In the flourishing downtown area of Guangzhou, there is an oasis.  It is the specialty park that mainly cultivates orchids——Lanpu Park.

Lanpu Park is located at North Jiefang Road, facing the beautiful Yuexiu Park at the opposite of the road. It was constructed in 1950 with an area about 40,000 square metres. People will get rid of the noise and disturbance of city in the small world of orchids of different colors and diverse postures.

Lanpu Park is divided into east and west to areas. The east area mainly cultivates orchids. There are near 20,000 pots of orchids of 100 odd breeds. There are rare Spun Gold Horsetail Orchid, Gold-mouth Orchid, Silver-mouth Orchid, White Veins Orchid, Parrot Orchid and Big Treasure Richness Orchid as well as Song Plum Orchid. There are three orchid sheds: the first and the third sheds mainly cultivate earth-grow orchids. At the time of orchids blooming, it is full of fresh fragrance in the air with colorful and showy flowers. The second shed mainly cultivates air-grow orchids that also called foreign orchid (cattleya). They leech on to trunks, walls and trees with aromatic and few flowers. In the west area there are varied pavilions, terraces, and towers and is a good place for visitors to have a rest and drink tea.

A turning path extends to a moon gate that is decorated with an apanese banana leaf. This leaf makes people feel a strong tropical plant sceneries charm is blowing near. And this gate keeps out the front scenes arousing curiosityies of what hidden there. Oh, it is a Tongxin Hall (Same Aroma Hall) there.

Tongxin Hall got the name from the inscription of Zhu De “Orchid and Vanilla Grass have the same aroma”. It is composed of a larger hall and a smaller hall as well as a water pavilion. This hall is near the water, a good place to view the sceneries. It received many important leaders in and out of China, for example: American President Nixon, Cambodia Crown Prince Sihanouk; leaders of China Deng Xiaoping, Zhu De, Dong Biwu, Ye Jianying, Xu Xiangqian, Tao Zhu, Zhang Aiping etc. Some of them sent their own orchids to the park or made inscriptions.

The Bajiao Pavilion reposing in bamboos and trees can hold one hundred odd people. Here visitors can drink tea while enjoying the sceneries strew at random but perfectly in harmony. When the orchids bloom, the charm of “Fragrance of orchids living up the road” can be found here.

Dongshan Lake Park, located at Donghu Road Dongshan District, Guangzhou, is one of the four artificial lakes of Guangzhou.

The name Dongshan comes from a mountain in Xiaodongyuan, north of Guangzhou City at ancient times. This mountain was opposite to the Xi shan (Mountain West ) in northwest of Liuhua Lake and the Beishan (Mountain North) (Mountain Yuexiu) in the north of the city, so it got the name Dongshan (Mountain East). Dongshan Lake is called Donghu for short, corresponding to Xihu in Yaozhou.

Before 1958, it was sewage pond and vegetable field. In April 1958, at the advocating of mayor Zhu Guang, the public in Zhuguang District went to construct the park voluntarily. In 1959, the work completed and opened to the public and named Dongshan Lake Park. This park gives priority to the lake and forms the sightseeing line along the bank. Indialaurel figs are planted along north bank; rose apples, willows, bastard saffons and Chinese redbuds along middle bank. In the lake there are 4 half islands and 2 islands, linking with Nine Turn Bridge, Declining Rainbow Bridge, Arch Bridge, Five Opening Bridge and Three Turn Bridge. When spring comes and flowers bloom, it is very beautiful with the red flowers and green willows, blue waves on the lake surface and thriving trees. It was once been reviewed as one of the “Eight New Sceneries Spots of Guangzhou”.

Nine Turn Bridge is the symbolic architecture of Dongshan Lake Park, having the style of imperial garden. The roadway has twists and turns with light red handrails setting off the green water and adorning the lake into a more beautiful one. Strolling on the bridge you will encounter different scenes at every turn. Boating on the lake with breeze and dimples, you will feel relaxed and happy.

The Five Arch Bridge made of Qingma stone makes visitors feel the openness and quietness and deep of the suburbs; the charm of One Arch Bridge and Declining Rainbow Bridge can be competed to Suzhou Garden; as for the Touching Water Bridge on the green waves, it adds romance to the park. The bridges and waters, shadowy bank and green willows arouse visitors' infinite fancies. Strolling on the bridge or boating on the lake, looking into the distance the magnificent buildings along the Pearl River, viewing closely the charms of water and sky, it is surely a special amusement. It has yachts, fishing tools, dancing pool and skating rink as well as amusement park for the old and children. The park is no doubt an ideal place for entertainment for the visitors in a prosperous city.

Ersha Island is an island at the center of Pearl River and it is located between Guangzhou Bridge and Haiyin Bridge. It is surrounded by water at all sides and scenery is beautiful hospitable. Since the establishment of new China, this island has always been the sports training base of Guangdong province and not a few of world champions have been trained, such as Rong, Guotuan and Chen Jingkai and so on. Now, this island has been constructed into an elegant cultural art center, sports & entertainment center and a high-grade residential district that has “greenness, quietness and beautifulness” as its characteristics. This island is a high-grade villa centralized area and it is said that more than 80% of the residents are foreigners and the working personnel from foreign invested institutions.

As a new attraction in Guangzhou, Danshuikeng Scenic Spot is situated in Nangang Town, Huangpu District, Guangzhou City. It enjoys favorable geographical location, as such important newly-developed projects as Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development District, Guangzhou Huangpu Development Zone, Guangzhou Bonded Zone, Huangpu New Port are located in the area of Nangang Town.

The scenic spot is 20-odd km away in Guangzhou's eastern suburbs, with convenient transportation. Since ancient times, the Buddha Trace Ridge, the Buddha Trace Cave, Eight Attractions in Danshui, the Bronze Drum and Sounding Rock, the Temple of General Yang Si, etc. have been religious, cultural and tourist attractions, with visitors coming endlessly all over the year, well-known home and abroad.

The spot covers an area of 1,200 mu, with elegant natural scenery, strong fairy atmosphere, magnificent lie of the mountains, towering trees, masses of old litchi trees, grotesque stones and caves, murmuring streams, wild flowers that are often in bloom. The Temple of General Yang Si has been selected as a protected relic of the Cultural Bureau of Guangzhou. It is really a good place for development and promoting tourism. Six functional areas have been drafted: the Tonggu Hill, Leisure and Vacation, Danshui Lake, Sports Center, Business and Service, and Entertainment. The human area of the Temple of General Yang Si within the Tonggu HillI Natural Reserve was repaired in October 1995 and open to the public.

Danshuikeng Scenic Spot is to be developed into a key attraction of Guangzhou's tourism, working in concert with Huangpu Military Academy, the Divine Temple of South Sea (Boluo Temple), integrating sightseeing, sports and entertainment, conventions, leisure and vocations.

Address: Danshuikeng Scenic Spot, Nandan, Huangpu(510760)
Tel: 81137173 82230481
Fax: 82230481
Open Time: 8:00 Am to 18:00 Pm
Bus: 210, 227, 292

The Cottonrose Vacation Resort is located at the mountain area north of Huadu District. Its original name for the place is Cottonrose Cliff. At the end of South Song Dynasty, Lai Buyi , Master of Geomantic Omen from Jiangxi Province followed the Dragon trail to come here, discovering that the Dragon Cave was here. It is a geomantic precious place in South Guangdong. He also predicted that “there would be a king bred out from Hua County ”Hong Song was buried here. His grand grand son six generations later Hong Xiuquan had become the “Heaven King” as expected. There are more than 50 hotels and inns, providing accommodation, food and drinks, shopping, entertainment and conference centers. Tourist attractions are scattered all over the resort.

Located at the northeast corner of the reservoir, the West Mountain Fall is falling 100 meters down from the cliff. The width of the water fall ranges to more than 30 meters and it is the biggest natural water fall in Guangzhou. Because of the Dragon Temple on top of the cliff, the water fall is also called Dragon's Liquid. Under the water fall, with the natural falling water, the pool is reformed into the largest natural swimming pool in Guangzhou.

The Dragon's Temple was rebuilt in 1988. There had been an ancient temple here and was burned later. Though small, there was a beautiful story behind the temple.

Standing in the Cotton Peak Square, you face the reservoir down to the southeast, and backed by the main ridge the mountain. Lower in front and higher from behind, this is the place where you have echos in front and support from behind according to geomantic master. The two ridges at both sides are said to be symbols to meet lucks and collect fortune from both sides. They also symbolized the two stretching welcoming arms to the guests. So here is the most respectable and noble position. On top of the peak, you will see cloud waving down at the mountain side and forest chiming in the wind. You can feel the wind from all directions. It is the best place for climbing during the Chongyang Festival.

Forest Park of Mountain Prince stands at the border between Huandu and Qingyuan in the north part of Huadu District. It covers 3,200 hectors. Peaks stand high and low in the forest park. There are abundant plant species and Chinese medicine raw materials, growing exuberantly in the park. The forest is in a natural status without artificial influence and is a Xanadu rarely seen in Guangzhou area. On Mountain Prince, the forest is dense and the scenery is beautiful. Acording to measurement, anion here is as high as 6,400 per cubic centimeter, 10-20 times higher than the urban area. The are quality is always A grade in the park. Mount Prince to the northeast is 572 meters above the sea, ranked the second highest peak in Huadu District and Mountain Yingya to the southwest is 586 meters above the sea and ranked the first in Huadu as well as in Guangzhou.

The Sunny Grass Ski Court is located in the west part of the Cottonrose Resort, occupying 430,000 square meters. It is constructed according to the international standards. The skiing equipment are imported from Italy. You may enjoy the pleasure of skiing on the snow while skiing on the grass here.

Located in Tianhe Road North, the busy commercial and financial street, CITIC Plaza is composed of one 80-storeyed main tower, flanked by two subordinating buildings of 38 stories, together with a 5-storeyed apron building, covering a total land area of 23,000 sq. meters. It measures 391 meters high, crowning Guangzhou again with the highest building of the ‘90s in the country, just following the 63-storeyed GITIC Plaza in Guangzhou.

The GITIC Plaza faces Tianhe Sports Center, with Linhe Road West on the left and Linhe Road East on the right, and Guangzhou East Station and Guangzhou Metro Terminus at the back, plus the splendid China Mayors Tower to the left. Nearby are many restaurants and commercial buildings, including Teem Plaza, Guangzhou Books Center, three large computer centers and several institutions of higher learning.

The subordinating towers are used as offices and apartments, with unit area up to 100 to 200 sq. meters. And the CITIC shopping center is magnificent, with the gorgeous lobby up to 21.3 meters high, decorated with round glass ceiling, much to its grandeur and spaciousness. The 4-storeyed CITIC shopping mall covers a shop area of 34,000 sq. meters, divided by glass with skillful integration, where name brands, e.g. garments and hand ornaments, etc., from home and abroad are sold. Donghai Seafood Restaurant on the third floor is open from morning to midnight. The fifth floor is the club for the rich and powerful, covering an area of 4,500 sq. meters, with complete facilities including those for sports and entertainment, children's playground and swimming pool.

Trafic: Bus No.41, 45, 60, 62, 63 can take you there.