Why walk this quarter
Nowhere else in Guangzhou compresses so much religious history into so little ground. A Buddhist pagoda, the temple where the Sixth Patriarch of Chan Buddhism was ordained, one of China's earliest mosques and a Ming temple of the city's own immortals all stand within a walk of each other, in the streets of the old city rather than in a compound. Walking it is the only way to notice how ordinary the setting is - these are neighbours, not monuments in a park.
Morning - Six Banyan Trees and Guangxiao Temple
Start at the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, whose Flower Pagoda is the landmark of the quarter; the temple was renamed after the poet Su Shi visited in 1100 and was struck by six banyan trees in its grounds. From there, a short walk brings you to Guangxiao Temple, traditionally the oldest and largest Buddhist temple in Lingnan - the local saying is that the city did not exist before Guangxiao - and inseparable from the history of Chinese Buddhism because it is where Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch, was ordained. Both are working temples, so the visits are conducted quietly and around whatever ceremony is under way.
Lunch
A Cantonese lunch in the old city, with a vegetarian option if the group prefers.
Afternoon - the mosque, and the city's own temple
The next strand is Islam, and it is older than most visitors expect: the Huaisheng Mosque was 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 did double duty as a navigation mark for ships entering and leaving the Pearl River. It is a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit, put forward as part of China's maritime Silk Road nomination, and it is an active place of worship viewed from outside rather than entered.
The day closes at the Wuxian Temple, 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 a story you will have met on Yuexiu Hill. The red sandstone hollow known as the Immortal's Thumbprint behind the hall is a relic of the Jin-dynasty riverbank, when this quarter stood at the water's edge; beside it, the Bell Tower of the Forbidden Bell holds the largest bronze bell cast in Guangdong under the Ming.
Meals
Lunch
Accommodation
Day programme - no hotel night included.
