 When I first set foot in Kaiping County, in Guangdong Province, it was as if I were stepping back in time, entering a European village of the Middle Ages. Up ahead on the riverbank and among the landscape of banana and banyan trees were vintage Western-style watchtowers and villas -- each different in size and shape. Although Kaiping is a small county within the region south of the Five Ridges in South China, it's famous for these very non-Asian buildings, which were constructed by Chinese returned from overseas in the 1920s and 1930s.
The town of Chikan, once the center of the county, is a must-see place for its constructions of Corinthian and Ionic columns, many of which are carved with decorative flower engravings--an oft-used accessory in the external architecture of these buildings. The overall structural effect is a magnificent combination of Chinese and Western culture and architecture.
As early as the 20th century, due to its strategic setting on the Tanjiang River, Chikan began to flourish as a commercial center. Carrying merchants and tradesmen, boats steamed to and from Chikan and ports in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macao. Accordingly, the town hosted many commercial enterprises, including banking houses and jewelry shops.
 As far back as the early 1900's Chikan boasted commercial facilities equivalent to those found in the West. It had postal communications in 1902, electricity in 1923, automobile roadways in 1924 and telecommunications in 1929. Although the urban area of Kaiping has changed greatly, Chikan retains the appearance of the past. There are winding lanes, Western-style buildings, sesame seed cake stalls and the elderly sitting on stone benches under banyan trees, their eyes closed, dozing in the shade.
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Producer:
Chu Daye & Peng Ran 
