Architecture
Guangdong Victory Hotel (Former Victoria Hotel)
- Hours
- No public visitor hours found.
- Hours
- About 15 min
Why it is worth the detour
Vietnamese revolutionary Phạm Hồng Thái attacked a banquet here in 1924, hurling a concealed bomb at French Indochina governor-general Martial Merlin; Merlin survived, five guests died, and Phạm drowned while fleeing. The bombing became the pretext for discriminatory pass regulations on Chinese workers, triggering the victorious Shamian strike later that year.
The Guangdong Victory Hotel, formerly known as the Victoria Hotel, is a historical landmark in Shamian, Guangzhou. It is notable for its connection to a significant political event in 1924 involving Vietnamese revolutionary Phạm Hồng Thái.
The people behind this address
Documented connections, not celebrity trivia.
Phạm Hồng Thái
He carried out the 1924 attempt to assassinate French Indochina governor-general Martial Merlin at the Victoria Hotel.
What else is close by
The nearest places we have written up, with straight-line distance from here.
100 m
Shamian West Bridge
Built in 1861 as one of the concession's tightly controlled entrances, this small bridge physically marked the boundary between foreign-administered Shamian and the Chinese city. On June 23, 1925, British and French forces fired toward a huge anti-imperialist procession passing the bridge and canal, killing more than fifty people in the Shakee Massacre.
100 m
Former HSBC Guangzhou Branch
HSBC's monumental Shamian branch stood at the center of foreign finance in treaty-port Guangzhou. Its comprador Chen Lianbo used his banking position to build wealth and influence before leading the armed Canton Merchants' Corps, whose 1924 confrontation with Sun Yat-sen's government turned the concession into a base for political intrigue.
150 m
Shamian Island
A historical area with colonial European architecture and tranquil pedestrian avenues.
200 m
Former Banque de l'Indochine Building
This French colonial bank, popularly called the finest building on Shamian, linked Guangzhou's finances with France's commercial empire in Indochina. An unauthorized 2007 redevelopment stripped out walls, fireplaces and imported historic fabric, creating a modern preservation scandal before the badly altered landmark was restored and reopened for cultural use.
350 m
Zhan Tianyou Former Residence
Railway engineer Zhan Tianyou was born and spent his childhood in a Xiguan merchant household here; his ancestors had prospered in the tea trade. The family home once looked toward Liubo Creek and its boats, a vanished waterscape far removed from the mountain railway for which Zhan later became famous.
Walk it with the stories
This address is one stop among many. Our routes and quests link them into a walk that makes sense on the ground.