I don't think I would have ever got to visit Guangzhou were it not for the wedding of a work colleague. On a working stint in Hong Kong, I had become close friends with the office administrator, Penny, and her boyfriend, Steve. They were returning to their home town and insisted I come along and celebrate their marriage with them. "You'll get to see a proper Chinese wedding," Penny vowed, "And you can sample the delights of Guangzhou!"

It was an offer I could not refuse. I knew that the city was known as the Pearl of China and home to the famous Canton Fairs twice a year, but little else. While Penny would be very involved in her wedding arrangements, she had lined up a friend of hers to introduce me to the sights.

Although she offered me accommodation with relatives, I insisted on staying in a hotel. The best choice was the China Mayors Plaza Hotel, which was where the wedding reception would be held and was, conveniently, close to the railway station for trains from Hong Kong.

On the train trip with other office colleagues, I read up about the history of Guangzhou. I was thrilled to learn that the city had once been considered the start of the legendary Silk Road. And during the 19th century the city, then known as Canton, was the only place in China that foreigners were allowed to visit for trade. They traded for silk, tea and other exotic objects like lacquer screens, lace shawls and ivory fans.

Today Guangzhou is still a major gateway for trade between China and the outside world, but it is no longer an easygoing port with its waterfront row of colonial mansions. On arrival, I was surprised to see just how developed the city was, with huge high-rise buildings, vast shopping malls, highways and sprawling new suburbs. Luckily, I would later discover that the city had preserved some of its heritage in splendid parks, temples, museums and the delightful Shamian Island. However, the wedding came first.

Sally's brother, Rob, explained that while today's Chinese weddings did not follow many of the traditional customs, there were some customs that everyone adhered to. In the old days marriages were arranged between families, with a set of formal letters setting up the union. This is no longer the case, but Rob laughingly said this did not mean the family did not interfere when they thought the couple were not suited!

However, some traditions still apply. The first is the selection of the wedding date. Both families have to agree on a 'lucky day'. Other customs still adhered to include the sending of gifts to the bride's family before the wedding, the setting up of the bridal bed and formal procedures for the departure of the bride from her family home. The part of the wedding which most closely adheres to age-old traditions is the wedding banquet. These days the reception is considered as important as the temple ceremony or the signing of the marriage license. This is where the bride's family can gain great 'face' - the respect of others.

The groom's family pays for the banquet, which can be very expensive. The biggest expense is the food. A traditional Chinese banquet will include somewhere around 12 courses including lobster salad, roast pig, abalone and shark fin soup. To the Chinese, the quality of the food is of utmost importance and in many cases only delicacies are served. The overwhelming colour scheme is red.

As I discovered at Sally's wedding, very little happens by chance. There is a formal structure to the event, starting with the playing of Chinese national games, like mahjong, before the banquet. To signal that the food was ready, the waiters played a zylophone. During the serving of the shark fin soup, the wedding couple went from table to table, toasting the guests. After that, the groomsmen and bridesmaids had fun, playing tricks to make the groom show his love for his new wife.

As the banquet drew to an end, Sally changed into her 'going away' outfit - her fourth change of dress on the day. The couple and their families form a reception line and wish the guests farewell - the opposite of the Western practice of guests sending off the couple. When all the guests had left, the couple went off to their bedroom in the hotel. Sally's friends invited me to join them in playing pranks on the wedding couple in their room, but I headed for bed.

The next morning, I was up early and ready to discover the city. Sally had arranged for a friend of hers, Bo, to give me a tour of four of the city's best attractions. We started off at the Chen Family Temple. This ancestral temple was built in the 1890s by members of the Chen family and is the best example of ancient architecture in the city. Occupying an area of 15,000 square meters, the temple is composed of six courtyards, nine main halls, and nineteen buildings.

Then came my introduction to the chaos of daily life in China at the Qing Ping market. This is a great place to absorb the atmosphere of the city as you squeeze down narrow alleyways. While the stalls of fruit, vegetables and medicines are interesting, the meat section is not for the squeamish.

Our next stop was the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, a memorial built in 1931 to honour Sun Yat-sen, the pioneer of China's bourgeois democratic revolution. This beautifully-decorated example of typical Chinese architecture, has become the symbol of the city. Our final port of call was the Temple of Six Banyan Trees. This world famous ancient Buddhist temple was named after the six trees which surrounded it and the major structure in this temple is the Flowery Pagoda. This 57 meter high pagoda is in the centre of the temple, with a bronze column with 1,000 Buddhist sculptures on top.

After a great night out with Rob and his friends, I rose early the next day to visit my favourite spot in Guanzhou, Shamian Island. Shamian was a sandbank until foreign traders settled there in the eighteenth century. After the nineteenth century opium wars, it became a British and French concession and the European mansions are still to be seen, though most are now overgrown with moss. Its a fantastic place to stroll around and dream of the years gone by.

As I left Guangzhou the next morning, my feeling was that this is a great city to experience a taste of life in China. I had not had time to go shopping, so my aim is to return during a Canton Fair and pick up some of the amazing bargains. And, of course, I will spend time on Shamian Island on the Pearl Delta and dream that I am an early trader, about to embark on a very long trip down the Silk Road.