The Humen Bridge in Dongguan, Guangdong Province Photo: IC

Located in South China on the eastern shore of the Pearl River Estuary, Dongguan is a crucial city for Guangdong Province as it serves as both a transportation hub and a port for foreign trade. However, besides its economic prowess, the city also boasts an often overlooked cultural and historical side. Here the Global Times would like to explore these aspects of the city and recommend some places you might want to try out if you're looking to go on a nice relaxing trip.

Places to go

Humen Bridge

A major landmark for Dongguan, Humen Bridge crosses the Pearl River Estuary and is the first large-scale suspension bridge in China. With the suspension section of the bridge spanning 888 meters in length, the bridge took 3 billion yuan ($483 million) and nearly 20,000 tons of steel to build.

Although this bridge was built in 1992 and open to traffic in 1997, it is the river's history that attracts most visitors.

This section of the river was a major battlefield during the First Opium War during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). National hero Lin Zexu sank tons of opium into the river in what would become one of the most renowned events in Chinese history. Lin led military and citizens in Humen to build iron chains hundreds of meters in length to close off the river and prevent enemy warships from entering the river. In 1841, British battleships used their cannons to fire on the Qing military on the shores of the river. The batteries of the Qing Dynasty military are still displayed along the shore.

Weiyuan battery, which is just 2.4 kilometers away from Humen Bridge, is a relic of the Opium Wars and one of the most well-preserved batteries in China. The crescent shaped battery is 360 meters long and 6.2 meters high and filled with cannons from the time period. 

If you're interested in this part of history, a naval battle museum, the Opium War Museum is not that far away from the bridge.  

Songshan Lake

Traveling down the Songshan Lake Binhu South Road, you will be able to enjoy the countless peach, plum and cherry blossoms decorating the numerous trees alongside the nine kilometer-long stretch of road that also includes crape myrtle and lotus flowers. It is like a sea of flowers.

The colorful winding roads, combined with the geography of the valley and islands on the lake, make it a beautiful scene.

There are numerous scenic spots to stop and enjoy such as the peach flower-covered valley known as Taoyuan Park. These scenic spots provide rental boats for visitors to drift along and enjoy the beautiful sight of the lake and flowers. 

Songshan Lake is especially famous for its beauty during rainy and misty weather, especially first thing in the morning. The eight square kilometer lake is surrounded by mountains and often filled with birds flying and twittering upon the lake. In early morning, the nightly rains usually come to a stop and as the sun rises, the lake is covered with a light mist that glows in the sunlight and casts rainbows everywhere. It is like something right out of a storybook. Along the paths around the lake is a lychee forest and gardens filled with various fruits.

If you prefer to spend your day immersing yourself in nature, the Songshan Lake Park is full of natural beauty. Cycling around the park that surrounds the lake and appreciating the rapeseed flowers is recommended by most tourists. Additionally, the park is also the perfect place for friends, family and colleagues to picnic or barbecue on the weekends.

Xiabafang

This is a historical cultural village that gathers artistic creations, designs and entertainment in one place. Some call it Dongguan's version of the 798 Art District in Beijing.

Located in the city's Wanjiang district, Xiabafang belongs to the central ecological entertainment zone and CBD, and boasts a population of 1,750. The village features well preserved ancient buildings from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties. Xiabafang is one of the best preserved "water villages" in the Pearl River Delta and is considered a "museum-like" example of such villages in South China.

Besides architecture, the village has also preserved traditional customs that take place on holidays such as Tomb Sweeping Day and the Dragon Boat Festival.

It's all winding alleys in Xiabafang and nicely decorated restaurants, cafés and bars are everywhere for you to enjoy at your lesiure.

Guanyin Mountain National Park

This park is famous for being the location of the world's largest granite statue of Guanyin, the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. The statue, 33 meters in height and weighing in at 330 tons, took four years to build.

Besides Buddhist statutes and temples, the park also has Taoist temples. Spending some time praying to the gods, appreciating the natural views and taking a deep breath of the clean oxygen-rich air is a great experience that you can only get here. The park also organizes various shows for visitors to enjoy, including  Shaolin martial arts, Buddhist dance, motorcycle riding on steel wires and a car stunt show.

If you are planning to spend a few days here, accommodations, restaurants and shopping is also available in the park.

Dragon-Phoenix Villa

This villa is full of Western styled buildings that reminds one of castles. A famous place for couples to take wedding photos, several famous photographic studios are gathered here.

The villa was established in 2005 and features gardens themed after different places around the world such as Rome, Sicily, Paris and Japan. It looks almost like a mini-Europe has set up shop in Dongguan.

Several flower gardens are filled with roses, lavender, sunflowers and other flowers, they make the perfect background for any photo.

An amusement park is also here and includes go-karts, horse racing and a horror house.

Must-try food

Goose roasted with lychee wood 

To cook this dish, the chef will cut a small opening in the goose and carefully take out its internal organs. After that the chef will fill it with garlic, spices and sugar, seal the goose and inflate it. Spread sauces on the bird, it is allowed to air-dry for three hours and then roasted. It takes five kilograms of lychee wood to roast one goose for 30 minutes. The skin comes out crispy and possesses a fruity flavor.

Crab porridge

Every autumn, the crabs in Dongguan get big and fat. Locals use crab roe to make porridge. This golden colored crab roe is mixed in boiling porridge which locals feel make a tasty and nutritious treat.

Xisha Fish balls

Originating from Xisha village, Dongguan, this dish takes a lot of time and effort. After removing the fish meat from the bones, a person has to beat the meat with two iron sticks for more than six hours, and then roll the results into tiny fish balls. The beating makes the fish meat chewy and tender, and a cooked ball is supposed to bounce as high as a ping-pong ball when dropped.