Guangzhou People’s Park

Cameraman: Liu Jianxing
Host: Ken Xu
Editor: Nicole Cao

Pre-words:
People’s Park is meaningful for Guangzhou locals. For them, it is the extension of “Home”; for people from other places, it is the symbol of opening-up; In the history of Guangzhou, it is a page of resplendence.

Guangzhou is not just a city of history or commerce. It has always also had a reputation for its beauty. The city includes a number of parks and gardens that are worth a visit. “Gong Yuan” means “park” in English. For most of the tube takers, you might be familiar there is a big exchange station named “Gong Yuan Qian” at the crossing point of line 1 and line 2 of Guangzhou metro.. That means in front of the Park…then what part is it? Today we gonna find out.

Clips+ Music

Cantonese all know that ‘Gong Yuan’ refers to People’s Park. Originally the park’s name was Central Park, subsequently First Park, and now People’s Park.

People’s Park in Guangzhou is a popular venue for outdoor Chinese opera. Cantonese Opera is still very popular throughout southern China. The park was a government mansion for over 1300 years. Sun Yatsen suggested it be made into a park after the fall of the Chinese monarchy. Most days it is filled with middle aged joggers and senior citizens watching their pre-school grandkids. When there’s not an opera going on, the park is a good place to watch everyday Chinese life.

People’s park which was located in the center of this city has an area of 100000 square meters.

The park was first opened on October 12th 1921. Shun Ke, the mayor gave a speech in the park at the opening ceremony, and about 200 thousand attended.

The park was a government mansion for over 1300 years.The People’s Park itself is a combination of Eastern and Western architectural styles. From the Sui, around 581-618 to the Qing Dynasty, around 1644-1911 it was site of the local government mansion. In 1917, Sun Yatsen suggested it be made into a park after the fall of the Chinese monarchy. At the suggestion of Sun Yat-sen, it was rebuilt into the First Park, to be used, as might be the case in the West, as a recreational site for the local people. In November 1926, its name was changed to the Central Park, and in 1966 at the beginning of the "cultural revolution" it was renamed the People’s Park. In 1998 the wall between the park and the neighboring Guangdong Provincial Government was knocked down, thus creating a public square.

Long time ago, in Chinese mind, they didn’t know too much about “Park” but “garden”. In 1968, the earliest park in China was built in Shanghai bund. The name was “Wai Bai Du Park” (外白渡公园) which is today’s Huang pu Park. For Chinese at that time, they still stick to the definition of “garden” Even when Sun Yatsen wanted to built a park in Guangzhou, he also used the phrase “garden”.

No matter it’s a garden or it’s a park, for Guangzhou citizens, it’s a place for them to relax and built their social relationships. For Guangzhou citizens, it was a new thing in their life. “Gong Yuan” in Chinese literally means “Public Garden”… So many citizens thought that here was a public area, you could go to anywhere as you like. Cantonese did not know how to protect the park at first. It was even used by soldiers for drill exercises and as a consequence was seriously damaged. In 1923, around Zhongshanwu Lu, many army was settled. For convenience sake, army went to the park nearby for their training. On August 12th 1923, the first park announced visitation rules, which were also the first park rules in China. There are still 6 sculptures spread around the park. The sculptures are the soul of the park and add greatly to its enchantment.

The architecture was simple. However, as the first park in Guangzhou, it still interested many people, especially the youngsters. Before this park was opened, young Cantonese had no large open areas for play except the banks of the Pearl River. The new park also provided a new place for dating at that time.

Reform and opening has brought prosperity to the Cantonese, allowing them the time to cultivate their spiritual pursuits, and enhance their life style and cultural concepts.
Stand Up (城市原点)

Guangzhou’s city origin point is set to be in the People’s Park. From here you can measure all the distances to other parts in this city. Or even the distance from Guangzhou to other cities.
Music+ clips
The Guangzhou People’s Park is always thronged with people dancing, or performing local Yue (short name for Guangdong) Opera, whether at dawn in the humid summer, or at the mild winter’s dusk. The free ballroom dancing classes there attract both young and old dance enthusiasts, whose graceful movements, and dresses swirling to popular music are just one aspect of this city’s transition from old to new, in whose midst can be witnessed a melding of Eastern and Western culture.
Now I am going to have a try. This gentleman is kindly to be my teacher. This is not easy…
Interview
People’s Park in Guangzhou is a popular venue for outdoor Chinese opera. Cantonese Opera is still very popular throughout southern China. Most days it is filled with middle aged joggers and senior citizens watching their pre-school grandkids. When there’s not an opera going on, the park is a good place to watch everyday Chinese life.
Stand Up:…Ending:
Playing with them for all the afternoon, you will understand why this park is called “People’s Park”. It really belongs to people. No matter in the early morning or in the late evening, you are always welcome. Here is a park with wall, a park totally opened to everyone, like this city.