My return flight for home should depart from Nanjing with a transfer to another plane in Guangzhou at midnight. The connecting flight delays for more than three hours. So I miss the one at Guangzhou´s airport.
China Southern Airlines put me in an airport hotel waiting 24 hours until the next scheduled flight next midnight. This gives the opportunity to visit Guangzhou, too.
Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, contructed 1894 and financed by Chen’s families from 72 counties of Guangdong Province and some from overseas
After breakfast I set off with the hotel shuttle bus back to Baiyun Airport. From there the metro takes 45 min. into Guangzhou centre for 4 Yuan.
Guangzhou, also known as Canton, with a population of 14 million is the provincial capital of the Guangdong province. Cantonese is the first language of half of the (native) residents while the other half (migrants) speak mainly Mandarin. So announcement in the metro is made apart from Mandarin and English also in Cantonese. Hakka should be spoken by significant numbers as well.
The courtyard of Chen Clan Ancestral Hall
Like any major city of China Guangzhou is vibrant, overcrowded with lots of tower blocks, shopping facility and restaurants. All luxury goods and brands of the West are there which makes shopping not more interesting apart from the nice cooling air condition. Guangzhou lies in the subtropical zone with a hot and humid weather, currently around 32°C.
The lounge
At the metro station Chen Clan Academy there is the homonymous Chen Clan Ancestral Hall (or Academy) which was built by Chen clan at the end of the 19th century for worshipping their ancestors, accommodation of their juniors for preparation for the imperial examination. Later it was changed to Chen clan´s industry college and then to a middle school. Today it houses the Guangdong Folk Art Museum.
The study room