Five writers from APEC member economies visited Guangzhou on August 19 as part of the 2026 Global Writers in Guangdong Program, concluding a tour that had earlier taken them to other parts of the province. The group, from South Korea, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, spent the day visiting the Guangdong Museum, a lakeside reading room in Zhujiang Park and the Cantonese Opera Art Museum in Yongqing Fang.
At the Guangdong Museum, the writers toured an exhibition of Chaozhou woodcarving, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item. The exhibition features more than 200 pieces and recreated scenes of traditional Teochew homes. The centerpiece, a 3.28-meter gold-lacquered wooden ancestral shrine from the Qing Dynasty, drew particular attention.
Peruvian poet Gian Pierre Codarlupo said the shrine's intricate carvings reminded him of the Kaiping Diaolou towers the group had seen the previous day. "Exquisite beyond belief," he said. He added that he planned to visit the Chaoshan region himself.
At the lakeside reading room in Zhujiang Park, a red-cedar building beside a pond, Mexican writer Manuel Becerra asked about the bald cypress trees and said he hoped to return in winter to see their leaves change colour. Vietnamese writer Nguyen Khac Ngan Vi prepared coffee for the group. She plans to return to the reading room for an event related to her new novel.
In the afternoon, the delegation visited the Cantonese Opera Art Museum, a garden-style complex built around Wansha Lake. Its permanent exhibition, featuring more than 5,000 costumes, instruments, recordings and documents, traces the history of Cantonese opera, which is listed by UNESCO as an intangible cultural heritage item. South Korean writer Song Gabin remarked on the sound of Cantonese opera and wondered what it might sound like if performed in Korean.
The writers then walked through Yongqing Fang, a restored historic district in Xiguan known for its grey-brick arcaded buildings, before ending the day.
Author | Feng Huiting
Photo | Nanfang Plus
