Field notes
The journal
What we've learned walking this city — written when there's something worth saying, not on a schedule.
Guangdong3 min read
Shunde — Where Cantonese Cooking Comes From
Shunde is where Cantonese cuisine was refined and where the best of it still is. The philosophy is restraint: get a perfect fish, then do almost nothing to it.
Guangdong2 min read
Taishan — The County That Built America's Chinatowns
Taishanese, not Cantonese, was the language of old San Francisco and New York Chinatowns. The county that sent them is an hour from Guangzhou, and its fortified towers were paid for with remittances.
Guangdong2 min read
Shenzhen — A City With No Old Town
Shenzhen is the fastest-built major city in human history. The skyline is the advertisement; the urban villages behind it are the actual story, and the better place to eat.
Guangdong2 min read
Guangzhou's Xiaobei — Little Africa
Guangzhou has been the port where China meets everywhere else for two thousand years. Xiaobei is the current version of that — African and Middle Eastern traders, wholesale markets, and food from three continents on one block.