"Where are you from?"
"Guangzhou."
This simple exchange has become a routine since I came to Cornell. While many may not recognize my hometown, Guangzhou is more than just a city to me – It’s a place that holds my childhood, my memories, and my soul.
When I was a kid, my parents often took me out for dim sum. In Guangzhou, we call it "morning tea," but it’s not just about drinking tea. It’s a ritual. It’s about shrimp dumplings, soft red bean buns, steamed vermicelli rolls, and water chestnut cakes. In traditional Cantonese teahouses, experienced tea ladies swiftly lift the lids of bamboo steamers, releasing fragrant clouds of steam and the mouthwatering scents of freshly prepared dim sum. We would spend entire mornings there, chatting and savoring the food. These mornings are some of my earliest and fondest memories of Guangzhou.
I enjoy walking (maybe not in Ithaca though). In Guangzhou, the ever-evolving urban landscape is something that never ceases to amaze me. European-style marble cathedral perfectly blends with Cantonese-style traditional arcades, and just one block away, the bustling seafood markets are filled with vendors hawking fresh catches. The juxtaposition of old and new, East and West, creates a vibrant symphony that sings the story of this city.
It’s hard to capture the essence of Guangzhou in just a few sentences. Every street, every alley is etched into my heart, each corner holding memories.
If you were to visit Guangzhou at night, I’d take you along Tianhe Road and into the Liu Yun neighborhood, where cozy shops offer desserts, vintage treasures, and rolls of old film photos. From there, we’d meander down the central axis, taking in the breathtaking skyline of towering, sleek skyscrapers. Continuing on, we’d arrive at Haixinsha, site of the 2010 Asian Games, and then follow the evening breeze from the Pearl River to Ersha Island. To top off a perfect night, nothing beats a bowl of chilled Cantonese steamed milk egg pudding.
The daytime in Guangzhou is even more fascinating. I will take you on a walk along Yanjiang West Road, passing the Oi Kwan Hotel and Guangdong Customs building built in the Qing Dynasty. Our destination will be Shamian Island, a quiet reminder of Guangzhou's colonial European past, with its stately architecture and peaceful atmosphere.
But I won’t take you to the Canton Tower. It’s too... ordinary. Just like tourists flocking to New York’s Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, or Fifth Avenue, or those rushing to Paris to snap a photo by the Eiffel Tower, they leave behind nothing but a snapshot, a fleeting memory of a moment passed.
Instead, I’ll take you to the dirty, messy, and poor side of Guangzhou – urban villages. Talk to the people who live there, hear their stories of survival in this fast-paced and expensive city, and you’ll see how narrow and arrogant your assumptions were. These places, often overlooked, are where the true heartbeat of Guangzhou can be felt. As Calvino writes in Invisible Cities: “Other places are a mirror in reverse. The traveler can see how little he has, and how much he has never had and will never have.”
Guangzhou, with its contrasts and contradictions, is not just the city where I grew up; it is the place that shaped who I am and held my soul.
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