Guangzhou & Shenzhen

The Pearl River delta holds three cities within an hour of each other by train. Guangzhou is the old trading port and the home of Cantonese cooking, which is reason enough; Shenzhen was a fishing village in 1980 and is now a city of seventeen million with the architecture to match; Hong Kong is at the mouth. The hotels are new, large and very good, and rates are lower than Shanghai or Beijing for the same brand. Autumn is comfortable; the summer is hot and wet.