Liurong Temple 六容寺 – Guangzhou, China

        Liurong Si or Temple of Six Banyan Trees was the first temple I visited in Guangzhou with my brother. Before entering the site, I had to pay an entrance fee as much as 5 Yuan. As soon as I stepped into the courtyard, I saw people selling joss sticks and other religious ornaments in shops at the right and left sides. A tall magnificent pagoda, known as the flowery pagoda welcomed us with its majesty. It is the most noticeable structure of the whole building.

The wooden slab at the entrance gate is inscribed by the Chinese famous literature, Su Dong Po. The gate is also decorated with red lanterns, showing a typical of Chinese traditional place of worship.

Hualin Temple 华林寺 – Guangzhou, China

        As a Christian, I do not go to temples to pray, but only to enjoy the magnificence of the architecture and learn the culture and history. Based on this reason, on the same day I visited Guangxiao temple, I and my brother also went to Hualin temple. Actually, the hot weather and the far distance between the MTR and the temple made me reluctant to visit that temple, yet we kept moving forward. Going there at that time was just to finish my “responsibility” for that day’s adventurous journey. We walked through Shang Xia Jiu Lu road for approximately 30 minutes until we could reach our destined place. Sweat was all over my body while I had to walk pushing through the crowd.

        When I reached the Hualin temple, it is much smaller than Guangxiao temple. The temple has a history of 1500 years and was constructed in the Southern Dynasty (420-581 AD) when an Indian monk visited the site. This eight-floor temple with black and azure colors is well known as the holy land of the international Buddhism and has become one of the five biggest Buddhist temples in Guangzhou with large team of monks.

The entrance gate of the Hualin temple with two red lanterns hanging on the roof

Jinlun Guild Hall 锦伦会馆– Guangzhou, China

        Before I and my brother went to the Hualin temple on that day, we arrived in a place called Jinlun Guild Hall. I watched the building from outside, wondering what it really was. The old-fashioned building with gray brick stones sticking each other aroused my curiosity to visit it. As I entered the room, I had to pay a certain amount of money but I forgot how much it was exactly. What I saw inside was just a spacious empty hall with some pictures hanging on the wall. I and my brother explored the place and found out other cultural relics. There was only three of us inside, including the ticket man. 

Guangxiao Temple 光孝寺– Guangzhou, China

        In summer holiday 2009, when I was still studying in Guangzhou, China, I urged my mom and my younger brother to visit me. Unfortunately, my mom could not go with us to most places since she needed to rest after a surgery. So, I took my brother to some interesting historical places both of us have not been to. As a young girl, people generally would expect me love going to malls for shopping. Strangely, unlike most girls who would put shopping in their top priority, I am not really into going to glamorous shopping centers to buy fancy clothes and accessories, for which some of my friends frown their forehead. Instead of shopping, I prefer traveling and exploring natural, historical and cultural sites. And thank God my brother also has similar perspectives with me, so it was not difficult to persuade him to visit rarely-visited sites like ancient temples.

Sacred Heart Cathedral 圣心大教堂 – Guangzhou, China

  

         One of the best moments in my life is living in Guangzhou, where freedom of self gains its highest recognition. I could do many things without much pressure or restraint and explore places without fear or worries about the security. The atmosphere, the people, the food,  the environment, the places, so many things about Guangzhou make me unable to forget that beautiful city. After school time, I and my friends often visited several shopping centers in Guangzhou just to get in contact with the local people and gain some knowledge about how they do business. One of my most-visited shopping centers was Yi De Lu, which is the center of accessories trade. You could find anything here starting from key chains to clothes with extremely cheap prices.

        On one of my visits to Yi De Lu, my friends and I went to a monumental church called the Sacred Heart Cathedral. It was quite difficult to find it since it is located in the heart of Yi De Lu area and there was no clear direction to go there. When we arrived at the entrance gate, it was locked. I then approached the security man and asked in Chinese “can we go in?”, he said “no, you can't. It's closed”. I replied “We are tourists, why can't we go in?” After saying this, he finally let us enter the building. We indeed need persistence to reach an agreement with the local Chinese.