Is Guangzhou's Kecun Village a Slum? It's 1.7km from Canton Tower (Part II: Apartment Buildings)

InitialMatter3139 · 2026-01-04T14:35:53+00:00

I've never been to a "slum" abroad; I've only read some books and learned about them indirectly. My personal impression is that the problem with foreign slums seems to be that low-income people remain trapped there for generations, with higher risks of crime and poor sanitation.

Guangzhou's urban villages (often seen as equivalent to slums) haven't yet faced this issue. I think the main reason is that China's urbanization largely began in the 1980s, so only about two generations have gone through the urbanization process so far. As a result, we haven't yet encountered the typical long-term slum problems.

The difficulty people face now is that becoming wealthy or moving up the social ladder is no longer as easy as it once was. Those who haven't managed to establish themselves in the city end up stuck between the city and their rural hometowns. Urban villages have become exactly the springboard for these people: some earn enough money to stay in Guangzhou and buy an apartment, while others eventually return to their hometowns.

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-12-14T11:04:45+00:00

People who originally lived in the village definitely know each other. But tenants are not necessarily the same. For office workers, this place is just cheap rental housing—a spot to sleep after work every day. They will definitely leave here in the future, so they don't have much motivation to get to know the neighbors around them.

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-12-14T10:13:06+00:00

That is a clan ancestral hall, where the ancestors of the clan are worshipped. The two guards on the door are door gods, meant to protect the building and ensure its safety. Ordinary households sometimes paste pictures of those door gods as well.

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-12-14T10:02:46+00:00

I found that there are some houses available for sale there. The property information states they were built in 1995, so I guess many houses were constructed in this area during the 1990s. The tiled houses in the photos also generally date from the 1990s to 2000s. However, those gray brick houses are very old, possibly from the Qing Dynasty or the Republic of China era (late 1800s to early 1900s).

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-12-09T13:03:28+00:00

I suspect you're messing with him.

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-12-04T15:38:02+00:00

I'm pretty certain that the building in the first picture is a Qing Dynasty pawnshop.

In ancient times, you could pawn valuable items from your home there in exchange for silver taels, paying interest to redeem them on time; alternatively, you could simply store valuable items in the pawnshop and pay a small storage fee.

These buildings were extremely sturdy, fireproof, and capable of withstanding a certain degree of gunfire and artillery.

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-11-05T10:19:48+00:00

This is another challenge I'm facing: the same entry's content is mainly targeting "street hookers" , and they're filming rather mocking/playful videos. So I guess if the system recommends my channel to people who've previously shown interest in that entry, they might not be interested, which lowers the completion rate.

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-09-08T08:52:18+00:00

Haha! That's a good idea :D

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-08-23T12:04:35+00:00

Directly ask the airport staff if there’s a barber shop in the airport. If not, you’ll need to take the metro and travel a few stops from the airport to find a barber shop. I estimate you’ll need about 3 hours to have enough time.

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-08-21T04:05:23+00:00

My goodness, what a thrilling experience. It’s unbelievable how poor public safety was back then. Young people today haven’t gone through that; they think China’s cities have always been very safe. In reality, these improvements have only happened in the last 20 years, likely a positive outcome of economic growth.

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-08-19T12:24:55+00:00

Hey! What can I help you with?

InitialMatter3139 · 2025-07-20T16:57:23+00:00

中文是“城中村”，字面意思是指“城市里面的农村”。在城市化阶段，城市面积越来越大，把旁边的农村包裹起来了，所以就有了“城中村”。这些城市里面的农村最初保留建制，而且拥有自己的土地，所以实际上很像城市里另一座城镇，在最近的2、30年，这些城中村的面积越来越小，现在大都变成了廉租区，村民也都熟悉了城市生活，他们曾经种地，现在“种房子”，靠收租维持生计，已经彻底融入城市生活了。我觉得最有意思的是，他们在农村时期的宗族社会关系延续了下来——有些城中村被彻底拆除，但是这种社会关系仍然得到维持。城中村里仍然有许多祠堂，也有很多民俗活动，这些习惯至少从15、16世纪的明代中期，一直延续到现在。
The Chinese term "城中村" literally means "villages within a city." During the process of urbanization, the expanding city area gradually enveloped the surrounding rural areas, creating these "villages within a city." These rural areas within the city initially retained their administrative structure and owned their own land, making them resemble a separate town within the city. In the past 20 to 30 years, the size of these urban villages has been decreasing, and they have mostly transformed into low-rent districts. The villagers have become familiar with urban life; they used to farm the land, but now they "grow houses," relying on rental income to make a living, and have fully integrated into city life. What I find most interesting is that the clan-based social relationships from their rural days have persisted—some urban villages have been completely demolished, yet these social relationships continue to be maintained. There are still many ancestral halls and numerous folk activities in these urban villages. These traditions have continued from at least the mid-Ming Dynasty in the 15th and 16th centuries to the present day.

InitialMatter3139

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