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Guangzhou Local Customs

Learn the local customs of Guangzhou. Tips and photos posted by real travelers and Guangzhou locals.
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Guangzhou Local CustomsTips 1 - 10 of 43  
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Wash Your Dishes Before You Eat
  • Tip Rating:
    • jlee008
  • By jlee008 on October 31, 2004
  • Guangzhou Page by jlee008
    • When in Guangzhou, do as the Chinese do. It is very acceptable to "wash" your dishes with tea before you have the meal. Typically, this involves pouring the first tea into your tea cup and giving it a good swish. Pour this into your rice bowl and invert the tea cup and run the lip into the hot tea. The chopsticks are then dipped into the rice bowl. The residual tea in the rice bowl is then poured out into the "waste" bin for the "wash."

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    Chinese Money
  • Tip Rating:
    • herzog63
  • By herzog63 on October 14, 2003
  • Guangzhou Page by herzog63
    • Chinese Money - Guangzhou
    Chinese Money
    by herzog63
    For me the Money System of china was a little confusing. You've probably already read about the FEC's in my other tips so I won't go into it as they aren't used anymore. The Renminbi seemed to have 3 tiers to it in Paper money. I'm used to dollars and cents which is 2 tiers. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but there are Yuan - Jiao - Fen which are also know as Kwai - Mao - Fen. Yuan is the biggest of the denominations and it is broken into 100 Jiao then below that is Fen and it takes 10 fen to make 1 Jiao. Quite often if I was buying food I would understand the numbers but not the Kwai,Mao or Fen. I did sort of figure it out better after a while but in the beginning I would hand the seller a 10 Yuan note (US$1.90) for a food item that would only cost 4 Mao (US$.07cents) and I would get back a STACK of money!!! hahah I would chuckle to myself and say "Gosh I've done it again". Some very small items only cost a few fen!!! It took 5 Fen to make one US Cent!! I think this system is currently in use today. Again remember this is 1987 so beware of the prices!! The photo is a shot from a page in my 1987 Journal.

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    Learning to count in Chinese = Very Helpful!
  • Tip Rating:
    • herzog63
  • By herzog63 on October 14, 2003
  • Guangzhou Page by herzog63
    • Er Jiao - Guangzhou
    Er Jiao
    by herzog63
    If you make the effort to count in Chinese you will reap huge benefits from this especially if you get off the tourist trail at all and even on the tourist trail!!
    I was so happy that I learned how to count in the first few days there before I ventured very far as it made buying stuff much easier!!
    1)Yi or EE
    2)Er
    3)Sang
    4)Suah
    5)Wua
    6)Diu
    7)Tchew
    8)Paw
    9)Dgiu
    10)she
    bigger Numbers are just building the groups....21) Er she yi Er=2 for 2 tens and Yi is one. Sorry for the rough translations as these are my own translations as taken from my journal. haha I don't think I'll get a job as a Chinese Translation Specialist anytime soon but they worked for me!! The people in the markets and shops seemed very happy that I new the number system. Sometimes they would want to write some of the numbers down but when I would speak the numbers out loud they would just say them to me.....Then they would think that I spoke Chinese and start a conversation hahahaha....My conversations ended at Hello - Ne How ......Thank you - Shay-shay .......How Much? - Do Shuo Chian? ....Mens Toilet - Nan len and of course the counting. But it made for some wonderful interactions...I wish I would have learned more. Also there are different accents on the words depending where you were at too. But I was able to use these words in the north and the south and people understood me.

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    Markets are not for the queasy stomachs......
  • Tip Rating:
    • herzog63
  • Updated By herzog63 on October 15, 2003
  • Guangzhou Page by herzog63
    • Fresh Meat - Guangzhou
    Fresh Meat
    by herzog63
    If your stomach gets queasy from watching animals get butchered before your very eyes do not visit the Qing Ping market!!! Animals of all variations are on display and being butchered fresh to be taken home for a good home cooked meal!! Also watch where you step as there are open drains for the blood to be washed away!!

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    Caligraphy
  • Tip Rating:
    • herzog63
  • By herzog63 on October 14, 2003
  • Guangzhou Page by herzog63
    • Local Caligrapher - Guangzhou
    Local Caligrapher
    by herzog63
    It seemed like on every other small street there was a guy like this doing some sort of of Caligraphy. I'm not really sure what he was writing but for me the written Chinese language is so beautiful that he could have written "I'm stupid" on it and it would be hanging in a frame on my living room wall right now!! haha I wish I would have had something made by one of these guys. At the time I didn't want to carry it with me as I thought it would get destroyed in my backpack.

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    Nager en soirée.
  • Tip Rating:
    • Guantanamera
  • By Guantanamera on September 16, 2003
  • Guangzhou Page by Guantanamera
    • In tropical Guangzhou it is very common for people to go out to public swimming pools in the evening hours after work and cool down with a nice swim. The pools become very crowded with people practicing their strokes, socializing, and playing games... You must pay a small fee to enter and then you can store your things in your locker... But be on the lookout, the swimming traffic in a GZ pool is every bit as crazy as the traffic on GZ streets!

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    Celestial Aliens...?
  • Tip Rating:
    • Guantanamera
  • By Guantanamera on September 11, 2003
  • Guangzhou Page by Guantanamera
    • Guangzhou Local Customs
    by Guantanamera
    As I alluded in the "must see" section under the "Temple of the Five Celestial Beings" tip, the central story about the origins of Guangzhou involves the mysterious appearance of the five celestial beings mounted atop their five celestial rams... Now take a look at the photo shown here: it may appear like some strange alien creature, but this is actually a Guangzhou public payphone...! The alien theme continues...

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    Peace.
  • Tip Rating:
    • Guantanamera
  • Updated By Guantanamera on September 16, 2003
  • Guangzhou Page by Guantanamera
    • Guangzhou Local Customs
    by Guantanamera
    Even a casual observer of Asia will notice the way that Asian people, especially Chinese and Japanese, like to flash the peace sign during photo opportunities, just as you see in the photo here of a couple of Cantonese friends in Guangzhou... When you're in Asia, or anywhere for that matter, don't forget to promote this recognizable international symbol of love, neutrality and holistic solidarity...!

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    Wong Faye or Tony Iommi.
  • Tip Rating:
    • Guantanamera
  • Updated By Guantanamera on September 18, 2003
  • Guangzhou Page by Guantanamera
    • Guangzhou Local Customs
    by Guantanamera
    Hey kids, here's a photo of famed heavy metal icon and Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi... When I was in Guangzhou, playing some of my Western music cd's for Xiujuan, she listened to the Black Sabbath song "Iron Man" and proclaimed it "interesting"... People in Guangzhou aren't generally very familiar with the supposedly "world famous" musicians of the Western world... Music stars like Faye Wong from neighboring Hong Kong (called Wong Faye on the mainland) and other parts of China tend to be much much more popular... But you know, kids, Ozzy once said: "Tony Iommi is the HEAVIEST motherf****r that ever lived!" And I would have to agree with that statement...

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    Which and when.
  • Tip Rating:
    • Guantanamera
  • Updated By Guantanamera on September 16, 2003
  • Guangzhou Page by Guantanamera
    • Guangzhou Local Customs
    by Guantanamera
    If learning to use the chopsticks isn't tricky enough, try figuring out when to use them... Usually the chopsticks are used but then again, there is the rice ladle... And sometimes the Chinese will just use their fingers, as you see in this photo of Xiujuan about to merrily devour one of her favorite things, a succulent crab claw...! The Chinese also sometimes use the fingers for things such as sweet rolls or eating food at McDonald's... But ultimately, there is one great advantage to being a foreigner... You're not expected to be Chinese. So forget about rules and just do what seems natural...!

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    More Guangzhou Tips
    Overview
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    Shopping
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    Tourist Traps
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    Flights
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