At 9:00 AM, Yuexiu Park was filled with the city's elderly who were performing the usual park activities, taiqi, wushu, ballroom dancing, meditating in front of a tree or lake, kicking a feathered shuttlecock, playing badminton, and cards. I became particularly mezmerized by a couple in their 80s who were playing badminton together as if they could do it with their eyes closed. The rhythm and timing of their strokes were in perfect coordination, almost as if it were a reflection of their relationship with each other.
The park did have some "must see spots" but the 5 goats statue and the Ming-dynasty brick wall were equally underwhelming as was the park's Dai Culture Exhibition featuring a dozen or so plaster displays of the Dai minority people in the midst of daily life.
For lunch, I visited the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees and the Guangxiao Temple, both of which were popular Buddhist temples within close proximity to each other. I noticed nothing of note, however, and went to have lunch at a nearby vegetarian restaurant, of which there are three just around the temples.
The most lively and well-patronized of the three was probably the one along the eastern edge of the Guangxiao temple grounds in the alley just behind the main road. The servers were all genuinely happy and extraordinarily friendly and kind to me though I didn't dine here.
Following lunch, I walked to the Chen Academy or the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall as it is sometimes called and toured the grounds. Only when I arrived there did I realize that it was converted into a Museum for Guangdong Folk Arts sometime during the last century. Perhaps this is why it wasn't demolished during the Cultural Revolution, or perhaps there is an even better reason than that. I found the Academy moderately enjoyable because of its architecture, but was not particularly fond of seeing many of its rooms converted into shops for selling souvenirs according to that particular folk art (i.e. calligraphy, pottery). The main ancestral building did have several glass-encased artifacts which had been part of the original compound, but I would have liked to see how it was actually used when it was built. For example, where did the young Chen boys live when preparing for their examinations there? Since the last Chinese emperor fell less than 15 years after the compound was built, what happened to the "academy" part of this ancestral hall?
That evening, George, Andrew and I enjoyed a chat at the tables in front of the 7-11 and had a modest dinner together at a little shop across the Pearl River. Andrew hated seeing all the beautiful tree limbs along the river covered with as many as 12 lights. He wondered how much electricity was being used to put on the light show along the river. I believe it's common In China for buildings located along rivers to put on neon light shows.
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