Visit Guangdong, officially the Tourism Administration Board of Guangdong Province, are hosting a week-long food festival at LinkedIn’s Sunnyvale campus. The event began on Monday 10^th October and is due to come to a close this Friday afternoon.

A team of authentic Cantonese chefs will be taking over the Brick & Mortar cafeteria and offering some of the area’s leading tech experts a range of dishes traditionally eaten in the Chinese province of Guangdong.

You’ve no doubt heard of dim sum, snack-sized portions of Chinese food served in steamer baskets and often shared between friends and families eating together; but to locals, Cantonese cuisine means so much more.

Typical Cantonese dishes boast a global appeals thanks to the variety of fresh ingredients that chefs incorporate into their work, focussing on their natural ingredients without resorting to herbs and spices to deliver a mouth-watering taste that’s tough to beat. The region is renowned for its sweet and sour dishes but people are often less familiar with dishes such as goose, Chinese sausage or vegetables glazed in oyster sauce. Currently on offer at the LinkedIn cafeteria are varieties of dumplings, steamed buns and sesame seed balls.

The event will also see the Visit Guangdong crew working outside the kitchen and mingling with the staff; who will have their creative minds put to the test with Tangram – an ancient Chinese puzzle from the Tang Dynasty. Successful challengers at the festival will be presented a mystery prize and those around the office have already received souvenirs from Guangdong, such as postcards and traditional Chinese gifts.

With China’s developing economy, Visit Guangdong are looking to use the opportunity to promote the province as a tourism destination to foreign travellers, holiday-makers and businesspeople. Their recent online contest, Guangdong Guide, has already sent 3 lucky winners to enjoy a unique cultural experience in China’s largest province. You can learn more about the campaign and possibly bag yourself a trip to Asia by looking up Visit Guangdong on LinkedIn.

What’s Tangram?

Recognised and popular around the globe, Tangram originates from the Tang Dynasty of China (618 – 907AD). You may not know it by name, but it’s a puzzle involving seven flat tiles (five triangles, one square and one parallelogram) that need to be arranged to represent the outline of a given shape.

Most commonly, you’d be asked to arrange the tiles into something simple, like a square. It sounds easy, but it’s a real test for your brain’s right hemisphere when asked to create shapes like a dog, rabbit or horse using only tri- and quadrilaterals. The rules aren’t complex – all of the seven tiles must be connected to at least one other, and they cannot overlap.

Find yourself on a trip to China! Guangdong Guide

Visit Guangdong’s latest campaign is seeking entrants to participate in their Guangdong Guide tour. The tour is aimed at foreigners who want to dive into China’s unique culture and experience true Cantonese cuisine right in the heart of the Orient.

The two previous campaigns saw an Australian greet pandas and elephants at Chimelong Zoo and two Indian travellers relaxing on some of China’s best beaches and exploring the local museums. Winners of the third contest are set to travel to Guangdong later this month and experience a realm of ancient Chinese arts and crafts.

Round 4 began on Monday, in-line with the food festival here in LA – and you can participate! To enter, look up Visit Guangdong’s LinkedIn company page and check out the pinned post at the top of the page. One form and 2 quick minutes later, you’re in! Responses will be judged on merit and the best answer to the question “Why do YOU deserve to win a trip to Guangdong, China?” will see its author heading east!

Learn more about Guangdong

Guangdong is China’s most populous province, located on the south coast and one of the few regions in the country able to boast a tropical coastline. Formerly romanised as Canton, it’s the origin of both Cantonese Cuisine and the Cantonese language, which is often declared as more difficult to learn than Mandarin, the PRC’s official language.

The province is best known for its 2 most prominent cities: its capital, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen. Both are in close proximity to Hong Kong, with Shenzhen and the former English colony sharing an international border; resulting in them both being considered major international trading hubs in China.

Guangzhou is famous for its part in the Silk Road trade routes and has grown tremendously over the past two decades, a Beijingrelocation.com report lists Guangzhou as the #7 city based on expat population.

Also reported by Beijingrelocation.com as being the city with the 3^rd highest expat population in China, Shenzhen is also hailed as China’s very own Silicon Valley. An oriental tech hub, Shenzhen hosts the yearly China Electronics Fair and is home to a number of China’s leading tech firms: BGI, BYD, ZTE, Huawei and Tencent, the latter best known for their domination of the Chinese chat app market with its QQ and WeChat apps.

Guangdong’s top tourism destinations

As well as some of country’s most populated cities, the vast province of Guangdong plays host to a variety of awe-inspiring landscapes and exciting activities. Just a few of the top attractions include

Mount Danxia

Offering picturesque views of lush greenery and reddish sandstone, Mount Danxia boasts an unusual rock formation that went on to become the ‘Danxia landform’. This alone makes the area a hit with geologists and excitable explorers and the region is considered a national heritage site. Local and international tourists can soak in the views whilst enjoying trips to ancient oriental temples and boating along the mountain’s winding river.

Chimelong Tourist Resort

Chinese conglomerate the Chimelong Group owns an array of family-friendly attractions and hotels across Guangdong. The company boasts one of the world’s most comprehensive entertainment resorts including a theme park, water park, safari park and even an international circus – all located by the Chimelong hotel in the province’s capital, Guangzhou.

Canton Tower

Guangzhou’s multi-purpose observation tower was the tallest tower in the world between August 2009 and March 2011 and was used for the opening ceremony of the 2010 Asian Games. A horizontal ferris wheel at 455 metres offers tourists astounding views of the city and is the world’s highest ferris wheel.