Live Your Best Lives
Nanfanshun has always been the representative of Lingnan Cantonese culture and has been a land of fish and rice since ancient times.
Shunde is crisscrossed with rivers, forming a network of waterways. Fengjian Water Village, a recent and popular attraction, is a key project and is now internationally renowned, attracting numerous tourists. Another destination, just as famous, though less renowned, is Huanglian Ancient Village, my destination for this trip!
Coptis chinensis has the same name as the traditional Chinese medicine. It is said that there is a small story behind the origin of the name. This place was originally formed by the washing of the beach and its shape resembles a lotus pond. Most of the local residents have the surname Huang, so they chose the word "Lian" which means "connection and accessibility" to replace "Lian" and named the village Huanglian.
Huanglian Community is actively innovating the "Cantonese Chef + Tourism" model, leveraging rural tourism to delve into traditional Cantonese cuisine and promote the development of premium food and cultural tourism routes. This has created a comprehensive cultural tourism town that integrates the charm of a waterside village, cultural industries, and food tourism. As a renowned Cantonese chef village in Guangdong, Huanglian Community boasts a rich culinary culture. Grab a Huanglian food map and follow me as I explore the community and explore the restaurants on my own.
When talking about Huanglian's ice flower plum sauce, we have to first mention Zhen Tianji Food Factory, which was established in 1986. It was a typical family workshop at that time, and now it is a factory that mainly produces ice flower plum sauce.
Ice Flower Plum Sauce is a sour plum sauce enhanced with ginger and chili peppers, elevating its nutritional value and flavor. Coptis chinensis ice flower plum sauce boasts three key benefits: moisturizing the throat, relieving fatigue, and anti-aging. It can be mixed with warm water to relieve summer heat and quench thirst. It's also a delicious way to make delicious dishes like roast goose, pork knuckles, pork ribs, and grilled chicken wings.
The famous Golden Medal Suckling Pig, a Lingnan specialty food, has been in the shop for over 20 years. Reservations are required in advance. The suckling pig is roasted and eaten immediately. The suckling pig is golden in color, with dense sesame-like bubbles, crispy and tender skin, and thick fat under the crispy skin.
The signature sesame chicken has crispy skin, tender meat, rich sauce flavor, bright red color, and the chicken is sprinkled with sesame seeds, which is very delicious.
Steamed spareribs with plum sauce, a district-level intangible cultural heritage. Zhen Tianji's icy plum sauce is a district-level intangible cultural heritage. Having eaten sour plum goose many times, this was my first time eating sour plum spareribs. It was sour at first, then sweet and finally salty, giving the spareribs a different flavor.
Tips:
🏠Zhen Tianji-Deqingju
📌Address: No. 8 Huanglian Huanxiao Road, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province (4th Floor, Zhen Tianji)
⏰Business hours: 11:00-14:00, 17:00-22:00
Do you often see pot cakes sold on the street for 1 yuan each? They're actually made with water chestnut flour. On Huanglian Old Street in Shunde, there's Zhuji Pot Cake, a decades-old shop known for its traditional methods of making sweet soups and snacks.
The restaurant isn't large, with just a few tables and about 20 seats. It's simply decorated but clean. A photo of founder Wu Erzhu and the slightly yellowed word "inheritance" hang on the wall. Zhu Ji has no branches, so this is the only one. It's incredibly popular, frequented by locals. Their offerings are limited daily and sold while supplies last, so if you go too late, you might not be able to find much variety.
Zhuji Pot Cake, order a small portion. Zhuji Pot Cake is actually glutinous rice cake, steamed in a traditional pot, covered with shredded coconut and nuts. When you pull it with chopsticks, it is really soft and sticky, very tough, does not stick to your teeth, and is a bit sweet, similar to rice cake.
The signature ginger milk, the guy brings a pot of fresh milk and a bowl of ginger juice to the table, and brews it on the spot. The rich milky aroma is fragrant. Cover the bowl and open it after three minutes. A bowl of ginger milk with a strong ginger flavor and a smooth taste is out.
Zhuji is famous for its mung bean soup. The traditional method of making mung bean soup lies in the addition of "stinky grass". It is paired with tangerine peel, terminalia, and a nest egg. The mung bean soup is thick and soft. The addition of terminalia and nest egg is very innovative. Haha, a big bowl, eat slowly.
Tips:
🏠Chu Kee Pot Cake
📌Address: No. 18, Jianshe West Road, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province
⏰Opening hours: 2:00 PM - 10:00 PM
🚌Bus: Buses 363, 364, and 912 to Huanglian Neighborhood Committee
In the Huanglian Community of Leliu Street, there is a Lianxi Meidian restaurant with a sign hanging in front of the door that reads "Guangdong specialty food, Leliu traditional dim sum, and Huanglian ancestral craftsmanship."
The shop is on the first floor of a small, multi-story building. It turns out this building is also the owner's home. The first floor is used as a shop, and the upper floors are used for living. The factory is nearby, and there is only one shop, no other branches. The owner is a man in his 70s, in very good spirits and very talkative. It turns out that when he was young, he learned cooking in Guangzhou, and later returned to his hometown of Huanglian to develop his career.
The shop insists on using traditional methods to make dim sum, without adding additives or preservatives, and carefully selected ingredients. It mainly does business with the neighbors, and the beer is very good. The owner runs the business himself, and he has a very good attitude and is full of human touch.
It's more about the persistence of a craftsman. Such old craftsmen are rarely seen in the city. What you buy is not just a product, but also your health. They would rather make less money than lose their conscience. They are very respectable people.
In 2021, Crystal Cake was awarded the title of "Shunde Gold Medal Famous Snack" by UNESCO, which is quite valuable.
Cantonese crystal cakes are a traditional Guangdong dim sum. Their translucent, chewy crust is both visually appealing and delicious, with a texture that's both crispy and soft. The pancakes are so transparent that you can clearly see the fillings inside, which typically include peanuts, sesame seeds, and red beans. The translucent crust is made from chengmian (a gluten-free wheat flour).
Tips:
🏠Lianxi Beauty Dian
📌Address: No. 5-1, Huangzhong North Road, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province
⏰Opening hours: 09:00~22:00
🚌Bus: Buses 363, 364, and 912 to Huanglian Neighborhood Committee
Shunde is known as the "Hometown of Eels in China". Eels have been farmed there since 1984. Shunde eels are slender in shape, with small eyes, pointed mouths, wide tails, a bluish-blue back and a white belly.
When you're in the land of origin, you have to try it. This clay pot rice restaurant is a 22-year-old establishment, featuring antique-style mahogany round tables and chairs, all polished and clean. It's cooked to order, so you'll have to wait 20-25 minutes after placing your order. During the restaurant's anniversary celebration, the stew is on sale for 9.9 yuan per pot. The clay pot rice with eel isn't cheap either, with regular clay pot rice starting at 20 yuan.
The combination of preserved meat and grilled eel is a must-try at this restaurant, and you can order anything you want, regardless of the menu. The clay pot rice is incredibly fragrant once the lid is opened. The portion is small, only half the size of the clay pot, or about a bowl and a half of rice. The eel is tender and succulent, with a unique and fragrant flavor and a moderate fat content. The preserved meat is average, and the rice is fragrant, perfectly soft, and not burnt.
Tips:
🏠Enjoy the clay pot rice
📌Address: No. 5, Huangzhong North Road, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province
⏰Opening hours: 11:00-14:30, 17:00-21:00
🚌Bus: Buses 363, 364, and 912 to Huanglian Neighborhood Committee
The Huanglian Village History Museum covers an area of about 320 square meters. The museum uses ten major sections, including the history and evolution of Huanglian, successive leaders, economic history, clan composition, cultural relics and buildings, outstanding talents, folk customs, and intangible cultural heritage projects, to showcase the spiritual outlook, historical contributions and role played by Huanglian, the thousand-year-old cultural hometown, in various development periods.
Huanglian's Cantonese embroidery, water lily (Dystices), and delicious food are renowned. Every year, Huanglian hosts dragon parades and water lily races to promote its traditional water town culture. Huanglian Cangju customs and water lily (Dystices) parades have become representative items of Foshan's intangible cultural heritage.
Tips:
🏠Huanglian Village History Museum
📌Address: About 130 meters northwest of Chaoyang Kindergarten (Xiaodi Street), Xiaodi Avenue, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province
🚌Bus: Buses 363, 364, and 912 to Huanglian Neighborhood Committee
Guangdong embroidery is one of the four famous embroidery styles in China. Shunde Guangdong embroidery is a significant example of its craftsmanship, with exquisite embroidery pieces that resemble paintings, sold both domestically and internationally.
"Every family has an embroidery frame and every household has an embroiderer" was the grand occasion of embroidery at that time.
Some say that for this reason, all men in Huanglian are involved in the kitchen, hence the name "Hometown of Chefs." With the impact of mechanization, the Guangdong embroidery industry has gradually declined and has become an intangible cultural heritage. In 2017, the Huanglian Guangdong Embroidery Heritage Society was officially established, providing a platform for skilled embroiderers and enthusiasts to pass on and develop their craft.
Tips:
🏠Shunde Guangdong Embroidery Heritage Society
📌Address: No. 56, Xiaodi Street, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province
🚌Bus: Buses 363, 364, and 912 to Huanglian Neighborhood Committee
The Huanglian Industrial Heritage Park, featuring restored and revitalized red brick buildings, allows visitors to further understand the industrial history of Huanglian. The park was created by revitalizing several former factories representing the Huanglian industry, including the former Huatianbao Pharmaceutical Factory and Xirong Charcoal Shop.
Tips:
🏠Huanglian Industrial Heritage Park
📌Address: No. 1, Lane 3, Kangningli Street, Shenjiao, Shunde District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province
🚌Bus: Buses 363, 364, and 912 to Huanglian Neighborhood Committee
Huanglian Water Village isn't called that for nothing. The most prosperous areas of Huanglian Street are along the banks of a river. After river management, the water is crystal clear. Every year, Huanglian hosts events like dragon boat parades and dragonfly races to promote its traditional water village culture. Boat tours are also on the agenda. Next time you visit, you might want to take a boat tour of Huanglian and take in the scenery on both sides.
Shishijiao, a famous wharf in Huanglian, also known as He Yiyantang Wharf, was once a prosperous commercial village. The nearly 500-year-old stone lions and the ancient ferry terminal bear witness to the bustling scene of ships in the past. The stone lions, one male and one female, are a family of three, each with a cub. This is the largest and most complete Ming Dynasty stone lion in Shunde.
Charging stations are also built in the community to facilitate self-driving tourists to charge their cars. Parking is currently free in the community. Try not to park in the aisles to avoid blocking traffic. It is said that parking fees will be charged later.
To build a cultural and tourism town, the signposts are also very complete.
This was the most prosperous street in the past. The entire street was paved with stone slabs, and it is still a very prosperous alley now.
Wander through the alleys of Huanglian and savor its millennia-old culture. There are many ancient buildings scattered throughout the streets and alleys of Huanglian.
Xuepu School. Huanglian has historically produced numerous talented individuals, including 11 Jinshi (Jinshi) and 25 Juren (Juren) scholars. Hidden within "Chicken and Duck Alley" is a historic school built in the 1940s. Once a school for the nobility, Xuepu School, steeped in the nostalgic atmosphere of the Republic of China era, was renovated into Huanglian Community College in 2015 and now houses Luo Junqing's Dulong Needle Intangible Cultural Heritage Studio.
Huanglian Painters Art Village, Xuepu School is an aristocratic school, and the location of Huanglian Painters Art Village is the former common people's school. The village was officially opened in 2018 and covers an area of about 3,200 square meters. It is an important symbol of the revitalization of the Huanglian ancient village and an important project for Huanglian to revitalize its traditional culture.
Currently, the village has 13 resident painter studios and 10 mobile artist creation stations, a professional exhibition hall with a 127-meter exhibition line, six professional Chinese and Western painting classrooms and large-scale work creation studios, etc. It has planned dozens of high-level art exhibitions.
Aoxin Street, located in the center of Huanglian Community, is the earliest street built in Huanglian. It is known as "the largest Aoxin Street in Huanglian" and is an important historical and cultural area in Huanglian.
The original cement pavement on Ao Xin Street was dug up and paved with granite to improve the streetscape. Ao Xin Street, home to a concentration of historical buildings such as old ancestral halls and schools, was transformed into a "Danqing Art and Culture Street."
The Ho Clan Ancestral Hall in Ao Sum is a centuries-old ancestral hall for aristocrats and dignitaries. It earned the nickname "Osmanthus Ancestral Hall" because of the large, beautiful, and fragrant osmanthus trees that bloom here. It has now been revitalized as the "Harbour Home" integrated service center, housing the Zhou Chaozong Library, a calligraphy association, and a social work center, making it a popular destination for leisure and entertainment.
The Huanglian Food Tour, a fusion of Huanglian's culinary culture and intangible cultural heritage, allows visitors to experience the rich history and culture of Huanglian, the charm of Shunde's intangible cultural heritage, and appreciate the beautiful and civilized village. However, there are still many places I haven't explored in detail, so I'll save them for another visit!
