While in Guangzhou, we visited Shamian Island. It used to be a foreign concession “won” after Queen Victoria bullied the Qing into peddling opium to the people.* Now, it’s known for housing both a US consulate and westerners hoping to adopt Chinese children.

The locals we asked about it had never been there, but they knew enough to refer to it as “that place that foreigners seem to like.” Make that foreigners and any locals who are looking for a beautiful place to get a wedding portrait taken.

Four brides in that picture. One wouldn’t fit.

There was a very pleasant, little church.

And some more shots.

No, it isn’t the Soviet Block that so many people complain about. Nor is it the Nouveau-Chinoiserie that so many people expect. But it’s “real China”, too.

*In all fairness, she was only 20. Royals all do crazy things in their 20s. In fact, that same year she married a guy with a Prince Albert.