I am now in Australia on a student visa, I want to go to Guangzhou for a holiday, how is the process

You can apply for a China tourist visa in Australia, the requirements are:
(i). Original passport with at least two blank visa pages and a photocopy of the current passport (photo page only).

(ii). One completed Visa Application Form V.2011A with a recently-taken passport photo affixed on it; fill in visa application form V.2011B

(iii). Applicants who have not been to mainland China, should provide copies of other ID, e.g. previous passport, driver license, etc. Applicants under 16 can be exempted.

(iv). Applicants who have been granted Chinese visa(s) before, should provide copies of recent Chinese visa with entry record. In case they are not on the current passport, photocopies of the previous passport with the above data are required.

(v) Non-Australian passport holders, besides meeting the above points, should provide valid Australian visa as well as entry record, both the original and the copy.

(VI) the round-trip flight tickets and hotel booking