Apart from its connection to Guangdong's
Lingnan and
Cantonese culture, Xiguan is famed within China as the site of "
Eastward spread of Western learning" (西學東漸). There are varieties of customs in Xiguan, which are comparatively well conserved among districts in Guangzhou. Customs during the
Chinese New Year, on
Tomb Sweeping Day and
Chinese Valentine's Day, during the
Mid-Autumn Festival, and at the
Winter Solstice are more or less the same as those in other places in Guangzhou. During the
Dragon Boat Festival, some male residents row dragon boats. The area's culture is celebrated in
Dongshan Shaoye's song " and Liao Weili's album
Xiguan. Xiguan is the setting of the
mainland Chinese dramas ''
Kang's Family and Turbulent Xiguan
() and the Hong Kong dramas Point of No Return (2003) and When Easterly Showers Fall on the Sunny West'' (2008).
Architecture Xiguan Residences (), which used to be the residences of wealthy businessmen, are the typical representative of vernacular dwellings in Xiguan. Zhutong ("Bamboo Tube") Houses are traditional houses that are rich in characteristics of Lingnan (a geographical area referring to lands in the south of China's "Five Ranges" which are Tayu, Qitian, Dupang, Mengzhu, Yuecheng. This region covers the Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan and Jiangxi provinces of modern China and northern Vietnam). They are relatively cruder and narrower than a Xi guan (West Customs) house. The width of this type of house is short and the depth is long; the W/L ratio varies from 1:4 to 1:8. The rooms are arranged from front to back with skylights () as intervals thus the shape of a bamboo tube. Ventilation, drainage and traffic are mainly dependent on the skylights and the roadway, i.e. the longer the house is, the more skylights are required. They appear to be one story, but since they can reach a height of 4.5 meters, they always set floor levels and stairways within the house. Stones are used to construct the base of a wall and bricks are used as the body of each wall. They always have a gable, a wooden frame and a tiled roof. Some people claim that arcades () in Xiguan correlate closely to the residences of ancient people living in
Nanyue. They are considered as the trace of
Baiyue stilt house (). On the other hand, some people insist that arcades are structures built in 1925 when streets were extended and roads were constructed on a large scale in Guangzhou. Their design is deemed to have derived from
ancient Greece. Arcades connect houses and make a long path for pedestrians to keep out wind, rain and the glare of sunshine. Arcades seem to be exactly designed for the climate in Guangzhou and meanwhile makes it much more convenient for stores to display their goods and attract customers. This kind of structure has always been the main feature of Guangzhou's commercial atmosphere and has become the sign of Guangdong Street or Canton Street () in other places, such as Jinling Donglu () in
Shanghai. Arcades in Guangzhou first appeared in the area around
Sacred Heart Cathedral on Yide Road (). Later, other business quarters in Guangzhou imitated the example such as
Shangxiajiu, Zhongshan Road, Enning Road () and Renmin Nanlu. The fashions of buildings on Shamian can be divided into four categories:
New Baroque,
Neoclassical,
Veranda, and
Pseudo-Gothic. During the end of the nineteenth century to early twentieth centuries, along the Changdi () and Xidi () of the
Pearl River in Guangzhou, large office and commercial buildings were constructed, which reflected the popular new classical architectural style of the Nineteenth Century Western Countries and have also retained the architectural features of the Grecian and Roman times.
Cuisine Delicacies which have earned the title of
Chinese Famous Food are as follows: Peanut & Sesame Filled Cake of Ronghua Teahouse (),
Double skin milk and
Milk With Ginger Juice of Nanxin, Shrimp
Wonton of Ouchengji, Jidi Congee of Wuzhanji, Ginger Juice & Milk Custard Tart of Qingping Restaurant (), Sweetheart Cake of Lianxianglou Teahouse (),
Rice Noodle Roll With Beef of Yinji and Goose Liver
Boiled Dumplings of Jinzhongge. Delicacies which have earned the title of
Guangzhou Famous Food are as follows: Milk With Ginger Juice of Xinghualou Teahouse, Milk Paste of Fenghuang, Sesame Paste Sweet Dumplings of Rongde,
Sachima of Satangji,
Sampan Congee, Salty Pancake of Dechang, Stuffed Glutinous Rice Dumpling and Burst (Laughing) Deep-fried Pastry Ball of Liangyingji, White Sugar Lunjiao Cake of Guohua, Coconut Ice Cream and
Grass Jelly of Shunji Bingshi (). The
Chinese character is often used in a restaurant's signage, often following the owner's name. For instance, Kaiji is named for its owner Ye Jiankai.
Double-skin milk in
Daliang,
Shunde owns a most famous reputation. The founder of Nanxin () comes from Shunde, and set up a shop in Guangzhou in 1943. The name is actually derived from the cookery and taste. When it is cooked, it appears as there are two skins for the milk. Originally in Guangzhou, the most famous one would be Nanxin store, but it's now combined with other famous snack to be sold. It looks as the white jelly and with sweet taste. Coconut ice cream of Shunji Bingshi is a well-known Xiguan snack. The restaurant was established by a street hawker named Lu Shun in the 1920s. Coconut juice, extracted from fresh coconut meat, diluted milk, eggs and refined white sugar are the ingredients. The delicacies of Shunji have been tasted by heads of foreign states and honored guests such as
Norodom Sihanouk from
Cambodia in the 1950s and 1960s. Since 1956, the restaurant has acquired the title of
Guangzhou Famous Food. Kaiji () is located on Longjin Donglu. Its owner is Ye Jiankai and he is jokingly called
Dousha Kai () because of the restaurant's food. Kaiji's
Tangyuan served with green bean soup and Vanilla green bean soup clear away diners' heat and toxic material and earn a high reputation in Guangzhou. The shop is Ye's grandfather's legacy. Shrimp Wonton Noodle of Ouchengji () is famous. The soup served with this delicacy is the
double-stewed soup made of shrimp-roe, flounder and pig bones. Fresh pork, shrimp and eggs are used in stuffing of the wontons. The wonton wrapper is so thin that wontons appear carneous after being cooked thoroughly, thus called
glass wontons . Jidi Congee () of Wuzhanji (), alternatively called "Sanyuan Jidi Congee" (), has been famous since
Republic of China. Located in
Wenchang Xiang, the restaurant is famous for its variety of congee, Jidi the congee in particular. This congee contains dried beancurd stick, ginkgo and flounder. The congee is also called Sanyuan Jidi Congee for the reason that the numbers of its ingredients in each bowl, namely pork balls, pork liver slices and pork intestine slices correspond respectively to the numbers of
Zhuangyuan,
Bangyan (), and
Tanhua (). Wuzhanji's Jidi Congee earned the title of
Chinese Famous Food in 1997.
Rice noodle roll was originated by the Hexianguan Restaurant in Pantang () during the
Second Sino-Japanese War and it has been a must in Guangzhou's restaurants. Rice noodle roll with beef of Yinji () is the most famous type. Rice milk is steamed into rice pellicle with meat smash, fillet and pork liver on it and the pellicle is rolled and then cut apart. Sampan Congee () comes from
Lychee Bay. It is called Sampan Congee because it was sold by
Tanka people on sampans. Its ingredients used to be only river prawns and slices of fish. Now it has become a commonly seen snack and has gradually become a dish served in restaurants and hotels. Its ingredients are unceasingly updated, with salted jellyfish, peanuts and fried vermicelli. ==Education==