Why Yuexiu Park is the heart of Guangzhou
You climb a shaded path under old banyan trees, turn left at the foot of the hill, and there it is, full-on: the Five Rams Statue, eleven metres tall, the central ram with ears of rice held in its mouth and four more crouched around it on the rock, a bed of bright red flowers ringing the base. This is not just a pretty sculpture. It is the official emblem of the entire city — the reason Guangzhou has been called the "City of Rams" for more than two thousand years.
That is the way into Yuexiu Park — the largest central park in Guangzhou, roughly 860,000 square metres of three man-made lakes and seven hills stacked together. But what sets this park apart from an ordinary green space is the way history layers up inside it: the city's founding myth, a Ming-dynasty watchtower from 1380, and the only surviving stretch of Guangzhou's old city wall, all behind the same fence.
What makes Yuexiu worth your time is that it works as a local backyard and an open-air history lesson at once. In the morning you will find older residents doing tai chi, dancing and rehearsing Cantonese opera by the lakes; visitors photograph the five rams and climb Zhenhai Tower for a view over the city. And — this matters — the park is free. Only the museum inside the tower charges a small entry fee.
