Guangzhou

Guangzhou needs 3 days: Canton Tower, one of the tallest observation decks in Asia, and the Chen Clan Ancestral Hall, with intricately detailed wood carvings and ceramics, on one, and the historic Shamian Island district, a former foreign concession with colonial architecture, on another, leaving the third to explore its tea and silk markets. October-December brings the mildest weather, avoiding the humid heat of the Cantonese summer. It's mid-priced for China. It was for centuries the only Chinese port authorized to trade with the West under the Canton System, and its cuisine, birthplace of much of what the West knows as "Chinese food," is considered one of the country's eight great regional culinary traditions.