JULY 19: uneventful day. No special official appointment ahead
(until Monday July 20 - result of Ally's TB test performed July 18.
Amy says "No worry about the test": it is good to have a nurse aboard!)
We go for a morning tour of a large historical site: the Chen Clan
Ancestral Hall. It is a massive compound, combining shrines, a
Confucian School and a "commercial center" of sorts for the Chen Clan
who built it in 1894. Actually, according to the available literature,
many villages from surrounding predominantly Chen populated areas got
together to built this complex in the Guangzhou trade city.
Indeed, Guangzhou is sometimes better known as Canton, and has been a
busy trade center for a long time. The first Europeans (Portuguese)
settled here in 1557 and Jesuits appeared in 1582. The British East
India Company was trading here by 1685. Trade between local merchants
and foreigners was regulated by imperial edicts, but the introduction
of opium by the British in 1773 led to a series of restless,
troublesome periods in the history of the region.
After 1978, with the "open door" policy introduced by the Chinese
regime, the Guangzhou area became the first province to experience
capitalism, Chinese version.
Later, we go to a Tea House to learn more about tea customs in China.
And then we'll explore for a suitable supper place down the street
(and away) from the hotel!
- Posted by Yé yé Roger

¡ iPhone !