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Chen Clan Temple
Guangzhou became a part of China in the 3d cent. B.C. Hindu and Arab merchants reached Guangzhou in the 10th cent., and the city became the first Chinese port regularly visited by European traders. In 1511, Portugal secured a trade monopoly, but it was broken by the British in the late 17th cent.; in the 18th cent. the French and Dutch were also admitted. Trading, however, was restricted until the Treaty of Nanjing (1842) following the Opium War, which opened the city to foreign trade. Following a disturbance, French and British forces occupied Guangzhou in 1856. Later the island of Shameen (Shamian) was ceded to them for business and residential purposes, and this reclaimed sandbank with its broad avenues, gardens, and fine buildings was known for its beauty; it was restored to China in 1946.
One tagged place of Guangzhou history is Chen Clan temple. The ancestral temple for the whole clan of the Chen in Guangdong Province, also called Chen Clan Academy, was designed by Li Julin and built from 1890 to 1894, Qing Dynasty when Emperor Guangxu reigned over the country. The whole structure faces the south and covers 15,000 square meters with 6,400 square meters as principal section.
Chen Clan Temple is known for its superb art of decoration for it epitomizes the folk decoration art of Guangdong. It is also famous for “three kinds of carving, three kinds of sculpture and one kind of iron castingâ€, including Stone carving, wood carving, Brick carving, Pottery Sculpture, plaster sculpture, painted sculpture and iron casting.