GUANGZHOU LIVE 3 - Dorothea Seror

Huang Rui, China. I-Ching.
Xiaozhou Village is located in the
Haizhu District in south Guangzhou. Located
in the vicinities of the University
Town with its 200 000 students, it has
become a new and expanding cultural
venue of Guangzhou.
Featuring classical Cantonese community
landscapes by the Pearl River,
including canals, well-kept ancient
buildings, bridges and local folkways,
the beautiful surrounding have attracted
artists, writers, photographers and
college students to live and work in the
scenic Xiaozhou Village.
The blending of artistic creativity with
the local customs and countryside
architecture has sparked an interesting
community in this historic enclave.
Now, Xiaozhou wutg plentyful of cafés
and small shops, has emerged as an important
cultural location in Guangzhou
with a growing flow of concerts, exhibitions,
and as the most recent event,
the international action art festival
Guangzhou Live.
XIAOZHOU
Constructed by the end of the Yuan Dynasty
(BC.1026-1368) the architecture
in Xiaozhou is typical of Lingnan style
with single-arch flying buttresses and
carved bricks.
The village unfolds on a vast green
field, covered with trees and foliage.
Brooks wind through clusters of
houses, forming a maze of waterways
navigated by picturesque bridges. On
the water banks stand rows of time-honored
ancestral temples and shrines.
Strolling in the narrow flagstone
lanes, one can actually feel the texture
of history. Its streets are formed by
bluestone. Rivulets are everywhere, and
stone bridges made in many different
dynasties are still on the rivulets which
have been treated, and the beauty of
the village enhanced.
Xiaozhou cun www.xiaozhou.com
Xiao Zhou cun art district is not superficially
created for commercial purposes.
Instead it is an historic location and one
of 9 in the Guangdong province to be
declared a national ecological village.
It has a population of more than 13 000
inhabitants made up of 4 000 original
villagers, 7000 art students (preparing
their entrance exams to the Guangzhou
Academy of Fine Art and other educational
universities like the Music
Conservatory), 1500 active artists and
more than 1000 persons principally
active in other creative industries.
Xiao Zhou cun blends history, with artistic
activity, a younger and an elderly
generation in a mix that gives it its
charm. It is furthermore a very popular
tourist destination with many thousands
of visitors during the weekends.