Zhujiang New Town

Zhujiang New Town was planned in the 1990s as a formal civic extension of Guangzhou onto formerly agricultural land near the Pearl River. The scheme is one of China's more disciplined examples of planned urban development: a clear north–south cultural axis runs from Huacheng Square to the riverfront, flanked by major public buildings and terminating at a riverfront promenade. The planning aesthetic draws on European civic space-making while operating at a scale that is distinctly Chinese.

The Guangzhou Opera House, completed in 2010 to Zaha Hadid's design, is the centrepiece of the cultural axis. The building's twin pebble-like forms in polished concrete and glass sit at the river's edge and have become one of Guangzhou's most reproduced images. The interior acoustic design, developed with Marshall Day Acoustics, produces a main auditorium regarded as one of the better performance spaces in southern China.

The Guangdong Museum, designed by Rocco Design Architects and opened in 2010, occupies the east side of the cultural axis. Its collection covers Guangdong provincial history, natural history, and decorative arts — including a significant collection of Cantonese opera costumes and woodcarving. The building's exterior, intended to evoke a traditional Chinese lacquered box, is easier to appreciate from a distance.

The riverfront promenade between the district and Canton Tower hosts evening street food vendors, families, and the light show audiences that gather after dark. It functions as Guangzhou's most accessible public waterfront — a counterpoint to the corporate character of the district immediately behind it.