Morning - the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees
Guangzhou's old city compresses an unusual amount of religious history into a few streets, and this day walks it in order. Start at the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, whose Flower Pagoda is the profile most associated with the neighbourhood. The temple's name is modern: the poet Su Shi visited in 1100 and was struck by six banyan trees in the grounds, and the name stuck. Your guide explains the temple's place in the transmission of Buddhism through Guangzhou and the way a working monastery and a monument occupy the same compound - the point being that these are active places of worship, not exhibits.
Late morning - Guangxiao Temple
A short walk away, Guangxiao Temple is traditionally the oldest and largest Buddhist temple in Lingnan, and its claim is summed up in a local saying: the city of Guangzhou did not exist before Guangxiao. It is inseparable from the history of Chinese Buddhism, above all because it is the temple where Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism, was ordained. The compound carries the traces of that long life - the ordination site, the stupa, the well - and your guide uses it to explain how a temple survives by being rebuilt rather than preserved.
Lunch
A Cantonese lunch in the old city.
Afternoon - the Huaisheng Mosque and the Minaret of the Light
The third strand is Islam, and it is older here than most visitors expect. The Huaisheng Mosque is one of the earliest mosques in China, founded in the early Tang, when Guangzhou was the principal port for Arab and Persian merchants and their quarter, the Fanfang, stood around it. Its minaret, the Guangta or Minaret of the Light, served a second purpose: standing above the river, it worked as a navigation mark for ships entering and leaving the Pearl River. It is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit and one of the sites put forward in China's maritime Silk Road World Heritage nomination. The mosque is an active place of worship and can be viewed from outside rather than visited inside.
Late afternoon - Wuxian Temple
Close the day at the Wuxian Temple, the temple of the Five Immortals, built in 1377 under the Ming and long regarded as the ancestral temple of the city - the five immortals on their rams are the other half of the story you met on Yuexiu Hill. The red sandstone hollow in the rock behind the hall, known as the Immortal's Thumbprint, is a relic of the Jin-dynasty riverbank when this whole quarter stood at the water's edge. Beside it, the Tower of Lingnan, also called the Bell Tower of the Forbidden Bell, holds the largest bronze bell cast in Guangdong under the Ming. It is a quiet end to a day that has covered a great deal of ground.
Meals
Lunch
Accommodation
Day programme - no hotel night included.
