JANVI TOURS

The ancient "Dongping Pawnshop" Watchtower is located at No.1 Zhongshan 4 Lu, next to the city-gate structure of the East City gate of the Ming Dynasty. It was once a pawnshop in the Qing Dynasty and is often called "Dadongmen Pawnshop". The surface appearance of the ancient building is one of squareness, it is five-stories high on the north side and four stories on the south side. Its exterior façade assumes a watchtower shape. Towering for a century, the Dongping Pawnshop witnessed the ups and downs of Guangzhou.

Wanmu Caotang was built in the ninth year of the Jiaqing Emperor of the Qing Dynasty (1804). Three into three, two yards and corridors, the hardtop, both sides have some residual gray plastic, brick wall stone feet, brick-wood structure. This ancestral hall-style building is a famous school initiated by the contemporary Chinese bourgeois reformist school of earlier in the 20th century.

The Chen Clan Academy, locally known as the Chen's Ancestral Hall, was built on funds jointly raised by the Chen families in 72 counties of Guangdong Province in the 20th year of Guangxu Reign of the Qing Dynasty (1894). In the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a man named Chen got the third place in the highest imperial examination and had conferred upon him a distinguished office title which made the Family Chen well-known. Later someone suggested that all Chen's families raise money to build a temple to sacrifice to the ancestors and encourage their offspring likewise to study hard. Therefore, the temple was finished in 1894 with the money donated by Chen's families in 72 counties of Guangdong Province as well as some overseas members of Family Chen.

As a representative architecture of ancient Guangzhou, Xiguan Mansion showcases strong local architectural characteristics and style from its plane layout, arcade formation, section to trivial decoration. Xiguan was the name given by Guangdong people to the area in Liwan District ranging from Xicun in the north and the Pearl River in the south, to Renmin Road in the east and Xiaobei River in the west, which also generally meant the area beyond the west city gate in the Ming (1368~644) and Qing (1644~1911) dynasties.