Eye On Guangdong Series

[Video] Eye on Guangdong series

Our sixth regional series, Eye on Guangdong, explores the province’s history as China’s gateway to the world, Cantonese culture and cuisine, Guangzhou and Shenzhen’s economic and technological rise, and much more!

02 Sep 2026

[Photos] Guangdong: Where China first looked outward

From an isolated southern frontier to China’s main gateway to the maritime world, Guangdong’s early encounters with foreign traders, armed sea powers and overseas migration laid the foundations for its later role as a cradle of reform. Historical photo collector Hsu Chung-mao traces the early history of Guangdong in ThinkChina’s Eye on Guangdong series.

Hsu Chung-mao

01 Sep 2026

Rojak roots: What it means to be Singaporean

Cantonese and Hokkien, Malay and English; kampung food, Hong Kong television, Manchester United and the Catholic faith. Tracing the people, languages and cultures that shaped her, ThinkChina’s Candice Chan reflects on a thoroughly mixed — and thoroughly Singaporean — inheritance in ThinkChina’s Eye on Guangdong series.

Candice Chan

31 Aug 2026

Building for family glory: Guangdong’s architecture of success

The Chen Academy in Guangzhou and Ruishi Lou in Kaiping county were built with sophisticated techniques from wealth earned or migrant funds sent home. Architecture professor Ho Puay Peng takes us on a tour of these fine examples of Lingnan architecture in ThinkChina’s Eye on Guangdong series.

Ho Puay Peng

31 Aug 2026

Truffles and gold leaf can’t save dim sum: What the masters know

However much dim sum — bite-sized morsels originating in Guangdong province — is reinvented, the patience and fortitude that goes into the craft and the sincerity of the hands that make it remain paramount, observes writer Tan Pin Yen in ThinkChina’s Eye on Guangdong series.

Tan Pin Yen

28 Aug 2026

[Video] Was Cantonese really the language of Tang poets?

With copious research into the vivid histories of Hong Kong and Guangzhou, academic Lian-Hee Wee and researcher Winnie HY Cheung trace a quirky timeline of the evolution of the Cantonese language in ThinkChina’s Eye on Guangdong series.

Lian-Hee Wee, Winnie HY Cheung

28 Aug 2026

How Guangzhou and Shenzhen weathered Trump’s tariff storm

Guangzhou and Shenzhen, manufacturing and technology engines of Guangdong province, were hard-hit by Trump 2.0 tariffs, but they managed to bounce back or even hold steady with resilience under pressure. Economics professor Jiang Kun gives her analysis in ThinkChina’s Eye on Guangdong series.

Jiang Kun

26 Aug 2026

How did Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou become the world’s number one tech hub?

The Global Innovation Index published by the World Intellectual Property Office puts the Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou innovation cluster in first place. The tech hub’s unique combination of strengths has allowed it to surpass the usual suspects in Silicon Valley, observes academic Erik Baark in ThinkChina’s Eye on Guangdong series.

Erik Baark

25 Aug 2026