Yum cha 飲茶 in Guangzhou

Guangzhou (广州市) is the capital city of Guangdong Province. Population: 15 million in the city and 25 million in the metro area. From 2017 to 2018 the city grew an amazing 3,8%. The city is also known as Canton. It was by far the smoggiest city I experienced in China. By the time I arrived in Guangzhou I wasn’t feeling hundred percent due to lack of sleep, in the first few days I couldn’t fall asleep until 3 AM; pesky jetlag. In Guangzhou my throat hurt and I lost my sense of smell.

View from the hotel. It is not just the dirty window, the air atmosphere in Guangzhou did not feel good.

Guangzhou is all about trade. Between 1757–1842 the city served as way for China to control its trade with the West. The Yīkǒu tōngshāng (一口通商, "Single port trading relations") meant that all trade between China and overseas traders had to go via Canton. The Canton System fell apart after the First Opium War in 1842 with the Treaty of Nanking.

Guangzhou kept its position as a trading hub. The streets are littered with small shops and tiny electric scooters are buzzing on the pavements and roads delivering packages and takeaway meals. The bigger shopping streets are upmarket and busy on a Sunday. The shopping area felt like the Kalverstraat on steroids. About 30 kilometers from the city center the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone (1984) promoted the development of Guangzhou as a manufacturing hub.

It looks like a simple stew but this was packed with flavour. The vegetable is kohlrabi cooked in meat stock with (fish?) balls and bits of meat, tripe and lung pipe.

No, I didn't get a ‘massage’, I just like the colourful lights.

Yum Cha

On a Sunday morning in Guangzhou there is only one thing you have to do: yum cha (‘drink tea’). Guangzhou restaurant 广州酒. Original branch:- 2 Wen Chang Lu, Liwan district 总店- 荔湾区文昌南路2号 was not so far from my hotel. The place was pretty busy but they sat me at a big round table which was reserved for other small parties and solo-eaters. The menu was in Chinese so I showed the waitress photos of the standard dim sum I wanted to try. I selected aged pu’er as the tea. I have to say, this was the best dum sum I ever tasted. In the true spirit of Guangzhou as a trading city on Sunday’s there is a 20% surcharge on the bill.

Of course I went to more than one ‘yum cha’ restaurant in Ghuangzhou. Chicken feet are a classic, and so is jellyfish. You can never eat enough shumai so I always order some of that.

Canton Tower

For a brief time Canton Tower was the tallest tower in the world. I took the elevator to the lowest observation deck at 433 meters. With an entrance price of ￥150 the Chinese visitors are definitely not the working poor. Everyone is making selfies. That’s what we do these days. Make selfies.