My First Time in Guangzhou, China… I Wasn't Expecting This! 🇨🇳

Guangzhou is one of China's biggest and most fascinating cities. With a population of more than 18 million people, it is the capital of Guangdong province and one of the country's most important economic and cultural centers. It has over 2,200 years of history, but at the same time, it's home to futuristic skyscrapers, beautiful parks, and some of the most impressive modern architecture in China. In this video, we are going to explore the modern side of Guangzhou. We'll visit its famous landmarks, walk through beautiful pedestrian streets, enjoy incredible skyline views, and see why millions of people visit the city every year. Let's begin our adventure. We arrived in Guangzhou early in the morning after taking China's high-speed train in business class. It was an incredibly comfortable journey. If you would like to see what business class on a Chinese bullet train is really like, make sure to check out the separate video on my channel. As soon as we arrived, we headed straight to our hotel to check in. Before we even reached our room, we had our first little surprise. A delivery robot was quietly making its way through the hallway, bringing food directly to one of the guests. It was such a fun welcome to Guangzhou and another reminder of how technology has become part of everyday life in China. This was our room for the next two nights. Okay, so this is our room. There are two beds we have. It looks clean and nice. And this is the sofa. And this is the view. Wow, the view is just amazing here. Some water, coffee and tea. The fridge. Got some water here. The TV. So it's air-conditioned. Very smart light here. So you can open the curtain. You can close the curtain. Sleep mode. Bright mode. And atmosphere mode. Yeah, here you can also plug in your phone for different USB cables. So this is wonderful. Oh, they even provide some USB cables here. And that's very helpful. So this is the adapter. That's great. That looks very beautiful. The mirror looks very beautiful and modern. And this is the shower. You can see what they've got here. We've got the shampoo, the conditioner, the shower gel. That looks amazing. You've got all the towels. I'm glad that we have already checked in and now ready to explore Guangzhou. This hotel also offers the afternoon tea. So let's see what they have here. Okay, so we can get some fruits. Some coffee. Orange juice, coke, Sprite. This is just hot boiling water. Let's see. Okay, this row is some tea. Yeah, this is the tea. You can make the tea in this tea kettle. These are the tea options. For example, like dragon well tea. Some lemon slices. Jasmine tea. Nice. So they have here some white rice. Smells good. I don't know what this is, but it smells good. They have some cookies. They have some sweets. Pineapple kernels. Today I saw a very unusual thing. So they had some rice. Just simple plain rice. I got this for my son and I saw something unusual. I read the name of it, I forgot. But at the beginning I said I'm gonna write on the screen. So look, it's something like jelly-like. It has unusual texture. So I'm gonna try it. Yeah, that's... It has a pleasant taste. It's sweet and kind of... I don't know how to explain. A little bit kind of jelly-like thing. That's delicious. When we first stepped outside, it was raining quite heavily. For a moment we thought our plans had changed and that we would spend the afternoon hiding inside of one of Guangzhou's huge shopping malls. But luckily the rain slowly stopped. So we changed our plans once again and headed toward one of the Guangzhou's most famous landmarks, Canton Tower. After leaving the mall, we started walking through Zhujian New Town, the modern heart of Guangzhou. This area immediately showed us a completely different side of the city. We were surrounded by impressive skyscrapers, modern architecture, luxury hotels and wide streets designed for a fast-growing international city. Zhujian New Town was developed as Guangzhou's new central business district. Just a few decades ago, this area looked completely different. But today it has become one of the most important financial and cultural areas in the city, home to offices, shopping centers, museums and some of Guangzhou's most iconic buildings. The walk itself was already an experience. Tall glass skyscrapers surrounded us from every direction. The streets were full of people heading home after work, tourists exploring the city and countless electric scooters passing by. They moved surprisingly fast, so we had to stay alert while crossing sidewalks. It's amazing to think that Guangzhou is one of China's oldest cities. It has existed for more than 2,200 years and has been an important trading port for centuries. Today, more than 18 million people call it home. Yeah, that's great. Thank you. Over the past few decades, Guangzhou has transformed into one of China's most modern cities. Entire new districts have been built, filled with impressive skyscrapers, luxury hotels, shopping centers and wide public spaces. The area around Huaqiang Square is a perfect example of how the city combines rapid development with thoughtful urban design. Imagine like you're living in one of these apartments. How many floors are there? Guangzhou isn't just famous for its impressive skyline. It's also one of China's biggest manufacturing and business centers. For decades, products made in and around Guangzhou have been shipped all over the world. The city is part of the Pearl River Delta, one of the largest manufacturing regions on Earth. Everything from electronics and clothing to furniture, home goods, toys, machinery and auto parts is produced in this area. Guangzhou is also home to the world-famous Canton Fair, China's largest trade exhibition. Twice a year, hundreds of thousands of business people from around the world come here to meet suppliers, discover new products and sign business deals worth billions of dollars. But what makes Guangzhou especially interesting is the contrast. It's not only the city of factories and international trade. It's also full of beautiful parks, modern architecture, vibrant shopping districts, excellent food and a rich history stretching back more than 2,000 years. It's a city where business, innovation and everyday life come together, making Guangzhou one of the most important and influential cities in all China. As we got closer, we could already see Canton Tower rising above the skyline. The atmosphere immediately changed. The busy streets disappeared, replaced by wide pedestrian walkways, open green spaces and peaceful plazas. There were almost no cars or scooters here. It felt like this area was designed simply for people to slow down, relax and enjoy the incredible views. Right now I'm walking at the Zhujiang New Town. This area is Guangzhou's modern heart. You can see here modern skyscrapers, wide pedestrian streets, beautiful parks and plenty of cafes. So this area is really good for just taking a walk and enjoying the city vibe. And really I'm just impressed by these extremely tall skyscrapers. They're so tall and so modern, so beautiful. And right behind me, I don't know if you can see, I think yeah you can see, right behind me is the Canton Tower. So we arrived here, let me see what time is it now. Yeah, it's 6 p.m. So it's like one more hour before it gets dark. So this tower and all these buildings are gonna light up. So we are waiting for that time. And yeah, I'm so excited for these beautiful views. And the name of the square where I'm walking right now is Huaqiang Square. So yeah, this is really like worth visiting. It's extremely beautiful, very modern. Let me just show it to you. Let's try the Burger King in Guangzhou. So I got my cheeseburger. Hello, good evening. How are you? Good evening. How are you today? Wow, let me see. Wow, two towers. Okay, I will record now, yeah. Let me record. Canton Tower is much more than just a tall building. It has become the symbol of modern Guangzhou and represents the city's incredible transformation from an ancient trading port into one of China's most innovative and dynamic megacities. The tower was completed in 2010 for the 2010 Asian Games, which were hosted by Guangzhou. It was built to showcase the city's rapid development and growing importance on the world stage. How much? Arjan, can you show? Don't shake, just show. Look, this one, this is a souvenir because this tower... This tower is like this one. You see? Look over there. Do you see a tower over there? The big one? So this is like this, the same. It's called... This one is called Canton Tower. This is a small Canton Tower. That one is a big Canton Tower. See? So beautiful. Guys, really, I'm just impressed by the beauty of this tower. It's an extremely beautiful view here and it's really nice to take a walk in this area. The weather is actually so nice. It was raining today and I thought, that's it, we are not going to get anywhere. But then the rain stopped and the weather became really nice. So it's extremely beautiful here. And the tower is right here, so close to us. Canton Tower. Standing 604 meters, 1982 feet tall, Canton Tower was once the tallest tower in the world and is still one of the tallest towers ever built. Its unique twisting shape, often called the slim waist, was inspired by the idea of movement and elegance, making it one of the most recognizable landmarks in China. Today, Canton Tower is one of Guangzhou's biggest tourist attractions. Millions of visitors come here every year to enjoy its observation decks, restaurants and spectacular nighttime light show. From the top, you can see breathtaking views of the Pearl River and the endless skyline of this remarkable city. For both locals and visitors, Canton Tower isn't just a landmark, it's a symbol of Guangzhou's ambition, innovation and bright future. One of the highlights of the area is the beautiful musical fountain at Huaqing Square. As the water dances to music with the city's skyscrapers in the background, it creates a wonderful atmosphere, especially in the evening. Of course, we couldn't leave without taking a few photos ourselves and simply enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. Arianna, can you see that these fountains are dancing to the music? The water is dancing to the music, do you understand? It's so beautiful! The water is dancing! Yeah, the water is dancing! This show just brought me to tears, it was so beautiful! Canton Tower stands proudly on the banks of Pearl River, one of the most important rivers in southern China. The Pearl River is not just a beautiful view, it has played a huge role in Guangzhou's history. For more than 2,000 years, this river has been the reason Guangzhou has become such an important trading city. The river connected Guangzhou with the South China Sea and allowed merchants from different parts of the world to arrive here, exchange goods and build relationships. Today, the Pearl River is the perfect meeting point between Guangzhou's past and its future. On one side, you can feel the history of an ancient trading port and on the other side, you can see the futuristic skyline with modern skyscrapers and landmarks like Canton Tower. The view of Canton Tower reflecting on the Pearl River has become one of the most iconic images of Guangzhou. Especially at night, when the tower lights up with thousands of colorful lights and the buildings along the river shine in the background, the whole area feels almost futuristic. This is one of the places where you can truly understand what makes Guangzhou special, a city that reflects its history while constantly moving toward the future. Around the tower, people were taking photos, families were enjoying evening walks and tourists from all over the world were admiring the skyline. Guys, I'm just impressed by the beauty of this tower and by the beauty of this square. Besides, this is just something like unbelievable to me. It's like something out of the future. When I'm standing here now, I really agree when people say that China lives in the future. Really, it's just something crazy. This is actually the river. Yeah, you want to have a look, it's beautiful. After a wonderful first afternoon in Guangzhou, it was time to head back to the hotel. Tomorrow, we'll discover a completely different side of this vibrant city.