Discover Guangzhou
Yuexiu Park
越秀公园
Guangzhou's biggest central park, 650,000 square metres of hills and lakes holding the Five Rams statue that is the city's emblem, the Ming-era Zhenhai Tower and a surviving stretch of city wall.
The story
What makes this place special
Yuexiu Park covers about 860,000 square metres on the hill that marked the northern edge of the old walled city. Zhenhai Tower on the summit stands on the site of a guard tower first built in 1380; the present structure is about 28 metres high and 16 metres wide and has been destroyed and rebuilt five times, and has housed the Guangzhou Museum since 1928. The Five Rams sculpture, carved in 1960 from more than 130 blocks of granite, illustrates the legend of five immortals who rode rams into the city — the origin of Guangzhou's nickname, the City of Rams. A square pavilion of 1948 commemorating the 1911 revolution stands on the site of an earlier 1928 memorial.
What you’ll discover
A large, hilly, well-used city park of lakes, stairs, banyans and sports grounds, with three things to aim for: the Five Rams statue, which is the city's emblem and where everyone photographs themselves; Zhenhai Tower, a five-storey brick tower on the summit holding the city museum, whose top floor gives the only old-fashioned view over the city axis; and a surviving stretch of the Ming city wall running along the hillside below the tower, which is the most interesting and least visited thing in the park. Yuexiu Stadium sits on the park's edge.
A little local insight
Good to know before you go
- The Ming wall section is the part worth finding. It runs on the slope below Zhenhai Tower and is unsignposted in English — this is the only substantial surviving piece of Guangzhou's city wall.
- Zhenhai Tower's museum is small, old-fashioned and arranged chronologically up five floors by stairs; go for the view from the top and the city's pre-colonial story, not for display design.
- Enter from the east gate near Yuexiu Park metro station and work uphill to the tower, then down past the Five Rams and out the south side — going the other way means climbing at the end.
- This is the city's morning park. Before about eight it is full of choirs, dance groups and sword practice, and it is the best place in Guangzhou to watch ordinary life.
- It adjoins the Nanyue tomb site to the east, so the two make a natural half-day on foot.
When to come
Early morning, both for the park's social life and because the hill is hard work in the heat. Autumn and winter are far more comfortable than the humid months.
Getting around
Partly. The lower park, the lakes and the paths around the Five Rams are paved and have gentle gradients, and are usable in a wheelchair with some effort. Zhenhai Tower is on the summit, reached by long flights of steps, and inside it is stairs only with no lift — the tower and its view are out of reach for a wheelchair user and a hard climb on a bad knee. The Ming wall path is uneven and stepped.
Worth knowing before you go
Zhenhai Tower houses the Guangzhou Museum and charges separately; the park itself is free.
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