Life of Guangzhou - Guangzhou, My Paradise

As a Gweilo here in China I am constantly being asked, "Which city do you like the best?" Well, honestly, I do not like any city, but there is where the money is and if you are one of those people who is not lucky or born rich then you have to work to survive and save enough to go out into the countryside and hide.

I have traveled the world and the seven seas, seen too many cities and many nice people, most say that there is: the prettiest, the cleanest, the best for food, the oldest, the richest, etc. All these things one wants in the place you call home. Well believe it or not, I think that Guangzhou is the bee's knees, sure it is not perfect, but then if it was, everyone would come here and then like so many other great places I have seen and are no more.

Women play fan dance in a Guangzhou's park (Guangzhou Daily)

What do I see in GZ? First and foremost is the revolutionary spirit. In the last 5 years I have witnessed a complete change from a dirty, stinking, soulless metropolis that reminded me more of London during the industrial revolution or Mexico City instead of a place I would want to be. The skies were gray and smell all day; you could see the air in the streetlights at night. Doing business was terrible too, credit cards and checks were some foreign scam and one always had to have a translator. If you wanted to see an English movie, eat some good western food, see a doctor, go to a concert or art exhibition, you had to go to Hong Kong.

Newcomers to GZ would think I am lying, as the present day GZ is a far cry from what we had to put up with just 5 years ago. These changes have been monumental, swift, well planed and executed. The quality of the air has improved dramatically, that's why I can see blue skies and blue stars again and I don't have to leave the city.

I doubt if Mao would swim in the Pearl River just now, but every year local authorities are building more water treatment plants and enforcing their anti-pollution laws. What the local government has done to unlock the urban gridlock is truly amazing. The most modern subway in the world, a brand new ring road, rebuilding and designing all the precious congestion spots and last but not least, traffic lights and signs! 5 years ago there was all of 2 traffic lights here.

The Xinghai Concert Hall (Guangzhou Daily)

All this in turn makes life here much better when you want to go around the city and sample some of the many new and old sights to see. You cannot count all the new restaurants, bars and clubs that have sprung up. No longer is the Hard Rock Café the only place in town with a good band. The Xinghai Concert Hall is not only one of the best in the world, but musicians from all over the world come here to play. The same can be said for its neighbor, the Guangdong Art Museum, a masterpiece of architecture with exhibits from all over the world. It could easily be world class, if they were at lease use pinyin on title cards of the works of art.

When I see all the things you can use with smart cards and credit cards makes me smile remembering when I first tried to use my visa card here, they thought that it was a very nice name card! I no longer need a neither translator nor picture menu to order or get around town as there are English menus, signs and speakers everywhere these days. There are now English language newspapers, magazines, TV & radio programs. But also no Playboy, yet. Sometimes I am better understood in English than when I try speaking putongua here. All the young, up and coming business people speak English which makes doing business all that easier for us Gwielos.

No need to go to HK anymore, the same films get shown here and the profusion of live music here has HongKongers coming here to be entertained. Western fast food is here with vengeance, however fine western dining still is in a void. Getting ill is always a pain, but now we have several modern clinics and hospitals that cater for foreigners. Housing has exploded on the scene with prices plummeting to reasonable levels. Still need some work on interior design and layout, but as I mentioned before, the revolutionary spirit and the ability to adopt is one of the reasons I know GZ is home.

So now when I get popped the perpetual question, I don't tell them GZ, I usually say Shanghai or Beijing as I don't want all those people coming here and messing up my paradise again.

(By Bruce McLeod, by the courtesy of Guangzhou Morning Post and the Guangzhou Publishing House)