Lingnan Impression Park

The Lingnan Impression Park, covering an area of 40.7 acres (16.5 hectares), is located on the south part of Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center on Small Guwei Island. 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). Houses and temples are to be seen in traditional Cantonese style on both sides of the park’s main street – Lianxi Street. Walking down this street, visitors may feel they are in an old Guangzhou city.

Interesting Places to See

Featured Walls

Artisan local walls are an intrinsic part of the park experience. The main features for local constructions lie along the walls, Wok Handled Shaped Wall (Huo’er Wall), and the Oyster Shell-made Wall. It has been said that this kind of wall would bring descendants fortune and good luck in official career for hosts. The oyster shells were widely used in local architectures to keep warm as well as for drainage, so residences liked using them on the wall. Today, these two kinds of walls can hardly be seen in modern architectures, but can only be seen here along Lianxi Street.

Fok Family Big Ancestral Temple and Xiao Family Big Ancestral Temple

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 TV series filming site

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.

Hong Kong & Macau Specialty Stores

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.

Paper-cutting crafts, wood carving lanterns, Guangzhou decorative porcelains, Xinhui’s famous crafts made by Chinese fan palm, Foshan’s wood engraving, silk crafts, ivory carvings, etc. can all be seen along Lianxi Street. Visitors can learn about the manufacturing process of these crafts at source, and learn first-hand from time-served masters.

After one reaches the end of Lianxi Street, they can choose to climb the Lookout Tower, which is the best location to see the park’s panorama.

If one feels hungry while traveling, authentic Cantonese meals are served in the park. Representative restaurants: Cantonese Restaurant, Lianxi Restaurant, Lianxi Tea House, and Liwan Tingzai Porridge Restaurant, are the optimal choices. The mouthwatering food, such as Liwan Sampan Porridge, Jook-sing Wonton Noodles, rice noodles with sirloins, and a plethora of diverse foods to tempt the palate of the most culinary uninspired and satisfy your appetite.

If one feels tired, they can choose to see shows in the park. Puppet shows, shadow plays, Impression Pearl River, Impression Lingnan, etc. is provided. Behind Lianxi Street, another attraction, Big Banyan Paradise, is also a great place for refreshing. Nearby, there is good fishing, barbeque your catch that evening, and invite friends round to have a great time.

Transportation:

By Bus:

Take Holiday Special Line 5 to Lingnan Impression Park Station or Line 86 or 310 to Daxuecheng Guanggong General Terminal and walk about 218 yards (200m) to the park.

By Subway:

Take Subway Line 4 to reach Higher Education Mega Center South Station and get out of the station from Exit B. Then walk along Daxuecheng Zhongwu Road for about 874 yards (800m) to the park. (During weekends and holidays, free shuttle buses are operated between this subway station and the park with interval around 10 minutes.)