Sights in Guìzhōu
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People's Square
At People's Square , north of the train station, you'll find one of China's largest, glistening-white statues of Mao Zedong, as well as two new Louvre-like glass pyramids, which mark a massive subterranean Wal-Mart (a major outing for locals). It's a madhouse here on Friday or Saturday nights when crowds are so thick it can take a whopping 45 minutes to get from one side of the store to the other.
Outside on the square itself, things are more pleasant, with lots of families and people flying kites or visiting in the small gazebos. Weekday mornings the square is often flooded with people practising taichi.
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Provincial Museum
The exhibits at this low-tech museum are a truly bizarre mix, with the ground floor given over to a seemingly random collection of firearms. Head to the 2nd floor instead for the section on Guìzhōu's minorities, which features trad- itional clothing and musical instruments. There are some English captions.
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Cuìwēi Yuán
On the other side of the river to People's Square is Cuìwēi Yuán , a collection of several small pavilions set in a charming garden of bonsai trees, Chinese stones and miniature plum blossoms. The garden was originally a Buddhist abbey built during the Ming dynasty (1425-35), however nowadays it's essentially home to a group of shops selling traditional Miao embroidery; they're interesting to browse through but extremely pricey.
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Hóngfú Temple
Located inQiánlíng Parkin the north of the city, Hóngfú Temple is perched near the top of 1300m Qiánlíng Shān and dates back to the 17th century. It's an easy 40-minute walk to the temple, or there's a cable car. The monastery has a vegetarian restaurant in the rear courtyard. From the train station area, take bus 2.
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Riverside Promenade
Just north of People's Square, wander along Yangming Lu, cross a large roundabout, and follow a set of stairs down to the riverside. This walkway is filled with older people playing cards and mah jong. At the end, another set of stairs leads you up to the bridge on which rests Jiaxiu Pavilion (甲秀楼; Jiǎxiù Lóu).
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Guiyang Art Museum
This Guiyang Art Museum opened quickly but seems to have closed just as fast. Its doors were shut when we dropped by and the lobby was filled with construction materials, though it's not clear if they were for renovations or a change in line-of-work. Drop by when you're in town to see what happened. Enter on Zhongshan Xilu.
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Wenchang Pavilion
Heading north from People's Square up Wenchang Beilu brings you to the Ming-dynasty Wenchang Pavilion. It and the old city walls around it have been beautifully refurbished and the pavilion now houses a very popular local teahouse.
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Qianling Park
Qianling Park in the northwest of the city is more forest than park. It's a great escape from the crowds and city noise and has some lovely paths up to the Hongfu Temple. From the train station area take bus 2.
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Hebin Park
Compared to Qianling Park, Hebin Park is nowhere near as impressive, but it's a nice downtown respite, not too far from People's Square.
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Temples
Zūnyì has two active Buddhist temples. Built in the 1920s, the very well maintained Xiāngshān Temple (湘山寺; Xiāngshān Sì) is situated on a small hill in a lively part of town. Báiyún Temple (白云寺; Báiyún Sì) is more rundown but still quite charming.
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Other Sights
Begin at Rénmín Square (人民广场; Rénmín Guǎngchǎng) and take a gander at one of the nation's largest Mao statues…as he salutes Wal-Mart across the street (guess which site the locals are visiting more?).
Walk north across the river, turn right (east) onto Yangming Lu, cross a roundabout, descend to the river and follow it to the triple-roofed Jiǎxiù Pavilion, Guìyáng's most famous landmark
Across the river is Cuìwēi Gōngyuán, an erstwhile Ming-dynasty temple which has picturesque pavilions and some pricey Miao souvenirs.
Backtrack across the bridge and walk north along Wenchang Beilu to another Ming-dynasty speciality: Wénchāng Pavilion (文昌阁; Wénchāng …
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Fǔwén Miào
Check out this dilapidated but charming Confucian temple with some stunningly intricate carvings, in the north of town.
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Dōnglín Temple
The resident Buddhist monks welcome visitors warmly to this temple, built in AD 1405 (during the Ming dynasty) and restored in 1668.
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Communist History Sites
Zūnyì's CCP sights have had some serious facelifts – as has the neighbourhood surrounding them, with much being knocked down to 'recreate' what it looked like in the 1930s .
There are a dozen or so spots to see, but only a few are truly worthwhile. Admission is free to all of them, but you'll need to show your passport to get a ticket from the office by the Zūnyì Conference Site.
The Zūnyì Conference Siteis hands down the most-visited attraction and by far the most comprehensive. Set in a colonial-style house, there are rooms filled with CCP memorabilia, lots of photo exhibits (check out the floppy hair Mao was modelling back in the early 1930s), details about the L…
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Cǎohǎi Lake
Cǎohǎi Lake has a fragile history, having been drained during both the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution in hopes of producing farmland. It didn't work and the lake was refilled in 1980. Government tinkering with water levels in ensuing years impacted the local environment and villagers' livelihoods; officials have since enlisted locals to help with the lake's protection in an effort to remedy both problems. The 20-sq-km freshwater wetland has been a national nature reserve since 1992, but many environmental problems remain.
Black-necked cranes are the main attraction, but among the other 180 or so protected bird species are black and white storks, golden an…
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