Why walk this hill
Yuexiu is not a park with history in it; the hill is the history. Guangzhou has been centred on this ground for more than two thousand years, and every layer is still visible if you cover it slowly enough: the legendary rams, a Ming defensive wall, a Qing tower, a republican ceremonial hall at the foot of it. Vehicles cannot do this well - the wall runs through trees, and the tower sits at the end of a climb - which is why this is a walking programme.
Morning - up through the park
You start at the southern edge of the hill and climb on foot. The Five Rams statue stands on the Muqiao ridge: made in 1959 by Yin Jichang, Chen Benzong and Kong Fanwei, eleven metres high and carved from 130 blocks of granite, the lead ram holding ears of rice in its mouth - the image that gave the city its nickname. Your guide uses the statue to open the question of what the city believed about itself before it could document itself.
Late morning - the wall and Zhenhai Tower
The Ming city wall survives in stretches across the hill, and walking beside it is the only way to read it: this was the northern edge of a walled city, and the slope explains why the defence was sited here. At the top stands Zhenhai Tower, built in 1380 by the Ming marquis Zhu Liangzu, five storeys high and known ever since as the Five-Storey Building, with the old reputation of being the finest view in Lingnan. It has held a museum since 1929 - one of the earliest in China - and the Guangzhou Museum since 1950; the tower and the wall were listed together as a National Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit in 2013. The collection inside is the fastest possible account of the city you have just walked across.
Lunch
A Cantonese lunch at the foot of the hill.
Afternoon - down to the memorial hall
The walk finishes downhill at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, designed by Lu Yanzhi and completed in 1931 on the site of the presidential office Sun Yat-sen occupied as extraordinary president. At 48.63 metres it remains the largest memorial building to him anywhere, a Song-palace exterior carried on steel and concrete. It is the last layer on the hill: republic after dynasty, which is exactly the sequence a walk here is meant to leave you with. Transfer back to your hotel by vehicle.
Meals
Lunch
Accommodation
Day programme - no hotel night included.
