WorldToChina

      Recently, Japenese people are celebrating a festival about navel. They paint on their belly various patterns in different colors and go into the streets, singing and dancing.

     This is actually a news I read from the reuters. It is reported that this festival is not traditional. Instead, it is a kind of celebration that should be rooted back to a conventional behavior of a political party. Now it has been developed into a widely accepted festival in Japanese society.

       On this festival, people would paint their navel into big mouths and their belly into different faces so as to attract attention. It is welcome to all ages.

      Being worn up by my trip to Guangdong province, I put an early end to my journey. That is to say I gave up my stay at Shanghai and Qingdao, and come back to Xi’an one month at advance.

      At the beginning of my journey I thought I was going to travel feverishly and would never want to even think about going back to this ancient city where I am attending university. However, as my trip went on, it seemed my energy was so limited that I could hardly afford my curiosity. Everyday I filled my aganda with scenic spots and shopping centers. That really makes me exceedingly physical strength overdrawn.

      Though now I have no choice but to come back to stay on this remote campus, I do not feel that impatience I had when I was taking the final exams. Maybe this is due to my lack of strength to hate anything.

      The New Yuan Ming Palace in Zhu Hai, is a park of impressive space, including a vast lake. From its name only you can judge that it is a partial reconstruction of the Old Summer Palace in Beijing, which was unfortunately destroyed by foreign troops during the second Opium War, and would never be rebuilt on its original site.

      The Palace is located at foot of Big Shilin Mountain of Jiuzhou Road. Surrounded by mountains on three sides and south side left open, it occupies an area of 1.39 square kilometers, which is intended to be in the same size of the unburned Yuanming Palace in Beijing. It reproduced numerous scenic spots in their old constructing style. Some are combined with the features of modern tourist scenery.

      It provides important base for Chinese patriotism education as well as a scenery of enchanting beauty to Zhu Hai.

      I am not going to talk about the language spoken by people here in Guangdong. I am going right straight to talk about those who are born and living here in this district of China.

      First impression of Cantonese people is there gentle and patient characteristic. They are friendly and helpful when you turn to them for help such as asking ways. They are soft and gentle when you are bargain with the sales girl for a beautiful cloth. It seems they are much more easy-going than those in Xiao Zhai (Xi’an), because they are more likely to be angered when you offer a low price for their commodities. But the beauties here would not.

      Another special thing about Cantonese people is their addiction to their own dialect. They would most likely to use Cantonese in their daily life. When they are talking to non-Canton people they are using Madarin clumsily. That makes them sound cute.

      One more impression about them is their popular belief in superstition. They would always avoid the number FOUR. Even those modern grand hotels are non-exceptional. No botton for fourth floor would be found on the switchboard of elevators. It would never be any surprise for them to set up shrines to worship divinities at their doors or beside the stairs.

      Interesing Cantonese people. Cute dialect. And nostalgic behaviors.

      An attractive and clean enviroment plus the advanced deepport condition provide Zhu Hai with admirable advantages. It owns a long coastal line and is the only city on the western Pearl River Delta with natural deepwater ports. These endowed Zhu Hai with rapid ecnomic development.

      Besides highrise blocks, Zhu Hai has splendid natural landscapes that makes it as a garden city and model city of best living enviroment.

      The Sculpture of Zhu Hai Fisher Girl is one of this city’s symbolic sceneries. It is 8.7 meters in hight and 10 tons in weight. Designed and built according to a beautiful local folklore, the Sculpture  is entitled the “Top Ten Tourist Attractions of Zhu Hai”.

      The folklore is told like this: A beautiful fairy maiden fell in love with a young fisherman. He believed some fabricated rumors and asked the girl for the bracelet she wore as proof of her love. Although she knew she would die if the bracelet were removed from her body, she still took it off and presented it to show her deep love for him. The girl died shortly after and the fisherman was bitterly remorseful, crying all day and all night. An immotal named Jiuzhou Elder was moved by their love and helped the young man resusitate the girl. They offered this huge precious pearl which is held in the girl’s hands to their benefactor during their marriage ceremony as a token of their appreciation for his kindness.

      I took the inter-town coach yesterday to get to Zhu Hai city. This is an amazingly attractive and comfortable city. I love it very much AND is planning to come here to work and live in the near future.

      The topography is generally composed of plat grounds, mixed with scattering small hills. People in Zhu Hai are so clever that they make full use of this city’s terrain by building detached villas on those small hills so as to achieve a good view of the sea or nearby city sceneries. In this case, they turn the short comings of those hills which are supposed to be road blocks into advantages in the exploiration of real estate.

       Compared with Guangzhou, ZhuHai is much more favorable to me. It is no less developed than its provincial capital city. What more important is that the living condition in Zhu Hai defeat that in Guangzhou by a large margin: the air is fresher, roads cleaner and circulation of  traffic freer. All of thses elements are allowing citizens in Zhu Hai to live in an unhurried manner, which is the most appreciatable point of this city.

See the night view of Zhu Hai? It’s gorgeous!

      I’ve stayed in Guangzhou for around one week. Snacks here are rather impressive and unique. Here are some recommendations resulting from my personal experience.

      Seafood would come first when we are discussing Cantonese delicacies. Oysters, shrimps and inkfish are widely welcomed by local people. They would consume a lot of those kinds of seafood everyday. If you are a seafood lover too, you should never miss Guangdong.

      Second comes its herb tea. Guiling Jelly is the most famous one. Beside there are some others like White Gourd Tea and Fructus Momordicae Tea and so on.

       Milk Custard is also very delicious.

      This is the first local snack I had tasted after arrival. It’s call mock turtle soup. Both local and visitors seemed like it very much. This chewy bowl of beaf offel smells and tastes well.

      Following is Guangdong Won Ton stuffed with shrimp meat. It is very light and delicate in taste and is good to health.

      Lastly, you should never miss the gruels in Cantonese snacks. This is one of the must-taste-it. It is called Tingzai Gruel. Refreshing and special.

      It is known as a famous commercial city in ancient Guangzhou for its developed economy and commercial tradition of long standing. In Shangxiajiu Street the atmosphere is full of  traditional business charm of fascinating folk customs of Xiguan.

      It would never be any exaggeration to say that Xiguan Shangxiajiu Street and Dishifu Road is a shopping heaven in Guanzhou, because the goods selling there are comparitively cheaper than other places and are no less fashionable and  ecnomical. In this case, I spent a whole day there with my best friend shopping and tasting delicious snacks. Right! Aside from the clothing shops there is a street of delicacy which sells snacks from many different regions in China. Of course the most attractive ones are those selling seafood. We tried the oyster, shrimp, fish ball and moch turtle soup, ect. I like the herb tea very much. They are not only taste great but also good to health.

     Another strong feeling of yesterday’s shopping is that it is always best to have a friend with you when you are doing shopping. Therefore, no matter how long the pedestrian street is, you won’t feel worn out, because the Shangxiajiu Pedestrian Street is rather long and contentful.

(bronze in the street   There are plenty of them)

(old buildings in Xiguan Shangxiajiu Street)

      Today witnessed a bright sunny day and a sudden shower in the afternoon. The weather is not only changeable but also frustrating. But my visit to the Sun Yat-sen University is quite exciting.

      I arrived the university by metro right at noon. It should be schorching walking outdoor at that time. However, walking on  the campus of Sun Yat-sen university is not at all terrible. Once enter the school, you are exposed to prosperously growing grass and flowers in lawn and tall trees on the both sides of the roads. Buildings there are constructed tens of years ago, with red bricks and black rooves. Lakes on the campus are as green as a perfect jade, it seems as if there are abundant plants growing underneath the lake surface.

      People walking, sitting or resting there are talking and  moving softly. Maybe it is because they are influenced by the entire enviroment of this school, or it is the peace and comfort of this campus made them keep the tranquil atmosphere automatically.

      It is a shopping center, a gathering district of malls and a prosperous pedestrian street. In this business center you would see heavy traffic flows and relaxing shoppers paching both sides of the road. In the evening array of neon lights would dazzle your eyes.

      Beijing Road is one of the major commercial streets in Guangzhou. There are two super shopping malls in the street. One is Guangzhou Department Store located on the south side of the street. The other is the Xin Da Xin Department Store on the north.

      All along the street, there crouches chain stores side by side. Most of them are fashion shops. They are selling the most up-to-date clothing and would offer their clients with surprising discounts. In the street, you could also find leather products, snack bars and jewery shops. Differently priced products make it easy to find a bargain. I bought to clothes yesterday with I accidently ran into a special sale.

      There are also some flea markets nearby, whick attracks numerous visitors with their small trinkets. Here you could find plenty of shirts, toys and some useful tools that are uniquely sold only in that place. More importantly, those small trinkets are very cheap. Visitors like me are enjoying shopping there and would feel free to wander around because buses are available even in the midnight.