怀圣寺光塔

This guide to the Guangta minaret at Huaisheng Mosque in Guangzhou follows the harbor pilots who once climbed its dark spiral stair before dawn to read a golden rooster weathervane, gauging the trade winds before trusting a ship loaded with silk or porcelain to open water. It traces the tower's founding legend back to around 627, credited to Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad said to have sailed here from Arabia, and the claim that the mosque below is the oldest in China. Merchant ships also looked for its pale silhouette from far out on the river just to find the port. Stand at its base and look up at the rooster before you move on.