Guangdong (广东) · 22 places · 12 cities
22 places in Guangdong, grouped by city. Under each one are two figures from the survey: how much daily life still goes on there, out of 100, and how far it has been turned over to visitors, out of 6.
Most common here: Old quarter of a city (8), Old town (7), Walled city (4). See all provinces, or the background on old towns.
5 places
Guangzhou (广州)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Guangzhou Xiguan Enning Road Historic District (广州西关-恩宁路历史文化街区)UNESCOUnder the qilou arcade street recorded as the longest intact one in Guangzhou, old copper-smiths still hammer next to trendy cafes. This is the real Old Guangzhou, not a rebuilt set.Lived-in 82/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · known abroad · very easy to reach | Old quarter of a city | Lived-in, busy |
| Panyu Shawan Ancient Town (番禺沙湾古镇)An 800-year-old Lingnan water town with 12 intangible food heritage skills, where locals still make ginger milk pudding with water buffalo milk and lion dances roar at New Year.Lived-in 75/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · little known abroad · easy to reach | Old town | Lived-in, busy |
| Guangzhou Duobao Road Historic District (广州多宝路历史文化街区)One of the three Bao roads of old Xiguan, opened by the merchants of the Canton trade. The houses described as the best-preserved Xiguan examples are here: grey brick, sliding timber gates, Manchurian windows, wok-handle gables. Cantonese opera clubs still meet.Lived-in 75/100 · Commercialised 2/6 · rarely visited from abroad · very easy to reach | Old quarter of a city | Lived-in, quiet |
| Guangzhou Huangpu Ancient Port (广州黄埔古港)The anchorage where foreign ships stopped before Canton, with the waterfront street and two clan halls still standing in a village that is still lived in. Ginger-set milk is the thing to eat.Lived-in 72/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · little known abroad · easy to reach | Old quarter of a city | Lived-in, busy |
| Guangzhou Shamian Island (广州沙面)A 0.3sqkm island with 150+ European colonial buildings (1860s-1940s), former British/French concession, now a quiet park where locals practice tai chi, photograph weddings, and old buildings house cafes and government offices.Lived-in 55/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · known abroad · very easy to reach | Old quarter of a city | Thin on both |
4 places
Meizhou (梅州)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Meizhou Songkou Ancient Town (梅州松口古镇)UNESCOThe river dock where Hakka emigrants boarded steamers for Southeast Asia, in a thousand-year-old water town whose qilou arcades were never rebuilt. Few foreign visitors reach it.Lived-in 80/100 · Commercialised 2/6 · rarely visited from abroad · some effort to reach | Old town | Lived-in, quiet |
| Dabu Baihou Ancient Town (大埔百侯古镇)UNESCOGet lost in 36 ancient alleys holding 120 Ming-Qing mansions built by Hakka scholar-officials and overseas Chinese, a living clan museum where locals still make traditional snacks and almost no foreigners visit.Lived-in 78/100 · Commercialised 2/6 · rarely visited from abroad · some effort to reach | Old town | Lived-in, quiet |
| Meizhou Qiaoxi Ancient Village (梅州桥溪古韵)Hike into a 400-year-old Hakka mountain village with 16 intact Ming-Qing roundhouses (weilongwu), where 60 permanent residents still grow tea and citrus, and overseas Chinese outnumber locals 30:1.Lived-in 72/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · rarely visited from abroad · some effort to reach | Old quarter of a city | Lived-in, busy |
| Dabu Chayang Ancient Town (大埔茶阳古镇)A 1,000-year-old Hakka town with a famous flower-dragon gate, old qilou arcades, and villagers who still make preserved vegetables, the less-visited neighbor of Baihou, with even fewer tourists.Lived-in 72/100 · Commercialised 2/6 · rarely visited from abroad · some effort to reach | Old town | Lived-in, quiet |
3 places
Foshan (佛山)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Foshan Ancestral Temple Lingnan Tiandi Historic District (佛山祖庙-岭南天地历史街区)UNESCOLion dances at a 900-year-old Daoist temple, with restored Lingnan courtyard mansions alongside now holding craft studios. Wing Chun and Cantonese opera are both traced from here.Lived-in 75/100 · Commercialised 4/6 · known abroad · very easy to reach | Old quarter of a city | Lived-in, busy |
| Shunde Fengjian Water Town (顺德逢简水乡)Paddle through a 1,000-year-old Lingnan water town with 37 ancient bridges, Ming dynasty ancestral halls, and locals still washing clothes at river steps, the “Venice of Guangdong” without the crowds.Lived-in 72/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · little known abroad · easy to reach | Old town | Lived-in, busy |
| Foshan Nanfeng Ancient Kiln (佛山南风古灶)A wood-fired dragon kiln that has been lit since the Ming and is described as the oldest kiln still working anywhere. Potters load saggars into it in a neighbourhood where they also live.Lived-in 70/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · little known abroad · easy to reach | Old quarter of a city | Lived-in, busy |
2 places
Zhanjiang (湛江)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Zhanjiang Chikan Old Street (湛江赤坎老街)UNESCOA 1,000-year-old port that was French-occupied Guangzhouwan for 46 years, where French colonial arcades meet Nanyang qilou, locals still fetch water from a Qing dynasty well, and almost no foreign tourists have discovered it.Lived-in 78/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · rarely visited from abroad · some effort to reach | Old quarter of a city | Lived-in, busy |
| Leizhou Ancient City (雷州古城)A 2,000-year-old county city with 6.8km of qilou arcades, where locals speak a unique Min dialect, perform Nuo exorcism dances, and old craftsmen still make opera costumes, culturally distinct within western Guangdong.Lived-in 75/100 · Commercialised 2/6 · rarely visited from abroad · some effort to reach | Walled city | Lived-in, quiet |
1 place
Chaozhou (潮州)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Chaozhou Ancient City (潮州古城)UNESCOA city where 23 Ming dynasty memorial archways line a street that locals still use for their morning noodle soup and afternoon kungfu tea. This is China’s densest living old town, not a museum.Lived-in 88/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · little known abroad · easy to reach | Walled city | Lived-in, busy |
1 place
Jiangmen (江门)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Kaiping Diaolou and Villages (开平碉楼与村落)UNESCOWorld Heritage. Zili village still has 63 farming households, about 175 people including those abroad. Most of the fortified towers themselves are empty now, but the villages around them are farmed.Lived-in 70/100 · Commercialised 4/6 · known abroad · easy to reach | Old town | Lived-in, busy |
1 place
Jieyang (揭阳)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Jieyang Rongcheng Ancient City (揭阳榕城古城)UNESCOA 880-year-old walled city with 525 restored qilou arcades, a Song dynasty Confucian temple, and morning markets where locals still eat beef rice noodles, less crowded than Chaozhou but equally alive.Lived-in 78/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · rarely visited from abroad · easy to reach | Walled city | Lived-in, busy |
1 place
Shantou (汕头)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Shantou Small Park Treaty Port District (汕头小公园开埠区)UNESCOListed as the largest surviving qilou arcade district in China, 720,000 square metres of 1920s overseas-Chinese building laid out on a fan-shaped radial plan, and still lived in.Lived-in 78/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · little known abroad · easy to reach | Historic street | Lived-in, busy |
1 place
Shaoguan (韶关)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Nanxiong Zhuji Ancient Alley (南雄珠玑巷)Guangdong’s only surviving Song dynasty ancient post road alley, the ancestral root of 70% of Cantonese people overseas, where local villagers still live behind ancestral halls and roll handmade cigarettes in the original village.Lived-in 68/100 · Commercialised 3/6 · rarely visited from abroad · some effort to reach | Historic street | Lived-in, busy |
1 place
Zhaoqing (肇庆)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Zhaoqing Song City Wall & Caoxie Street (肇庆宋城墙-草鞋街)Guangdong’s only intact Song brick city wall, 2,800 m around, with a century-old street below it where residents’ doors still open onto the wall. Almost no commercial development.Lived-in 72/100 · Commercialised 2/6 · rarely visited from abroad · easy to reach | Walled city | Lived-in, quiet |
1 place
Zhongshan (中山)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Zhongshan Sunwen West Road & Xiangshan Ancient City (中山孙文西路-香山古城)A 500-meter revitalized qilou pedestrian street in Sun Yat-sen’s hometown, where old signs for “Shiqiki Hotel” and “Sincere Company” have been relit, and the surrounding six districts still hold real residents in thirteen restored streets.Lived-in 68/100 · Commercialised 4/6 · little known abroad · easy to reach | Historic street | Visitor-facing |
1 place
Zhuhai (珠海)
| Place | Kind | Reads as |
|---|---|---|
| Zhuhai Tangjiawan Ancient Town (珠海唐家湾古镇)A 1,000-year-old coastal town that produced the “father of Chinese civil service exams” (Tang Shaoyi) and where old tailors still sew at doors, barbers cut hair, and villagers sing mountain songs in Cantonese at Mid-Autumn.Lived-in 72/100 · Commercialised 2/6 · rarely visited from abroad · easy to reach | Old town | Lived-in, quiet |
Which of These Is Still a Town
The two scores narrow the list, and the last step is local: which lanes are worth the walk, which day of the week the place is itself, and where to stay inside the walls. Tell our local team the provinces you will be in and they will say which of these hold up.