Guangzhou
We bought a copy from "Lonely Planet" about China before we went there and in the chapter about Guangzhou was written:
"A little bit gritty, not really pretty but a real chinese city."
And that's quite a good description :-)
It's really a typical modern chinese city. Dirty, smoggy, chaotic and grey. But it is also a place I truely love. It was so exciting and also so exotic and I have loads of dear memories about my Guangzhou:-)
Just have look at the pics here and maybe you get a taste of the atmosphere.