Conghua

Conghua district lies in the foothills northeast of Guangzhou, where the Pearl River plain meets the beginning of the Nanling mountain system. The district's higher elevation — parts reach 1,200 metres — gives it cooler summers than the lowland city and positions it as Guangzhou's weekend escape zone.

The hot spring resorts along the Liuxi River have been visited by Guangzhou residents since at least the 1930s, when the area's geothermal water was commercially developed. The springs produce sodium bicarbonate water at temperatures of 50–70°C, which is cooled for bathing. Contemporary resort development has clustered multiple pools at different temperatures and settings within large landscaped hotel grounds. The peak season is December through February, when the contrast between outdoor spring temperatures and winter air is at its greatest.

Litchi cultivation in Conghua produces fruit sold throughout Guangdong and exported internationally. The Lingdingyang variety — grown in the Conghua hills — is prized for thin skin and rich flesh. The harvest window (roughly late May to early July depending on altitude and variety) produces a brief period of intense agricultural activity and a local trade in freshly picked fruit that disappears entirely outside the season. Driving through the orchard areas during harvest provides a useful counterpoint to the urban fruit market experience.

The Liuxi River valley offers day-hiking on trails through subtropical forest. The scenery is not dramatic by Chinese standards — gentle forested hills and rocky stream sections — but is accessible and relatively uncrowded outside public holidays.