Yuexiu Hill

A vertical axis runs through the downtown area of Canton, along which many provincial and municipal authorities, commercial centers and famous places of historical interest are distributed. Yuexiu Hill is the north starting point of this axis and home to a large number of historical heritages and tourist spots, such as the Zhenhai Tower and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, both renowned and worth visiting.

The full view of Yuexiu Hill and the surrounding downtown area of Canton captured from the top of the Flower Pagoda at Liurong Temple. (Circa 1930s)

Initially, Yuexiu Hill was named Kun-yam Hill after the Kun-yam Temple, first built to worship the Buddhist Avalokitesvaraon the hilltop. This postcard image shows the archway entrance and the path leading up to the temple. (Circa 1900s)

The Kum-yam Temple (on the top left of the postcard image) was torn down in the 1920s to make way for the construction of the Sun Yat-sen Monument. How the temple looked can only be seen in rare pictorial records such as this postcard. As mentioned in the previous article, most of the ancient city wall was demolished in the 1910s and 1920s during the city's rapid urbanization; only a small part of the wall on Yuexiu Hill was preserved and protected as an historical relic. (Circa 1900s)

The Zhenhai Tower, popularly known as the Five Storied Pagoda, and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and Monument are all important historical relics within the area of Yuexiu Hill. Because of the rich written and pictorial information about these sites, they will be introduced separately in coming issues. (Circa 1900s and 1930s)

(The End)