Fun things to do in Guangzhou

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To figure out what is actually going on in Xiaozhou would be something … the earth-shattering speed and rapacious desire for change is swirling around this period riverside traditional town but it is too close, I would say to the commercial epicentre of Guangzhou to be ancient, unspoilt, unmeterialistic, like how it is written up in the guides and the online reviews.

On the final day of my trip to Guangzhou, having been tired of the city’s coursity, I decided to research further into ‘the last water city’ in the area and a developing spot for domestic tourism. The area is easy to reach by public transport so having checked out o the hotel early I had breakfast at McDonalds, at the exit of Kecun subway station (Line 3) and followed another blogger’s guide to take the 252 (RMB2) briefly outside the inner city, about 14 stops to the the town of Xiaozhou. To exit the bus, you’ll see an outdoor bus depot and the sign of the bus stop reads ‘Xiaozhou’.

Romantically, the Chinese characters insinuate the symbols of water, complete with strokes to imply droplets of “shui” (Mandarin for water). The surrounding art supplies shops too, hammer home the vibe here. They are cheap and browse-worthy. Nationwide the demand for things like red wine, cheese and of course the fine arts are being swigged glutinously without pause for consideration. Nationals are doing to these commodities what the British were doing for budget airlines of late. Regarding this ‘artist’s haven’; don’t believe the hype – nobody should be mistaken … the riverside folkways beyond the street market entrance of Xiaozhou’s bus stop lie beneath a flyover and bright blue water pipe which transports you rather as a drunk crow with food poisoning back to civilization and nobody has heard of Ai Weiwei. It seemed too close to the city of it’s size from my experience. However as a nominated centralised zone for the practicing or purchasing of original artworks what it lacks is the care and common sense to justify it’s position in the tourist guides. On the bus journey this morning I noted the presence of some noticeable user-friendly roadside public art meanwhile that does have a lasting resonance. It’s the same kind of public information that adorns many of the temporary wall spaces of an area of downtown regeneration in China, the purpose being to educate the city’s people with a series of family friendly cartoon characters representing a variety of common folk on how not to act on the pavements (no spitting, littering, any bad habit verb) with Guangzhou’s chosen mantra of “civilized Guangzhou”.

When you enter Xiaozhou, most of the water is gone – a few grubby inches remain amidst much debris and the broken, rather charming rowing boats that have seemingly frozen in time. Xiaozhou is an example of urban decay and people’s waste in this, a modern and ungrateful generation. Whilst many “ancient” elements remain: traditional village life, minima domestic modernization, (electricity, etc.), locals that appear oblivious to the breathtaking constructions downtown, there are more picturesque street scenes where I live in Ganzhou, Jiangxi. Furthermore, they are better looked after! When you’re selling your chose scapegoat as a nominated scapegoat as a cradle of culture and there are this many rough edges it doesn’t send the message that one is to go home and treat their own surroundings with any realm of respect. This is a message that seriously needs to get across in China. The river smelt and the workers bringing some areas more upto date were leaving rubbish and hazards all over the place that were not being dealt with. There seemed to be more red, white and blue, tarpaulins than canvasses and the rest of the art reminded me of a bad college show. Today was Sunday and it seemed many of the resident artists had fled or were on their day off. I browsed in several shops of knick-knackery feeling more strongly than ever I should be producing my own post/giftcards. And various groups of Chinese tourists traipsed round the network of hutongs, shops and canals but you get the feeling they’ve been told to go there rather than finding it through their own will. When some people are shown a blueprint of what’s perceived as beauty they’ll believe it straightaway. Others may want to wait a little longer before making up their mind. It appears this location has already been labeled, with one review I’d read comparing it to Beijing’s 798 District. But I have visited better water cities in China and Xiazhou was certainly worse than my meager expectations and rather left me feeling sorry for the local population who looked confused and resigned to the prospect of digger’s and fast food restaurants.

Contradictory to the non-artistic visuals there were coffee bars and probably the red wine and cheese available amongst the various cafes and pretentious but cosey courtyard-style business ventures that are open. No chains, not yet, but it is surely only a matter of time. This is however probably when the litter pickers will arrive although I couldn’t see what was wrong with a simple litter sweep with the amount of school kids and extra-curricular programs that I noted – a Saturday morning’s work in exchange for a free workshop to bring the place back upto scratch. Alas, that is a tad hypocritical as I am the one working as an English teacher in a complacent middle-level educational system whilst I should be pursuing a career in the arts. And so the pizza restaurant (with cheese) that appeared as I was leaving just made me more angry. I walked for an hour to find a place to sit and sketch but found none. It did however give me many ideas, beginning with whether these locals get a choice in what happens in their village or not, and giving me something to write about on the bus back into the city. But any self-respecting artist needs to think twice before locating to a place in Xiaozhou and challenge some of it’s problems. Often in China, it's possible to spot more culture in a branch of McDonalds and I mean that in the nicest possible way. In the United Kingdom I never go to McDonalds!