalls in recent years.
Liwan Plaza itself is a remarkable shopping outlet with floor upon floor selling pearls. Across the road, there is a similarly bewildering array of stalls selling jade. Whichever jewel you are interested in buying, it is advisable to have some knowledge about how to identify the quality of the goods on offer because, unsurprisingly, everyone seems to promise theirs are the very best – but bargains are available if you have the patience and the know-how to find them.
Old Guangzhou characteristics are clearly visible in the narrow passages that snake around the jade market and it is never a hardship to pass a couple of hours just following your nose and seeing what is on offer. The hassle so prevalent in many parts of Asian markets, and elsewhere around the world, is joyfully absent, as are the tour buses found in similar parts of Shanghai, Beijing and Xi'an.
Find the square with the antique stalls and there is one of Guangzhou's hidden treasures. The Tibetan shopfront is small and simple, often featuring a rug and a glass jewelry case. But the real pleasure comes when being taken around the corner, through a door, up the stairs and into an Aladdin's Cave full of wonderful furniture, rugs, prints and ornaments. The friendly owners are more than happy to let you browse at your leisure and there is never any hard sell.
Teem Mall and China Plaza are just two of many offering a massive variety of stores, but the adventurous shopper need not restrict themselves to inside the malls. Both are surrounded by interesting alternatives to part with your hard earned cash.
Throw in the Haiyin cloth market, where you can get clothes made-to-measure, the chaotic but entertaining sprawl around the old train station, the huge leather wholesale markets on Jiefang Beilu, and the ever-popular Beijing Lu, and the options really are limitless.
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