We had our breakfast at Taste restaurant in the hotel. Although the spread was good, the taste was substandard and I only enjoyed the 油条 and fruit juices. Even the water there tasted terrible! We vowed not to return for breakfast the next day hoping that we could get tastier food at the nearby eateries just outside the hotel (we were not disappointed the next day).
We walked past 天河广场 on the way to 林和西 subway station. It was just a beautiful park in the middle of the city with the stadium in the background. Nearby was Ikea furniture shop, another evidence of China’s active participation in a globalised market.
There were also slogans to promote a civilised society for the upcoming Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games.
We headed off to the Museum of the Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum of the Nanyue King (西汉南越王博物馆). This is the oldest and largest Han tomb south of the Nanling Mountains. The museum covers 14,000 square meters and has ten exhibition halls. The memorial belonged to Zhao Mei (趙眜) of Nanyue State of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-24 A.D.) His tomb is made up of 750 huge stones and colourful murals. With over 1000 pieces of cultural relics, this mausoleum has one of the largest collections of funerary objects in Southern China. Many different cultural influences can be seen at this collection, such as the central Chinese culture, Chu culture and even the foreign influence when the ancient Marine Silk Road was still in use.
It was a historical eye-opener for all of us. It was the period of time even before Jesus Christ, when the world was not really well-developed. The Chinese of that time were well ahead of their western counterparts, who were still living a very primitive lifestyle.
China with a rich history of over 5,000 years is really a place of contrasts and change. There is truth in the phrase, “中华民族，历史悠久”. In 5,000 years, the development this country has made is just stunning, not forgetting the fact that she had only started to open herself up to the world in recent years, since it had been a communist country under Chairman Mao Zhe Dong (毛泽东).
The museum was built on the tomb of the Nanyue King Zhao Mei and was opened only in 1988 when archaeologists discovered his tomb at that particular site.
The Kingdom of Southern Yue was established about 2,000 years ago in the area where southern China's Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region meet. It lasted for 93 years, and had five kings. Zhao Tuo, a general of the Qin Dynasty, unified the Lingnan area during the reign of China's first Emperor, Qin Shihuang. In 204 B.C., the Kingdom of Southern Yue was established, and Zhao Tuo made himself King Wu of that kingdom, choosing Guangzhou as his capital. In 111 B.C., the small kingdom was destroyed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Three out of the five rulers built tombs for themselves, but nobody knew where they were located before the discovery of the Guangzhou tomb. During the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280), Sun Quan (孙权), the ruler of the State of Wu, heard that there were many treasures in the tombs, so he ordered his troops to search all the mountain slopes in the area of the extinguished kingdom. They found nothing, and the whereabouts of the tombs remained a mystery.
On the tomb's 12-meter-high outside walls are carved designs of a man, the Sun and Moon gods, with a gigantic serpent beneath their feet, a symbol indicating that they are capable of dispelling evil spirits. The tomb has been turned into a museum, illustrating the history of the kingdom.
We visited the exhibition hall which had been constructed in front of the tomb, consisting of several rooms, spread over three floors. The tomb was built on a slope on Xianggang Ridge. The layout is modelled on a palace of that time, consisting of four chambers and two halls.
We passed through a huge stone gate before entering the coffin chamber. A jade suit sewn with silken threads worn by the tomb's owner, decorated with gold, silver and jade objects around the hem, was found intact when the tomb was opened. Also found in the tomb were nine seals, one being made of gold with a knob in the shape of a coiled dragon. This gold seal enabled archaeologists to identify the tomb as that of the second ruler Zhao Mei.
The jade suit is particularly valuable because it is the oldest of its kind found so far. I find it amazing that the suit consists of more than 1,000 pieces of jade, each having holes in all four corners. The silk fabrics have decayed long ago. In addition, ten iron swords were found, each inlaid with gold and jade. The biggest is 1.46 m long, making it the longest iron sword dating from the time of the Han Dynasty (206B.C.-A.D.220).
Numerous valuable burial objects were discovered in the side chambers. They include ivory, gold, silver, bronze, iron, pottery, glass, bamboo, jade and lacquer wares, demonstrating that workmanship in Guangdong had already reached high artistic levels 2,000 years ago. In addition, they also show that the Southern Yue Kingdom and the Central Plains had close ties.
Most of the objects on display were made of either stone or jade. Even the pillows were made of stone and there was an exhibition hall dedicated to pillows as they were of a wide variety. I wonder how their necks could be comfortable sleeping on stone pillows! There was another one dedicated to jade pieces and the God they believed in.
He was buried together with four concubines and 15 other soldiers and a cook. The remains of some domestic animals were also found inside. As for the emperor himself, his body was decomposed except for his teeth and fragments of his skull.
We then proceeded to the nearby 越秀公园 to have a look at the Rams statue. The Five-Ram Sculpture is one of the most famous structures in Guangzhou. It has become the emblem of Guangzhou City. Legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago, Guangzhou was a barren land with people who despite hard work were suffering from famine. One day five immortals in five-color garments came riding on five rams, playing their legendary music. The rams held sheaves of rice in their mouths. The immortals left the sheaves of rice for the Guangzhou people, gave blessings to the city and left. The rams turned into stone and the city of Guangzhou became a rich and populous place. Guangzhou got the name of the City of Rams.
We went to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall (孙中山纪念馆) next. Sun Yat-sen was born on November 12, 1866 at Cuiheng Village of Guangdong province. He was the forerunner of China’s revolution against the Qing government. In August 1905, he formulated the Three Principles of the People - nationalism, democracy, and social well-being. He believed they were the guidelines for building a modern China, and he contributed his whole life into developing this great task.
Sun Yat-Sen (12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Republican China, Sun is frequently referred to as the Father of the Nation. There are memorial halls in Guangzhou, Taipei and Singapore. His final resting place is the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum in Nanjing.
The phrase “天下为公”on the top of the building means to bring justice all over the earth, which also reflected Dr Sun Yat-Sen’s aim and desire.
We then proceeded to the “Orchard Road” of Guangzhou -- Beijing Street (北京路) near the 公园前 subway station. This was the place to buy many authentic replicas, the specialty of the Mainland Chinese. They look genuine and they can be bought at inexpensive prices.
We walked past many shops selling trendy women and men fashion, children clothing, sports goods, as well as shoes and purses. (We had seen enough shoes at 海珠广场 .) There are also some book stores and departmental stores just off the street. The alleys are full of small stalls and shops (also quite crowded). That’s where the best buys are.
Teeming with large and medium sized shopping centres such as Xindaxin (新大新) and Grandbuy (广百), Beijing Street is also home to several 'themed' bookstores that run the gamut from dictionaries to music to children's books. Sanduoxuan (三多轩) and Jiya-zhai Studios (集雅斋) feature traditional Chinese stationery, paintings and calligraphy.
We bought 3 pairs of jeans for RMB 470 (SGD 94.80). That was considered expensive by China’s standard but the deals there were still a lot better than that in Singapore. The jeans were indeed fitting and comfortable to wear and I’m quite convinced that it is an authentic product. They even did alteration free of charge within 20 minutes. We would never be able to get such a service in Singapore.
We went for lunch at a restaurant called 幸运楼国际宴合.We had to wait for a long time as the restaurant was full. They had a number system so the queue went quite fast. However, due to the huge demand for seats, we still had to wait for 30 minutes.
On the lunch table were crab noodles, porridge, pig intestines, Dim Sum dishes like dumplings and chee cheong fun, as well as many other Cantonese delicacies. The final price of RMB 193.50 (SGD 39.07) was still acceptable, given how much we ate.
Daddy then returned to the hotel for his conference on the Hot Topics in Medicine, the section on hypertension and diabetes, while we continued to shop in Beijing Street. I bought another two football jerseys, one Manchester United and one FC Barcelona, for RMB 120 (SGD 24) each. For the type of quality the jerseys had to offer, I couldn’t help laughing within me, satisfied with the good deal.
We then returned to 海珠广场 for more shopping. Grace bought her toy rabbit while we bought a cartoon 佛菩萨 display item for Ah Ma. We even managed to buy Croc shoes going at extremely cheap prices as compared to Singapore. A pair that costs RMB 130 (SGD 26) there costs SGD 130 back in Singapore. A pair that I bought for over a hundred dollars here was on sale at only RMB 150 (SGD 30) to my dismay. If only I had waited till now to buy that pair, I would have saved almost SGD 80.
We then headed back to Beijing Street to go to one of the bookshops there. Grace went on to read her Chinese books while I enjoyed reading the Communist Manifesto in English.
We had noodle soup for dinner and it tasted quite good. It was in one of the fast-food restaurants there.
By the time we reached the hotel, it was already 10pm, but Daddy was not back yet. He had gone to 粥城 for porridge supper despite having had a buffet dinner aboard a cruise on the Pearl River (珠江).
We walked past 天河广场 on the way to 林和西 subway station. It was just a beautiful park in the middle of the city with the stadium in the background. Nearby was Ikea furniture shop, another evidence of China’s active participation in a globalised market.
There were also slogans to promote a civilised society for the upcoming Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games.
We headed off to the Museum of the Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum of the Nanyue King (西汉南越王博物馆). This is the oldest and largest Han tomb south of the Nanling Mountains. The museum covers 14,000 square meters and has ten exhibition halls. The memorial belonged to Zhao Mei (趙眜) of Nanyue State of the Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-24 A.D.) His tomb is made up of 750 huge stones and colourful murals. With over 1000 pieces of cultural relics, this mausoleum has one of the largest collections of funerary objects in Southern China. Many different cultural influences can be seen at this collection, such as the central Chinese culture, Chu culture and even the foreign influence when the ancient Marine Silk Road was still in use.
It was a historical eye-opener for all of us. It was the period of time even before Jesus Christ, when the world was not really well-developed. The Chinese of that time were well ahead of their western counterparts, who were still living a very primitive lifestyle.
China with a rich history of over 5,000 years is really a place of contrasts and change. There is truth in the phrase, “中华民族，历史悠久”. In 5,000 years, the development this country has made is just stunning, not forgetting the fact that she had only started to open herself up to the world in recent years, since it had been a communist country under Chairman Mao Zhe Dong (毛泽东).
The museum was built on the tomb of the Nanyue King Zhao Mei and was opened only in 1988 when archaeologists discovered his tomb at that particular site.
The Kingdom of Southern Yue was established about 2,000 years ago in the area where southern China's Guangdong Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region meet. It lasted for 93 years, and had five kings. Zhao Tuo, a general of the Qin Dynasty, unified the Lingnan area during the reign of China's first Emperor, Qin Shihuang. In 204 B.C., the Kingdom of Southern Yue was established, and Zhao Tuo made himself King Wu of that kingdom, choosing Guangzhou as his capital. In 111 B.C., the small kingdom was destroyed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Three out of the five rulers built tombs for themselves, but nobody knew where they were located before the discovery of the Guangzhou tomb. During the Three Kingdoms Period (220-280), Sun Quan (孙权), the ruler of the State of Wu, heard that there were many treasures in the tombs, so he ordered his troops to search all the mountain slopes in the area of the extinguished kingdom. They found nothing, and the whereabouts of the tombs remained a mystery.
On the tomb's 12-meter-high outside walls are carved designs of a man, the Sun and Moon gods, with a gigantic serpent beneath their feet, a symbol indicating that they are capable of dispelling evil spirits. The tomb has been turned into a museum, illustrating the history of the kingdom.
We visited the exhibition hall which had been constructed in front of the tomb, consisting of several rooms, spread over three floors. The tomb was built on a slope on Xianggang Ridge. The layout is modelled on a palace of that time, consisting of four chambers and two halls.
We passed through a huge stone gate before entering the coffin chamber. A jade suit sewn with silken threads worn by the tomb's owner, decorated with gold, silver and jade objects around the hem, was found intact when the tomb was opened. Also found in the tomb were nine seals, one being made of gold with a knob in the shape of a coiled dragon. This gold seal enabled archaeologists to identify the tomb as that of the second ruler Zhao Mei.
The jade suit is particularly valuable because it is the oldest of its kind found so far. I find it amazing that the suit consists of more than 1,000 pieces of jade, each having holes in all four corners. The silk fabrics have decayed long ago. In addition, ten iron swords were found, each inlaid with gold and jade. The biggest is 1.46 m long, making it the longest iron sword dating from the time of the Han Dynasty (206B.C.-A.D.220).
Numerous valuable burial objects were discovered in the side chambers. They include ivory, gold, silver, bronze, iron, pottery, glass, bamboo, jade and lacquer wares, demonstrating that workmanship in Guangdong had already reached high artistic levels 2,000 years ago. In addition, they also show that the Southern Yue Kingdom and the Central Plains had close ties.
Most of the objects on display were made of either stone or jade. Even the pillows were made of stone and there was an exhibition hall dedicated to pillows as they were of a wide variety. I wonder how their necks could be comfortable sleeping on stone pillows! There was another one dedicated to jade pieces and the God they believed in.
He was buried together with four concubines and 15 other soldiers and a cook. The remains of some domestic animals were also found inside. As for the emperor himself, his body was decomposed except for his teeth and fragments of his skull.
We then proceeded to the nearby 越秀公园 to have a look at the Rams statue. The Five-Ram Sculpture is one of the most famous structures in Guangzhou. It has become the emblem of Guangzhou City. Legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago, Guangzhou was a barren land with people who despite hard work were suffering from famine. One day five immortals in five-color garments came riding on five rams, playing their legendary music. The rams held sheaves of rice in their mouths. The immortals left the sheaves of rice for the Guangzhou people, gave blessings to the city and left. The rams turned into stone and the city of Guangzhou became a rich and populous place. Guangzhou got the name of the City of Rams.
We went to the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall (孙中山纪念馆) next. Sun Yat-sen was born on November 12, 1866 at Cuiheng Village of Guangdong province. He was the forerunner of China’s revolution against the Qing government. In August 1905, he formulated the Three Principles of the People - nationalism, democracy, and social well-being. He believed they were the guidelines for building a modern China, and he contributed his whole life into developing this great task.
Sun Yat-Sen (12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925) was a Chinese revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Republican China, Sun is frequently referred to as the Father of the Nation. There are memorial halls in Guangzhou, Taipei and Singapore. His final resting place is the Sun Yat-Sen Mausoleum in Nanjing.
The phrase “天下为公”on the top of the building means to bring justice all over the earth, which also reflected Dr Sun Yat-Sen’s aim and desire.
We then proceeded to the “Orchard Road” of Guangzhou -- Beijing Street (北京路) near the 公园前 subway station. This was the place to buy many authentic replicas, the specialty of the Mainland Chinese. They look genuine and they can be bought at inexpensive prices.
We walked past many shops selling trendy women and men fashion, children clothing, sports goods, as well as shoes and purses. (We had seen enough shoes at 海珠广场 .) There are also some book stores and departmental stores just off the street. The alleys are full of small stalls and shops (also quite crowded). That’s where the best buys are.
Teeming with large and medium sized shopping centres such as Xindaxin (新大新) and Grandbuy (广百), Beijing Street is also home to several 'themed' bookstores that run the gamut from dictionaries to music to children's books. Sanduoxuan (三多轩) and Jiya-zhai Studios (集雅斋) feature traditional Chinese stationery, paintings and calligraphy.
We bought 3 pairs of jeans for RMB 470 (SGD 94.80). That was considered expensive by China’s standard but the deals there were still a lot better than that in Singapore. The jeans were indeed fitting and comfortable to wear and I’m quite convinced that it is an authentic product. They even did alteration free of charge within 20 minutes. We would never be able to get such a service in Singapore.
We went for lunch at a restaurant called 幸运楼国际宴合.We had to wait for a long time as the restaurant was full. They had a number system so the queue went quite fast. However, due to the huge demand for seats, we still had to wait for 30 minutes.
On the lunch table were crab noodles, porridge, pig intestines, Dim Sum dishes like dumplings and chee cheong fun, as well as many other Cantonese delicacies. The final price of RMB 193.50 (SGD 39.07) was still acceptable, given how much we ate.
Daddy then returned to the hotel for his conference on the Hot Topics in Medicine, the section on hypertension and diabetes, while we continued to shop in Beijing Street. I bought another two football jerseys, one Manchester United and one FC Barcelona, for RMB 120 (SGD 24) each. For the type of quality the jerseys had to offer, I couldn’t help laughing within me, satisfied with the good deal.
We then returned to 海珠广场 for more shopping. Grace bought her toy rabbit while we bought a cartoon 佛菩萨 display item for Ah Ma. We even managed to buy Croc shoes going at extremely cheap prices as compared to Singapore. A pair that costs RMB 130 (SGD 26) there costs SGD 130 back in Singapore. A pair that I bought for over a hundred dollars here was on sale at only RMB 150 (SGD 30) to my dismay. If only I had waited till now to buy that pair, I would have saved almost SGD 80.
We then headed back to Beijing Street to go to one of the bookshops there. Grace went on to read her Chinese books while I enjoyed reading the Communist Manifesto in English.
We had noodle soup for dinner and it tasted quite good. It was in one of the fast-food restaurants there.
By the time we reached the hotel, it was already 10pm, but Daddy was not back yet. He had gone to 粥城 for porridge supper despite having had a buffet dinner aboard a cruise on the Pearl River (珠江).
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