If you're visiting Guangzhou, make sure you bring some local souvenirs back with you, such as miniature bronze sculptures, which showcase the new face of modern Guangzhou; two-fold wooden books, which illustrates Guangzhou's 2000-year-old history; the mascots of the Guangzhou Asian Games, which reflect the origins of the city...... souvenirs of all shapes and sizes, from Guangdong opera costume for display to artwork depicting Guangzhou's new top eight sights, from commemorative medals illustrating the change of Guangzhou's name to emblems depicting Lingnan folklore, combine to present a full picture of Guangzhou so that you can bring Guangzhou back home.

(In no particular order)

Colorful Miniature Sculpture Arts Nail Clippers (depicting Guangzhou's new top eight sights)     
Guangzhou Flying Eagle Mark Masterpiece Arts & Crafts Co., Ltd.

Reason for Recommendation: Elaborate workmanship and high practicality

Guangzhou's new top eight sights include "Verdant Baiyun Mountain", "Sparkling Nightscape of the Pearl River", "Fresh Sunshine over Yuexiu", "Flying Ribbon at Tianhe", "Time-honored Chen Clan Academy", "Bright Moon over Huanghuagang", "Morning Sun Rays over the Five Rings", and "Sea View from the Lotus Peak". The creator of the clippers reproduces these eight sights on a tiny piece of copper items, with one sight on one item, in line with the principle of miniature sculpturing to "see the whole word from a grain of sand". These clippers are made with molded original sculptures; colorful, ornamental and practical, they are real collector's items.

Sculpture of Five Rams          Guangzhou Gold & Silver Jewelry Co., Ltd.

Reason for Recommendation: Illustrating the origins of Guangzhou as a City of Rams and highly typical.

According to Guangzhou's historic annals, during the eight year of the reign of King Yi of the Western Zhou Dynasty, Guangzhou was hit by a severe famine. Due to poor crop, people were suffering from starvation. One day, five colorful auspicious clouds appeared in the skies over the South Sea. On top of each of the clouds was a celestial being. The five celestial beings, dressed in five-color clothes, were each riding a ram, each holding a spike of premium rice. The celestial beings descended on Guangzhou and presented the spikes of rice to local folks, and the five rams turned into five stones on a mountain slope in Guangzhou. As a result, Guangzhou eventually became the most affluent city in the Lingnan region. This is also how Guangzhou derives its nicknames of "City of Five Rams", "City of Rams", and "City of Spike of Rice".

Guangzhou Customs Sculpture Series: Vending Litchi Fruits          Guangzhou Lugift Culture Dissemination Co. Ltd.

Reason for Recommendation: Highly realistic sculptures.

Vending Litchi Fruits is one of the Guangzhou Customs Sculpture Series, illustrating the unique traditional lifestyle and social customs of Guangzhou folks. The creator applies modern sculpturing technique and combines it with folk pottery sculpturing technique to illustrate social scenes and customs.

Asian Games Mascot Packages          Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee

Reason for Recommendation: Featuring the cute and trendy mascot of the Asian Games.

The 16th Asian Games will be staged in Guangzhou from November 12 to 27, 2010. The mascot of the Games, named "Le Yangyang", features the image of five trendy sporty rams ?C "Ah Xiang", "Ah He", "Ah Ru", "Ah Yi", and "Le Yangyan", which together mean "auspiciousness" and "happiness". As with the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the Guangzhou Asian Games also have five mascots, the highest number ever for the Asian Games.

The mascots of the Guangzhou Asian Games were inspired by the legend of five celestial beings descending on Guangzhou riding on the back of five celestial rams holding a spike of rice in the mouth. This millennium-old legend has made the "five rams" the most famous icon of Guangzhou.

This product features an about 10cm small doll of the mascot Ye Yangyang. It has a hook for hanging bags, keys, clothes and other accessories and is popular among fashion-conscious young people.

Asian Games Emblem Dragon Boat Commemorative Coins          Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee

Reason for Recommendation: The coins make real collector's items by ingeniously combining the flame of the Asian Games with the dragon boat, one of the highlights of Lingnan culture.

The dragon boat, a traditional Chinese sport, will become a competitive sport at the 16th Asian Games. Guangzhou's dragon boat culture has a long history. This set of "Dragon Boat Commemorative Coins" conveys Guangzhou people's enthusiasm for the Asian Games, passion for sports, and devotion to health and reflects fascinating Lingnan customs and enduring historic heritage. Themed around dragon boat race, this product showcases Guangdong people's fondness of water sports. Each coin has a depiction of the flame of the Asian Games along its circumference, reflecting the Asian Games' vision ?C "Thrilling Games, Harmonious Asia". With exquisite workmanship, these coins are real collector's items.

Lingnan Folklore Chronology Emblem Packages          Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee

Reason for Recommendation: Elaborately packaged in a classical style, featuring national characteristics and a strong cultural and artistic flavor.

This product, themed around Guangzhou's culture and folklore, illustrates a fascinating range of local traditional folk customs and cultural themes, such as Guangzhou Carving, Guangzhou Enamel, Lingnan painting, bonsai, Guangdong Opera, Guangdong Embroidery, Dragon Boat talks, and Kung Fu Tea. It also reflects Guangzhou's intriguing Lingnan customs and rich historic heritage and conforms strictly to the Asian Games' themes of passion and harmony. Contained in an elaborate package of a classical style and with national characteristics, this product exudes a strong flavor of culture and arts.

Guangzhou City Name Historic Evolution Commemorative Medals          Guangzhou Asian Games Organizing Committee

Reason for Recommendation: An ingenious fusion of history, culture and modern technology.

With the approach of the Asian Games, Guangzhou is receiving an increasing amount of attention. From ancient to modern times, from enduring history to the metropolis in the new century, from "the Chu Courtyard" to "the City of Rams", and from "the Kingdom of Nanyue" to "the Town of Panyu", each piece of the history of Guangzhou is food for thought and a fond memory among local people. "Guangzhou City Name Historic Evolution Commemorative Medals" are issued in a limited 2010 sets in anticipation of the Asian Games. Both the medals and their packages feature a classical-style design and use vivid printed pictures to illustrate Guangzhou's enduring culture and history; they are valuable collector's items.

Legend of Five Rams Two-fold Wooden Books          Guangzhou Boxiu Trade Co., Ltd.

Reason for Recommendation: An integration of Guangzhou's landmark building and history.

The legend of the five rams descending on Guangzhou with a spike of rice in their mouths has earned Guangzhou the nicknames of "City of Rams" and "City of Spikes of Rice". Bordering the South Sea, Guangzhou has a profound marine culture and was the origin of the Maritime Silk Route in ancient times. Guangzhou's native people were the Yue ethnic group. The long-term interaction between Yue ethnic culture and Han Chinese culture and marine culture gave rise to the characteristics of Guangzhou's ancient culture. These books are themed around Guangzhou's symbol ?C the five rams; their back covers feature a depiction of a round flat piece of jade used by the Nanyue King. These books are indeed a condensed version of the 2,000-year-old history.

Guangzhou Landscape Discs          Guangzhou Hengcheng Arts & Crafts Co., Ltd.

Reason for Recommendation: An epitome of modern Guangzhou.

The new top eight sights of Guangzhou in the new century were publicly nominated by 620,000 local citizens and evaluated by more than 20 experts over a one-year period starting from August 23, 2001. The final top eight sights, which emerged from a total of 30 candidate sights, include "Fresh Sunshine over Yuexiu", "Flying Ribbon at Tianhe", "Morning Sun Rays over the Five Rings", "Time-honored Chen Clan Academy", "Sparkling Nightscape of the Pearl River", "Bright Moon over Huanghuagang", "Verdant Baiyun Mountain", and "Sea View from the Lotus Peak". The discs depict these eight sights and highlight the Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center, showcasing Guangzhou's premium sights on zinc alloy plated antique-style bronze.

Guangdong Opera Costumes for Display          Zhonghua Costume Manufactory

Reason for Recommendation: Guangdong opera costumes for display are characterized by exquisite workmanship, shiny colors, and intricate embroidering technique.

Guangdong opera costumes have undergone four generations of changes. The first-generation costumes are the Guangzhou embroidered costumes, which were deep textured embroidery but placed the same emphasis on varied coloring as modern Guangdong opera costumes. The second-generation costumes were sparse-piece costumes; like the third-generation dense-piece costumes, they were cloth dresses with rubber pieces glued on top, though not as dense. As the third-generation dense-piece costumes were heavy and cumbersome for the performance of Guangdong opera, they have been replaced by the fourth-generation costumes ?C Gu Embroidery, which stresses stitching and has brighter colors. Guangdong opera costumes currently in use are Gu Embroidery.