Lingnan Impression Park

Lingnan Impression Garden, formerly known as the University City Museum, is located at Higher Education Mega Centre in Panyu District. Covering an area of 40.7 acres (16.5 hectares), its construction is based upon the original local Lianxi Village and it epitomizes the culture of the Lingnan area (a region that refers to the modern Chinese Provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hong Kong and Macau). Lingnan Impression Garden is a place in Guangzhou filled with numerous traditional alleys, Lingnan architecture, ancestral halls, and folk residences and so on. If you have an interest in Guangzhou and its culture beyond food and shopping, you will find this a worthwhile attraction.

The park resembles an old town, with beautiful traditional buildings, a lake with a shadow puppet pavilion and a main street full of attractions, including an open air opera house. While many of the buildings are for hawking things, the objects they sell usually are tied in with local culture. It is worth exploring any open door since some exhibitions may be located a bit off the main street. There are art, history, food displays and live shows from opera to puppet theatre.

There are eight ancestral temples in the park and the most famous ones are the Fok Family’s and Xiao Family’s. The original Lianxi Village is the ancestral home of Henry Fok, so his family temple is in the village. His ancestral temple, first built in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and repaired in 2002, is still in service today. Inside, visitors can trace the footprint of Henry Fok’s ancestors. During Qingming Festival and Dragon Boat Festival, sacrifices are held by the Fok Family in the temple. The Xiao Family Big Ancestral Temple is now a martial arts museum, where visitors can enjoy professional Lion Dance performances.

Chen Mengji (1820-1888) was a locally famous lawyer in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). The filming site includes Chen’s residence, and an administration area, which is a good place to understand the daily life of a local rich family. All the furnishings and decorations inside the house are arranged following the traditional style. Visitors can play as a lord of the house to experience how the wealthy people’s life was lived in historical times.

Inside the park, there are specialty stores called Hong Kong Stories and Macau Stories in which classic items representing the two cities are sold. These two stores open a window to modern people to learn more about the two cities’ history. Items related to casinos, churches, and those being used in daily time are placed in the Macau Stories. Hong Kong Stories sells food of Hong Kong, where different kinds of snacks such as almond cake, moon cake, tea, etc. can be found.

Besides the four representative places, visitors can walk along Lianxi Street to find Guangdong traditional daily items used, and many artware. The Chinese Wine Brewery is renowned for traditional wine production craftsmanship. In Guangzhou Daily Newspaper Hall, visitors can read the newspapers with traditional Chinese characters and see the ancient printing machines used. An Old Photo Studio will arouse your curiosity about black-and-white photographs and old cameras, and one can even try to develop a photo by themselves.

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