The hit Chinese drama "The Knockout" (狂飙) was filmed in Jiangmen — and it changed how China thinks about this corner of Guangdong. But the real story of Jiangmen predates any television drama: this is the homeland of the overseas Chinese, the land of the Diaolou fortress-towers, and the departure point for a century of Cantonese emigration.
Arrive via the Shen-Zhong Highway — the 24km cross-sea expressway that is itself an engineering landmark. Start in Pengjiang District, the real-world filming location for "The Knockout." Your guide, a local Jiangmen native, narrates which scenes were filmed where. Afternoon: Jiangmen Old Town — arcaded streets, century-old tea houses, and the original Cantonese overseas merchant architecture. Dinner: Jiangmen traditional pork bone rice noodles.
Full day in Kaiping. The Diaolou towers are one of Guangdong's two UNESCO World Heritage sites — fortress-residences built by returned overseas Chinese who brought Italian Baroque, Greek columns, and medieval crenellations back to their Cantonese villages. Zili Village is the most photogenic: six towers rising from rice paddy, with a morning mist that makes the whole scene feel unreal. Afternoon: Majianglong Village — more intimate, less visited, more authentic. Deep-sea saltwater hot spring at a resort near Taishan in the evening.
Morning: Taishan city — the "homeland of overseas Chinese." Visit the Taishan Museum to understand the extraordinary story of 1.5 million Cantonese emigrants who left from here for America, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Lunch: Taishan eel rice (黄鳝饭) — a unique clay-pot rice dish found nowhere else in the world. Pick up Xinhui aged tangerine peel (新会陈皮) — the king of Cantonese cooking ingredients. Transfer to Guangzhou or Shenzhen for departure.
“Kaiping Diaolou is unlike anything I've seen — fortified mansions built by overseas Chinese in the 1920s, blending Gothic, Baroque, and Chinese styles. Our guide was a local whose grandfather lived in one. Personal stories made history come alive.”
“The Chenpi (aged tangerine peel) culture in Xinhui was fascinating. We visited a cellar with Chenpi dating back to 1950, worth more than gold by weight. The Chenpi duck soup was the most complex flavor I've ever tasted.”
“West Lake lived up to every legend. We took a private boat at 7am before the crowds, and the mist over the water was exactly like a Chinese ink painting. My French friends couldn't stop taking photos.”
Jiangmen is more than a filming location. Come find the real story.