iSurprise Dongshankou

Some people may be confused by the place name ‘Dongshankou’ (literally: East-Mountain-Crossing), because there is neither “mountain” or “crossing”. In fact, it was a hilly area outside the east gate of the old Guangzhou City. During the Ming Dynasty, a great eunuch who came to Guangzhou chose this small hill to build a temple. It is known that there is a temple in the east of the city among the mountains. Over time everyone has called the temple “Dongshan Temple”, and the area around Dongshan Temple has since been called ‘Dongsha’. Later, the Jiuguang Railway passed through the intersection of Dongshan Temple, The Shuqian Road and Nonglinxia Road to form a crossing, so there was the saying of Dongshankou.

The “Young Master of Dongshan” (In the old days, Dongshan was the hereditary residence of the elite in Guangzhou, including  high-ranking officials and nobles, called Young Master Dongshan.) Dongshan’s beautiful environment and cheap land prices attracted overseas Chinese and the military and political leaders of the Kuomintang government at that time. Buildings in a combination of Eastern and Western style were built. Under this cultural background, Dongshankou is full of exotic villas imitating Western architectural style, and later become the favorite literary and art Commercial district in Guangzhou hipster’s heart.