An artist paints the Chikan old town waterfront.

An artist paints the Chikan old town waterfront.

Chikan was founded in 1649 and grew rapidly to become a regional maritime hub attracting merchants from all around the Pearl River Delta area. The town boasts one of the largest concentrations of qilou, or shophouse, style buildings in China.

Most of the European styled architecture was build during the 1920-30s

Photo by David Sutton/themangoroad.com