Xiguan, or Sai Kwan, is an ancient town and an area in the Liwan district of

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, which was located west of the old walled city. The

Thirteen Factories The Thirteen Factories, also known as the , was a neighbourhood along the Pearl River in southwestern Guangzhou (Canton) in the Qing Empire from to 1856 around modern day Xiguan, in Guangzhou's Liwan District. These warehouses and stores were t ...

trading enclave was located on its southern shore and the Shamian enclave was constructed beside it. Linguistically, the district is the origin of Sai Kwan dialect, the

prestige Prestige may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Films *Prestige (film), ''Prestige'' (film), a 1932 American film directed by Tay Garnett: woman travels to French Indochina to meet up with husband *The Prestige (film), ''The Prestige'' (fi ...

dialect of

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

. It now forms most of

Liwan District Liwan District is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, China. The district is split into two parts by the Pearl River: Xiguan in the northeast and Fangcun in the southwest. Th ...

Name

Before the 20th century,

was a

walled city The following cities have, or historically had, defensive walls. Africa Algeria * Algiers * Ghardaïa * Timimoun Egypt See List of Egypt castles, forts, fortifications and city walls. * Al-Fustat * Cairo * Damietta Ethiopia * Harar Libya *Apo ...

with many gates. Its western gates included the Taiping Gate () and the West Gate (). "Saikwan" or is a

romanization In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Latin script, Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and tra ...

of the local

pronunciation of the same

Chinese characters Chinese characters are logographs used Written Chinese, to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represe ...

. It was formerly the area's more common English name, although

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means 'Han Chinese, Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin' ...

is now the official form within China. It was also sometimes simply translated as "Westgate" or the "western suburbs" of Guangzhou ( formerly known as "Canton"). "Xiguan" or "New Xiguan" () is also an informal name for Guangzhou's

Geography

Old Xiguan covered most of the present

, excluding Xicun () Lychee Bay, and the old Fangcun District. It ran along the

Pearl River The Pearl River (, or ) is an extensive river system in southern China. "Pearl River" is often also used as a catch-all for the watersheds of the Pearl tributaries within Guangdong, specifically the Xi ('west'), Bei ('north'), and Dong ( ...

from the 1st Quay () in the northwest to the outlet of the western moat () in the southeast. This "creek" formed the eastern boundary of the

and separated Xiguan from Nanguan, the old city's southern suburb and Chinese dockyards. The foreign enclave on

Shamian Island Shamian (also romanized as Shameen or Shamin, both from its Cantonese pronunciation) is a sandbank island in the Liwan, Guangzhou, Liwan District of Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. The island's name literally means "sandy surface" in Chinese ...

was usually excluded from Xiguan but Huangsha () was usually included. The northeastern area from the 1st Wharf to Taiping Gate was called () and the southwestern area stretching to Huangsha was known as () In modern Guangzhou, the preservation district of Xiguan is formally defined as follows: This covers an area of and includes the area of former Shamian, united with the mainland through land reclamation.

History

The suburbs outside Guangzhou's Taiping Gate came to be called "Xiguan" during the Ming

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

(14th17th century). Over time, they expanded to fill the fields between the walled city and the Pearl River. The area was administered as part of

Nanhai County Nanhai County was a former county in Guangdong Province, China, named after the South China Sea. Its former area now makes up Chancheng and Nanhai Districts in Foshan, and Liwan District in Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanizatio ...

. It was known for its loveliness. On 15 February 1921, Xiguan was removed from Nanhai County and united with Guangfu to form an enlarged Guangzhou. On 27 October 2006, the Liwan District Government approved a preservation plan for Xiguan's traditional architecture and culture.

Culture

Apart from its connection to Guangdong's

Lingnan Lingnan (; ) is a geographic area referring to the lands in the south of the Nanling Mountains. The region covers the modern China, Chinese subdivisions of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong & Macau and Northern Vietnam. Background The ar ...

and

culture, Xiguan is famed within China as the site of "") There are varieties of customs in Xiguan, which are comparatively well conserved among districts in Guangzhou. Customs during the

Chinese New Year Chinese New Year, or the Spring Festival (see also #Names, § Names), is a festival that celebrates the beginning of a New Year, new year on the traditional lunisolar calendar, lunisolar Chinese calendar. It is one of the most important holi ...

, on Tomb Sweeping Day and Chinese Valentine's Day, during the

Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (for other names, see § Etymology) is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid- ...

, and at the

Winter Solstice The winter solstice, or hibernal solstice, occurs when either of Earth's geographical pole, poles reaches its maximum axial tilt, tilt away from the Sun. This happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere (Northern Hemisphere, Northern and So ...

are more or less the same as those in other places in Guangzhou. During the

Dragon Boat Festival The Dragon Boat Festival ( zh, s=端午节, t=端午節, first=t, p=Duānwǔ jié, cy=Dyūnńgh jit) is a traditional Chinese holiday that occurs on the fifth day of the fifth month of the Chinese calendar, which corresponds to late May or earl ...

, some male residents row dragon boats. The area's culture is celebrated in Dongshan Shaoye's song " and Liao Weili's album ''Xiguan''. Xiguan is the setting of the

mainland Chinese Mainland Chinese or mainlanders are Chinese people who live in or have recently emigrated from mainland China, defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC) except for Hong Kong ( SAR of the PRC), Macau (SAR of the PRC) ...

dramas '' Kang's Family'' and ''Turbulent Xiguan'' () and the

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

dramas ''

Point of No Return The point of no return (PNR or PONR) is the point beyond which one must continue on one's current course of action because turning back is no longer possible, being too dangerous, physically difficult, or prohibitively expensive to be undertaken. ...

'' (2003) and '' When Easterly Showers Fall on the Sunny West'' (2008).

Architecture

Xiguan Residences (), which used to be the residences of wealthy businessmen, are the typical representative of vernacular dwellings in Xiguan. Zhutong ("Bamboo Tube") Houses are traditional houses that are rich in characteristics of Lingnan (a geographical area referring to lands in the south of China's "Five Ranges" which are Tayu, Qitian, Dupang, Mengzhu, Yuecheng. This region covers the Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces of modern China and northern Vietnam). They are relatively cruder and narrower than a Xi guan (West Customs) house. The width of this type of house is short and the depth is long; the W/L ratio varies from 1:4 to 1:8. The rooms are arranged from front to back with skylights () as intervals thus the shape of a bamboo tube. Ventilation, drainage and traffic are mainly dependent on the skylights and the roadway, i.e. the longer the house is, the more skylights are required. They appear to be one story, but since they can reach a height of 4.5 meters, they always set floor levels and stairways within the house. Stones are used to construct the base of a wall and bricks are used as the body of each wall. They always have a gable, a wooden frame and a tiled roof. Some people claim that arcades () in Xiguan correlate closely to the residences of ancient people living in

Nanyue Nanyue ( zh, c=南越 or 南粵, p=Nányuè, cy=, j=Naam4 Jyut6, l=Southern Yue, , ), was an ancient kingdom founded in 204 BC by the Chinese general Zhao Tuo, whose family (known in Vietnamese as the Triệu dynasty) continued to rule until ...

. They are considered as the trace of

Baiyue The Baiyue, Hundred Yue, or simply Yue, were various ethnic groups who inhabited the regions of southern China and northern Vietnam during the 1st millennium BC and 1st millennium AD. They were known for their short hair, body tattoos, fine swo ...

stilt house Stilt houses (also called pile dwellings or lake dwellings) are houses raised on Stilts (architecture), stilts (or piles) over the surface of the soil or a body of water. Stilt houses are built primarily as a protection against flooding; they als ...

(). On the other hand, some people insist that arcades are structures built in 1925 when streets were extended and roads were constructed on a large scale in Guangzhou. Their design is deemed to have derived from

ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

. Arcades connect houses and make a long path for pedestrians to keep out wind, rain and the glare of sunshine. Arcades seem to be exactly designed for the climate in Guangzhou and meanwhile makes it much more convenient for stores to display their goods and attract customers. This kind of structure has always been the main feature of Guangzhou's commercial atmosphere and has become the sign of Guangdong Street or Canton Street () in other places, such as Jinling Donglu () in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

. Arcades in Guangzhou first appeared in the area around Sacred Heart Cathedral on Yide Road (). Later, other business quarters in Guangzhou imitated the example such as Shangxiajiu, Zhongshan Road, Enning Road () and Renmin Nanlu. The fashions of buildings on Shamian can be divided into four categories: New Baroque, Neoclassical,

Veranda A veranda (also spelled verandah in Australian and New Zealand English) is a roofed, open-air hallway or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front an ...

, and Pseudo-Gothic. During the end of the nineteenth century to early twentieth centuries, along the Changdi () and Xidi () of the

in Guangzhou, large office and commercial buildings were constructed, which reflected the popular new classical architectural style of the Nineteenth Century Western Countries and have also retained the architectural features of the Grecian and Roman times.

Cuisine

Delicacies which have earned the title of ''Chinese Famous Food'' are as follows: Peanut & Sesame Filled Cake of Ronghua Teahouse (),

Double skin milk Double skin milk () is a Chinese dessert made of milk, egg whites, and sugar. It originated from Shunde, Guangdong. It is a velvety smooth milk custard somewhat resembling panna cotta, with two skins. The first skin is formed during cooling of ...

and Milk With Ginger Juice of Nanxin, Shrimp

Wonton A wonton ( zh, t=, s=馄饨, p=húntun, j=wan4 tan4, first=t) is a type of Chinese dumpling commonly found across regional styles of Chinese cuisine. It is also spelled wantan or wuntun, a transliteration from Cantonese zh, j=wan4 tan1, ...

of Ouchengji, Jidi Congee of Wuzhanji, Ginger Juice & Milk Custard Tart of Qingping Restaurant (), Sweetheart Cake of Lianxianglou Teahouse (),

Rice Noodle Roll A rice noodle roll, also known as a steamed rice roll and ''cheung fun'' (), and as look funn or look fun in Hawaii, is a Cantonese dish originating from Guangdong Province in southern China, commonly served as either a snack, small meal or v ...

With Beef of Yinji and Goose Liver Boiled Dumplings of Jinzhongge. Delicacies which have earned the title of ''Guangzhou Famous Food'' are as follows: Milk With Ginger Juice of Xinghualou Teahouse, Milk Paste of Fenghuang, Sesame Paste Sweet Dumplings of Rongde, Sachima of Satangji, Sampan Congee, Salty Pancake of Dechang, Stuffed Glutinous Rice Dumpling and Burst (Laughing) Deep-fried Pastry Ball of Liangyingji, White Sugar Lunjiao Cake of Guohua, Coconut Ice Cream and

Grass Jelly Grass jelly, also known as leaf jelly or herbal jelly, is a Gelatin, jelly-like dessert originating in China. It is commonly consumed in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is created by using Platostoma palustre, Chinese mesona (a member of the ...

of Shunji Bingshi (). The

Chinese character Chinese characters are logographs used to write the Chinese languages and others from regions historically influenced by Chinese culture. Of the four independently invented writing systems accepted by scholars, they represent the only on ...

is often used in a restaurant's signage, often following the owner's name. For instance, Kaiji is named for its owner Ye Jiankai. Double-skin milk in Daliang,

Shunde Shunde (Shun Tak in Cantonese) is a district of the city of Foshan, Guangdong province, located in the Pearl River Delta. It had a population of 2,464,784 as of the 2010 census. Once a traditional agricultural county, it has become one of the mo ...

owns a most famous reputation. The founder of Nanxin () comes from Shunde, and set up a shop in Guangzhou in 1943. The name is actually derived from the cookery and taste. When it is cooked, it appears as there are two skins for the milk. Originally in Guangzhou, the most famous one would be Nanxin store, but it's now combined with other famous snack to be sold. It looks as the white jelly and with sweet taste. Coconut ice cream of Shunji Bingshi is a well-known Xiguan snack. The restaurant was established by a street hawker named Lu Shun in the 1920s. Coconut juice, extracted from fresh coconut meat, diluted milk, eggs and refined white sugar are the ingredients. The delicacies of Shunji have been tasted by heads of foreign states and honored guests such as

Norodom Sihanouk Norodom Sihanouk (; 31 October 192215 October 2012) was a member of the House of Norodom, Cambodian royal house who led the country as Monarchy of Cambodia, King, List of heads of state of Cambodia, Chief of State and Prime Minister of Cambodi ...

from

Cambodia Cambodia, officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. It is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the north, and Vietnam to the east, and has a coastline ...

in the 1950s and 1960s. Since 1956, the restaurant has acquired the title of ''Guangzhou Famous Food''. Kaiji () is located on Longjin Donglu. Its owner is Ye Jiankai and he is jokingly called ''Dousha Kai'' () because of the restaurant's food. Kaiji's Tangyuan served with green bean soup and Vanilla green bean soup clear away diners' heat and toxic material and earn a high reputation in Guangzhou. The shop is Ye's grandfather's legacy. Shrimp Wonton Noodle of Ouchengji () is famous. The soup served with this delicacy is the ''double-stewed soup'' made of shrimp-roe, flounder and pig bones. Fresh pork, shrimp and eggs are used in stuffing of the wontons. The wonton wrapper is so thin that wontons appear carneous after being cooked thoroughly, thus called ''glass wontons'' . Jidi Congee () of Wuzhanji (), alternatively called "Sanyuan Jidi Congee" (), has been famous since

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

. Located in Wenchang Xiang, the restaurant is famous for its variety of congee, Jidi the congee in particular. This congee contains dried beancurd stick, gingko and flounder. The congee is also called Sanyuan Jidi Congee for the reason that the numbers of its ingredients in each bowl, namely pork balls, pork liver slices and pork intestine slices correspond respectively to the numbers of '' Zhuangyuan'', ''Bangyan'' (), and ''Tanhua'' (). Wuzhanji's Jidi Congee earned the title of ''Chinese Famous Food'' in 1997.

Rice noodle roll A rice noodle roll, also known as a steamed rice roll and ''cheung fun'' (), and as look funn or look fun in Hawaii, is a Cantonese dish originating from Guangdong Province in southern China, commonly served as either a snack, small meal or v ...

was originated by the Hexianguan Restaurant in Pantang () during the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

and it has been a must in Guangzhou's restaurants. Rice noodle roll with beef of Yinji () is the most famous type. Rice milk is steamed into rice pellicle with meat smash, fillet and pork liver on it and the pellicle is rolled and then cut apart. Sampan Congee () comes from Lychee Bay. It is called Sampan Congee because it was sold by

Tanka people The Boat Dwellers, also known as Shuishangren (; "people living on the water") or Boat People, or the derogatory Tankas, are a sinicised ethnic group in Southern China who traditionally lived on junks in coastal parts of Guangdong, Guangxi, ...

on sampans. Its ingredients used to be only river prawns and slices of fish. Now it has become a commonly seen snack and has gradually become a dish served in restaurants and hotels. Its ingredients are unceasingly updated, with salted jellyfish, peanuts and fried vermicelli.

Education

Elementary schools

* Xiguan Peizheng Primary School * Xianjidong Primary School * Sanyuanfang Primary School * Liuhua Lu Primary School * Dongfeng Xilu No.1 Primary School * Dongfeng Xilu No.2 Primary School * Xihua Lu Primary School * Xinglong Lu Primary School * Longjin Xilu Primary School * Huiyuannan Primary School * Xilaixi Primary School * Affiliated Primary School of Guangzhou Normal School * Liwan Lexianfang Primary School * Shamian Primary School * Guangya Li Primary School * Liwan Baoyuan Zhongyue Primary School * Wenchang Xiang Primary School * Baohua Primary School * Ludixi Primary School * Mingxing Li Primary School * Huangsha Dadao Primary School * Renmin Zhonglu Primary School * Zhoumen Primary School * Shuangqiao Primary School * Liwan Experimental School * Huancuiyuan Primary School * Zhongshan Balu Primary School * Guangya Primary School * Huanshi Xilu Primary School * Longjin Primary School * Baohua Peizheng Primary School * Liwan Huaqiao Primary School * Liwan Xihua Lu Primary School * Zhuji Lu Primary School * Yaohua Primary School * Wenchang Primary School * Jinyan Li Primary School

High schools

* Guangdong Guangya Middle School * Guangzhou No.4 Middle School * Guangzhou Vocational School of Early Childhood Education * Guangzhou No.35 Middle School * Guangzhou No.31 Middle School * Guangzhou Xiguan Foreign Language School (former Middle School ) * Guangzhou No.1 Middle School * Guangzhou Xiehe Senior School (former Guangzhou Normal School ) * Guangzhou Meihua Middle School (former Guangzhou No.59 Middle School ) * Guangzhou No.23 Middle School * Guangzhou No.36 Middle School * Guangzhou No.90 Middle School (emerged into Peiying Middle School ) * Guangzhou Chenjiageng Memorial Middle School (former Guangzhou No.30 Middle School ) * Guangzhou No.23 Middle School * Liuhua Middle School * Guangzhou Nanhai Middle School (former Guangzhou No.11 Middle School ) * Guangzhou No.69 Middle School (Closed; afterwards became the campus of Xianjidong Primary School ) * Guangzhou No.24 Middle School * Xiguan Peiying Middle School * Guangzhou No.100 Middle School (emerged into Guangzhou Nanhai Middle School ) * Guangzhou Liwan Middle School (former Guangzhou No.43 Middle School )

Transportation

Historically, creeks and canals formed the main arteries of transportation in the area. With Guangzhou's

urbanization Urbanization (or urbanisation in British English) is the population shift from Rural area, rural to urban areas, the corresponding decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. ...

, most of these have been filled and paved or built over. The present area's major roads are Renmin Road in the east on the site of Guangzhou's old moat and city walls, Zhongshan Road in the north, and Dongfeng, Huanshi, 623, Nan'an, and Kangwang Roads and Huangsha Avenue. The Pearl River is crossed by the

Zhujiang The Pearl River (, or ) is an extensive river system in southern China. "Pearl River" is often also used as a catch-all for the watersheds of the Pearl tributaries within Guangdong, specifically the Xi ('west'), Bei ('north'), and Dong ( ...

and Renmin Bridges and the Zhujiang Tunnel. A local feature are surviving

granite Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained (phanerite, phaneritic) intrusive rock, intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly coo ...

streets and lanes (), which were used around the Xiguan residences. Xiguan is well connected to the

Guangzhou Metro The Guangzhou Metro ( zh, s=广州地铁, labels=no) is the rapid transit system of the city of Guangzhou in the Guangdong Province of China. It is operated by the state-owned Guangzhou Metro Corporation and was the fourth metro system to be b ...

. Line 1 stops at the

Chen Clan Ancestral Hall The Chen Clan Ancestral Hall or Chen Clan Academy is an academic temple in Guangzhou, China, built by the 72 Chen (surname), Chen clans for their juniors' accommodation and preparation for the imperial examinations in 1894 during the Qing dynast ...

, Changshou Road, and Huangsha; Line 5 stops at Zhongshanba,

Xichang Xichang ( Northern Yi: /o̝˨˩dʐo̝˧/) is a city in and the seat of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the south of Sichuan, China. History The Qiongdu were the local people at the time of contact with China. The county of Qiongdu is ...

, and Xicun; Line 6 stops at the Cultural Park, Huangsha, and Ruyifang; Line 8 stops at the Chen Hall, Hualin Temple, and Cultural Park; and Line 11 stops at Zhongshanba.

Notes

References

External links

Xiguan AccentsCantonese AssociationCantonese Guild HallCantonese Culture Communication Association
{{Authority control Liwan District