Yantian District - 盐田区

Yantian District (simplified Chinese: 盐田区; pinyin: Yántián Qū) is one of the seven districts of the Shenzhen City in Guangdong province of China. It is adjacent to Shenzhen River in the south, and is surrounded by Luohu and Longgang districts in Shenzhen. Until March 1998, Yantian was part of Luohu District.

The size of Yantian district is about 72.63 km². It contains 4 subdistricts:

* Meisha 梅沙
* Yantian 盐田
* Shatoujiao 沙头角
* Haishan 海山

Located on Mirs Bay, Yantian is the location of some of Shenzhen's best-known tourist beaches, Dameisha and Xiaomeisha.

Tourist attractions
* Minsk World
* Chung Ying Street
* Wutong Mountain National Park (梧桐山国家森林公园)
* Dameisha beach (大梅沙)
* Xiaomeisha (beach 小梅沙)
* Shenzhen Xiaomeisha Sea World
* OCT East

Shenzhen 深圳市 or 深圳市

Shenzhen (simplified Chinese: 深圳市; traditional Chinese: 深圳市) is a city of sub-provincial administrative status in southern China's Guangdong province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. Owing to China's economic liberalization under the policies of reformist leader Deng Xiaoping, the area became China's first—and ultimately most successful—Special Economic Zone.

Shenzhen's novel and modern cityscape is the result of the vibrant economy made possible by rapid foreign investment since the late 1970s, when it was a small fishing village. Since then, foreign nationals have invested more than US$30 billion for building factories and forming joint ventures. It is now reputedly one of the fastest growing cities in the world. Being southern China's major financial centre, Shenzhen is home to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange as well as the headquarters of numerous high-tech companies. Shenzhen is also the second busiest port in mainland China, ranking only after Shanghai.

History

Earliest known ancient records that carried the name of Shenzhen date from 1410 during the Ming Dynasty. Local people called the drains in paddy fields 圳 “zhen.” Shenzhen, 深圳 literally means “deep drains,” because the area used to be crisscrossed with rivers and streams, and there were deep drains in the paddy fields. Shenzhen became a township at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, and was renamed Xin’an and Bao’an later.

The one-time fishing village of Shenzhen was singled out by late Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping to be the first of the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in China. It was formally established in 1979 due to its proximity to Hong Kong, then a prosperous British territory. The SEZ was created to be an experimental ground of capitalism in 'socialism with Chinese characteristics'.

The location was chosen to attract industrial investments from Hong Kong since the two places are near each other and share the same culture. The concept proved successful, propelling the further opening up of China and continuous economic reform. Shenzhen eventually became one of the largest cities in the Pearl River Delta region, which has become one of the economic powerhouses of China as well as the largest manufacturing base in the world.

Shenzhen, formerly known as Bao'an County (宝安县), was promoted to prefecture level, directly governed by Guangdong province, in November 1979. In May 1980, Shenzhen was formally nominated as a 'special economic zone', the first one of its kind in China. It was given the right of provincial-level economic administration in November 1988.

Shenzhen is the earliest of the five special economic zones in China. Deng Xiaoping is usually credited with the opening up of economic revival in China, often epitomized with the city of Shenzhen, which profited the most from the first legacies of Deng.

For five months in 1996, Shenzhen was home to the Provisional Legislative Council and Provisional Executive Council of Hong Kong.

Geography

The boomtown of Shenzhen is located in the Pearl River Delta. The municipality covers an area of 2,050 km² (790 sq. miles) including urban and rural areas, with a total population of 8,615,500, at the end of 2007. Among those, 2,123,800 had legal permanent residence. Shenzhen is a sub-tropical maritime region, with occasional tropical cyclones in summer and early autumn, with an average temperature of 22.4°C year-round (72°F) although daytime temperatures can exceed 35°C.

Shenzhen was originally a hilly area, with fertile agrarian land. However, after the introduction of special economic zone in 1979, Shenzhen underwent tremendous change in landscape. The once hilly fishing village is now replaced by mostly flat ground in downtown area, with only Lianhua Shan (Lotus Hill), Bijia Shan (Bijia Mountain) and Wutong Shan the only three places that have some kind of elevation viewed from satellites. With the influx of emigrants from inland China, Shenzhen is experiencing a second stage boom, and it is now expanding peripherally and the hills in surrounding areas such as Mission Hills are now being toppled over to make land for more development.

Shenzhen is located on the border with the Hong Kong SAR across the Sham Chun River and Sha Tau Kok River, 100 km southeast of the provincial capital of Guangzhou, and 60 km south of the industrial city of Dongguan. To the southwest, the resort city of Zhuhai is a 60 km away.

Administrative divisions

Hanyu Pinyin - Chinese characters (Hanzi)

Luóhú 罗湖

Fútián 福田

Nánshān 南山

Yántián 盐田

Lónggǎng 龙岗

Bǎo'ān 宝安

Guāngmíng 光明

The Special Economic Zone comprises Luohu, Futian, Nanshan, and Yantian but not Bao'an, Guangming, and Longgang.

Located in the centre of the SEZ and adjacent to Hong Kong, Luohu is the financial and trading centre. It covers an area of 78.89 km². Futian, where the Municipal Government is situated, is at the heart of the SEZ and covers an area of 78.04 km². Covering an area of 164.29 km², Nanshan is the centre for high-tech industries and it is situated in the west of the SEZ. Outside the SEZ, Bao'an (712.92 km²) and Longgang (844.07 km²) are located to the north-west and north-east of Shenzhen respectively. Yantian (75.68 km²) is known for logistics. Yantian Port is the second largest deepwater container terminal in China and 4th largest in the world.

Demographics

Shenzhen has seen its population and activity develop rapidly since the establishment of the SEZ. Its official population listed at around nine million (including floating residents), Shenzhen has been the fastest growing city in China for the past 30 years. However, many people think there are far more residents, mostly because they are commuters from Dongguan. One problem with such rampant population growth is the accompanied problem of people without hukou, or residency permits (with 70% of that number being residents without a permanent hukou), most 'old' Shenzhen locals felt that the practice of opening the city to inland residents is making it less competitive with other Chinese cities.

There had been migration into southern Guangdong and what is now Shenzhen since the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) but the numbers increased dramatically since Shenzhen was established in the 1980s. In Guangdong, it is the only city where Mandarin is mostly spoken, with migrants from all over China. At present, the average age in Shenzhen is less than 30. Among the total, 8.49 percent are between the age of 0 and 14, 88.41 percent between the age of 15 and 59, one-fifth between 20 and 24 and 1.22 percent are aged 65 or above.

The population structure polarizes into two opposing extremes: intellectuals with a high level of education, and migrant workers with poor education. It was reported in June 2007 that over 20 percent of China's PhD's worked in Shenzhen.

According to the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce, in 2002, 7,200 Hong Kong residents commuted daily to Shenzhen for work, and 2,200 students from Shenzhen commuted to school in Hong Kong. Though neighbouring each other, daily commuters still need to pass through customs and immigration checkpoints, as travel between the SEZ and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) is restricted.

In late July 2003, China relaxed travel restrictions to allow individuals from the southern cities of Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as Beijing and Shanghai, to visit Hong Kong. Previously, mainland travelers could only visit the city as part of tour groups.

Immigration into Shenzhen from the Chinese interior is heavily restricted by the hukou system. One consequence is that just outside of Shenzhen there are large towns consisting of a large number of migrants from the Chinese interior who attempt to enter the city.

Climate

Shenzhen is situated in the subtropical part of China, located at about the Tropic of Cancer. The weather is generally temperate and mild in the autumn; winters are mild as the South China Sea buffers its climate, so cold snaps are not common. In the spring Shenzhen is relatively dry, and then it has a hot and wet summer, occasionally hit by typhoons from the east, but the temperature rarely reaches over 35 degrees Celsius.

Economy

In 2001, the working population reached 3.3 million. Though the secondary sector of industry had the largest share (1.85 million in 2001, increased by 5.5%), the tertiary sector of industry is growing fast (1.44 million in 2001, increased by 11.6%). Shenzhen's GDP totaled CNY 676.54 billion in 2007, up by 14.7 percent over the previous year. Its economy grew by 16.3 percent yearly from 2001 to 2005 on average. The proportion of the three industries to the aggregate of GDP was 0.1:50.9:49.0 in 2007. The proportion of the primary industry to GDP was down by 17.3%, and the tertiary industry was up by 15%. Shenzhen is in the top ranks among mainland Chinese cities in terms of comprehensive economic power. It ranked fourth in GDP among mainland Chinese cities in 2001, while it ranked the top in GDP per capita during the same period. Its import and export volumes have been first for the last nine consecutive years. It is the second in terms of industrial output. For five consecutive years, its internal revenue within local budget ranks third. It also ranks third in the use of foreign capital.

Shenzhen is a major manufacturing centre in China. In the 1990s, Shenzhen was described as, 'one highrise a day and one boulevard every three days'. The Shenzhen skyline has 13 buildings at over 200 metres tall, including the Shun Hing Square (the 9th tallest building in the world).

Shenzhen is home to some of P.R. China's most successful high-tech companies, such as Huawei, Tencent and ZTE. Huawei is headquartered in the Longgang District. A number of foreign IT companies also have facilities in the city. Taiwan's largest company Hon Hai Group has a manufacturing plant based in Shenzhen which makes most of the iPods, iPhones and notebooks for Apple, Inc. Lenovo, the Chinese conglomerate that bought the personal computing division of IBM in 2005, manufactures its line of ThinkPad notebook computers in Shenzhen. IBM has a joint venture in Shenzhen manufacturing server products. Many of these foreign high-tech companies have their operations in the Science and Technology park in Nanshan District or outside the core districts where labor and land are much cheaper. In the financial sector, China Merchants' Bank, one of the largest banks in China, has its headquarters in Shenzhen. Shenzhen City Commercial Bank, Ping An Insurance and Wal-Mart China are also based in the city.

In 2007, the GDP reached a record high of 676.54 billion yuan, an increase of 14.7% over 2006. Shenzhen's economic output is ranked fourth among the 659 Chinese cities (behind Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou), and it is comparable to that of a medium sized province in China. In 2007, Shenzhen's GDP per capita was 79,221 yuan (US$10,628), making it the richest of all Chinese cities.

Industrial zones

Main industrial zones in Shenzhen are Shenzhen Free Trade Zone and Shenzhen High-tech Industrial Park.

Shenzhen Stock Exchange

The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) is a mutualized national stock exchange under the China Securities Regulatory Commission (the CSRC) that provides a venue for securities trading. A broad spectrum of market participants, including 540 listed companies, 35 million registered investors and 177 exchange members, create the market. Here buying and selling orders are designed to be matched in a fair, open and orderly market, through an automated system to create the best possible prices based on price-time priority. Trading volumes have been robust.

Since its creation in 1990, the SZSE has grown with a market capitalization around 1 trillion yuan (US$122 billion). On a daily basis, around 600,000 deals, valued at US$807 million, trade on the SZSE.

China's securities market is undergoing fundamental changes. The implementation of the new securities law, company law, self-innovation strategy as well as the development of non-tradable share reform embodies enormous opportunities to the market. Adhering to the principle of 'Regulation, Innovation, Cultivation and Service', the SZSE is focused on developing the Small and Medium Enterprises Board, while seeking a loose tier market.

The initial public offering (IPO) activity in Shenzhen stock exchange (SZSE) was suspended from September 2000 as the Chinese government pondered merging its bourses into a single exchange in Shanghai and launched a Nasdaq-style second board in Shenzhen aimed at private and technology companies.

Cityscape

Shenzhen is home to the world's ninth tallest building, the Shun Hing Square (Diwang Building). Shenzhen has built 23 buildings over 200 metres, mostly in the Luohu and Futian districts. The second tallest building in Shenzhen is SEG Plaza at a height of 356 meters (292 meters to roof-top). It is located in the commercial and shopping district of Hua Qiang Bei (华强北).

Shenzhen has some of the largest public projects in China. The International Trade Center (国贸), built in 1985, was the tallest building in China when built, and the Shun Hing building was also the tallest in Asia when it was built (still the tallest steel building in the world).

Shenzhen is also the site for many tall building projects. Some of the supertalls that have been either proposed or approved are well over 400 meters. The current tallest building under construction is the 439 metre tall Kingkey Finance Tower, which will be finished in 2010. Other proposed buildings would surpass the Kingkey Finance Tower's height by 2015.

Integration with Hong Kong

Hong Kong and Shenzhen have very close business, trade and social links as demonstrated by the statistics presented below. Except where noted the statistics are taken from sections of the Hong Kong Government (HKG) website.

As of December 2007, there are six land crossing points on the boundary between Shenzhen and Hong Kong. From west to east these are Shenzhen Bay Port road crossing (opened 1 July 2007); Fu Tian Kou An to Lok Ma Chau rail connection linking Shenzhen Metro Line 4 to the MTR's East Rail Line Lok Ma Chau Spur Line (opened 15 August 2007); Huanggang to Lok Ma Chau road connection; Futian to Man Kam To road connection; Luohu to Lo Wu rail connection linking the MTR East Rail Line to Shenzhen Metro Line 1, Shenzhen Rail Station and Luohu in general; and the Shatoujiao to Sha Tau Kok road connection. Both of the rail connections require the passengers to cross the Shenzhen River on foot as there is no direct rail connection between the two cities, although the Hong Kong intercity trains to other mainland cities pass through Shenzhen without stopping.

In 2006, there were around 20,500 daily vehicular crossings of the boundary in each direction. Of these 65 percent were goods vehicles, 27 percent cars and the remainder buses and coaches. The Huanggang crossing was most heavily used at 76 percent of the total, followed by the Futian crossing at 18 percent and Shatoujiao at 6 percent. Of the goods vehicles, 12,000 per day were container carrying and, using a rate of 1.44 teus/vehicle, this results in 17,000 teus/day across the boundary, while Hong Kong port handled 23,000 teus/day during 2006, excluding transshipment trade.

Trade with Hong Kong in 2006 consisted of US$333 billion of imports of which US$298 billion were re-exported. Of these figures 94 percent were associated with China. Considering that 34.5 percent of the value of Hong Kong trade is air freight (only 1.3 percent by weight), a large proportion of this is associated with China as well.

Also in 2006 the average daily passenger flow through the four connections open at that time was over 200,000 in each direction of which 63 percent used the Luohu rail connection and 33 percent the Huanggang road connection. Naturally, such high volumes require special handling, and the largest group of people crossing the boundary, Hong Kong residents with Chinese citizenship, use only a biometric ID card (Home Return Permit)and a thumb print reader. As a point of comparison, Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok Airport, the 5th busiest international airport in the World, handled 59,000 passengers per day in each direction.

Hong Kong conducts regular surveys of cross-boundary passenger movements, with the most recent being in 2003, although the 2007 survey will be reported on soon. In 2003 the boundary crossings for Hong Kong Residents living in Hong Kong made 78 percent of the trips, up by 33 percent from 1999, whereas Hong Kong and Chinese residents of China made up 20 percent in 2006, an increase of 140 percent above the 1999 figure. Since that time movement has been made much easier for China residents. Other nationalities made up 2 percent of boundary crossings. Of these trips 67 percent were associated with Shenzhen and 42 percent were for business or work purposes. Of the non-business trips about one third were to visit friends and relatives and the remainder for leisure.

Apart from the business and family trips, many Hong Kong and overseas visitors to Shenzhen go for the shopping, where goods and services are supposedly far cheaper than those in Hong Kong. However, without coming prepared knowing the prices of specific items the goods may end up being far more expensive than in Hong Kong while others are only marginally cheaper, even after a long phase of negotiating.

The shopping mall most visited by day-tourists is Lo Wu Commercial City, situated close Luohu border crossing. This contains an overwhelming array of beauty parlors and stores selling clothes, handbags (usually fake-designer), fabric, jewellery and electrical goods as well as many vendors of pirated software, DVDs, counterfeit goods and mobile phones. With the number of tourists, it is also a popular location for prostitution, drugs, pickpockets and begging. However, riding two stops on the Shenzhen Metro would bring them to Lao Jie Station for the Dongmen shopping area, or five stops to Hua Qiang Bei, which are the shopping areas most favoured by locals.

The other reasons for Hong Kong tourists to visit Shenzhen are the restaurants from many provinces, usually at a cost of one quarter that of Hong Kong, and the genuine massage and beauty parlours at about one tenth the cost of Hong Kong.

Future integration plans
In Section 114 of the policy address on 10 October 2007, Donald Tsang, Hong Kong Chief Executive, stated:”Jointly developing a world-class metropolis with Shenzhen: In my Election Platform, I have put forward the vision of developing the Hong Kong-Shenzhen metropolis and undertaken to strengthen our co-operation. My proposals met with positive responses from the Shenzhen authorities. We share a common goal and have had some preliminary exchange of views. Currently, we are discussing airport collaboration and the development of the Lok Ma Chau Loop”.

On 21 November 2007, the Shenzhen Government officially endorsed this policy and included it in the Shenzhen planning blueprint for the period up to 2020. It was announced that Shenzhen mayor, Xu Zongheng, would visit Hong Kong in December 2007 to sign a metropolis agreement with the SAR government.

The plans were originally detailed by the Hong Kong non-governmental think tank, Bauhinia Research Foundation in August 2007, and covered such matters as financial services, hi-tech and high-end research and development, transport, environmental matters and ecology. It was claimed that Shenzhen-Hong Kong could be the third largest metropolis in GDP terms by 2020, only behind New York City and Tokyo. The plan was also endorsed by the China Development Institute, a Shenzhen-based non-government think tank.

Port

Situated in the Pearl River Delta in China’s Guangdong Province, Shenzhen Port is adjacent to Hong Kong. The city’s 260 km coastline is divided by the Kowloon Peninsula into two halves, the eastern and the western. Shenzhen’s western port area lies to the east of Lingdingyang in the Pearl River Estuary and possesses a deep water harbour with superb natural shelters. It is about 20 sea miles from Hong Kong to the south and 60 sea miles from Guangzhou to the north. By passing Pearl River system, the western port area is connected with the cities and counties in Pearl River Delta networks; by passing On See Dun waterway, it extends all ports both at home and abroad. The eastern port area lies north of Dapeng Bay where the harbour is wide and calm and is regarded as the best natural harbour in South China.

Shenzhen handled a record number of containers in 2005, ranking as the world's fourth-busiest port, after rising trade increased cargo shipments through the southern Chinese city. Hutchison Whampoa Ltd, China Merchants Holdings (International) Co. and other operators of the port handled 16.2 million standard 20-foot (6.1 m) boxes last year, a 19 per cent increase.

Investors in Shenzhen are expanding to take advantage of rising volume. Hong Kong-based Hutchison, the world's biggest port operator, and its mainland Chinese partner plan to add six berths at Yantian by 2010, bringing the total to 15. The company also plans to pay its parent company HK$2.07 billion (US$265 million) for land at Shekou to expand its cargo business.

Yantian International Container Terminals, Chiwan Container terminals, Shekou Container Terminals, China Merchants Port and Shenzhen Haixing (Mawan port) are the major port terminals in Shenzhen.

Transportation

Shenzhen can be reached by air, train, sea, or road.

Air

Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport is 35 kilometers from central Shenzhen and connects the city with many other parts of China, and serves some international destinations. It is normally cheaper for people based in Hong Kong to fly to Mainland Chinese destinations from Shenzhen rather than from Hong Kong, and it is usually cheaper for those based in southern Mainland China to fly out of Hong Kong to international destinations.

Train

Shenzhen Railway Station is located at the junction of Jianshe Lu, Heping Lu and Renmin Nan Lu and provides links to different parts of China. There are frequent high speed trains to Guangzhou, plus long-distance trains to Beijing, Shanghai, Changsha, Jiujiang, Maoming, Shantou and other destinations. The train from Hong Kong's East Tsim Sha Tsui MTR station to the Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau border crossings take 43 minutes and 45 minutes respectively. Trains depart East Tsim Sha Tsui for Lo Wu every 6-8 minutes from 5:36am to 11:13pm. The border crossing at Lo Wu is open daily from 6:30am to midnight. The Lok Ma Chau border crossing closes around 10:30. Returning trains from Lo Wu to East Tsim Sha Tsui depart every 6-8 minutes from 6:38am to 12:30am. The Lok Ma Chau Trains run at 10 minute intervals.

There is another railway station located in Nanshan District, Shenzhen Xi, which is used for a small number of long distance trains, such as the one to Hefei.

The Shenzhen Metro system opened on 27 December 2004. It has two lines, one from Luohu (Lo Wu & Shenzhen railway stations) to Window of the World, and the other from Huanggang to Shaonian gong (youth palace).

Sea

Shenzhen is also connected by fast ferries linking Shekou, on the west edge of the SEZ with Zhuhai, Macau, Hong Kong International Airport, Kowloon, and Hong Kong Island.

Shenzhen has shorelines in its southwest and southeast and the city is home to some of the most popular and best beaches in China. Beaches like Dameisha and Xiaomeisha are often crowded with locals and tourists. The second best beach in China, the Xichong beach, is just one hour drive from downtown Shenzhen, and it till retains its age old natural beauties.

Since February 2003, the road border crossing at Huanggang and Lok Ma Chau in Hong Kong has been open 24 hours a day. The journey can be made by private vehicle or by bus. On 15 August 2007, the Lok Ma Chau-Huanggang pedestrian border crossing opened, linking Lok Ma Chau Station with Huanggang. With the opening of the crossing, shuttle buses between Lok Ma Chau transport interchange and Huanggang were terminated.

Taxis are metered and come in three colors. Red taxis may travel anywhere; green ones are restricted to outside the SEZ, and yellow ones are restricted to inside the SEZ.

There are also frequent bus and van services from Hong Kong International Airport to Huanggang and most major hotels in Shenzhen.

Tourist attractions

Although Shenzhen enjoys a good reputation for shopping and travel, some Hong Kong citizens are concerned about the relatively high crime rate in Shenzhen. Reports of businessmen and tourists being robbed and kidnapped in Shenzhen are not uncommon in Hong Kong newspapers.

Shenzhen's major tourist attractions include the Chinese Folk Culture Village, the Window of the World, Happy Valley, Splendid China, the Safari Park in Nanshan district, the Dameisha Promenade, Xiaomeisha Beach Resort in Yantian district, Zhongying Jie / Chung Ying Street, Xianhu Lake Botanical Garden, and Minsk World. The city also offers free admission to a number of public parks including the Lianhuashan Park, Lizhi Park, Zhongshan Park and Wutongshan Park. Shenzhen offers a great variety of cuisines that its numerous restaurants provide.

Most tourists, however, choose to stay in a largely expatriate and exotic residential community called Shekou, home to a large French cruise liner cemented into the ground called Sea World. Shekou was expanded and renovated in recent years, including claiming additional land from the sea.

Shenzhen's central music hall and library are located in the Shenzhen Cultural Center.

Famous People

* Deng Xiaoping（邓小平）
* Li Hao（李灏）
* Li Youwei（厉有为）
* Cong Fei（丛飞）
* Li Yundi（李云迪）
* Zhang Gaoli（张高丽）
* Sui Ning（隋宁）
* Hu Xiaomei（胡晓梅）
* Ma Huateng（马化腾）
* Zhou Bichang（周笔畅）
* Chen Chusheng（陈楚声）
* Yi Jianlian（易建联）

Colleges and universities

* Shenzhen University
* Shenzhen Polytechnic
* Shenzhen Radio and TV University
* Shenzhen Institute of Information Technology
* Shenzhen Graduate School of Peking University
* Shenzhen Graduate School of Tsinghua University
* Shenzhen Graduate School of Harbin Institute of Technology
* Southern University of Science and Technology (Under Construction)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen

Guangdong 广东 or 廣東

Guangdong (simplified Chinese: 广东; traditional Chinese: 廣東; EFEO : Kouangtong; pinyin Guǎngdōng; Postal map spelling: Kwangtung) is a province on the southern coast of People's Republic of China. The province is also known by an alternative English name, the Canton Province. It overtook Henan and Sichuan to become the most populous province in China in January 2005, registering 79 million permanent residents and 31 million migrants who lived in the province for at least six months. The provincial capital of Guangzhou and economic hub Shenzhen are among the most populous and important cities in China.

Guangdong is the country's richest province with the highest total GDP among all provinces. Its nominal GDP for 2003 was US$165 billion, increased to US$265 billion in 2005 (about the same size as Denmark). In 2006 that number increased to US$329.07 billion and by 2008 its GDP reached 3.57 trillion yuan (US$522 billion). Guangdong contributes approximately 12.5% of national economic output. Guangdong also hosts the largest Import and Export Fair in China called the Canton Fair which is hosted by the city of Guangzhou - Guangdong's capital city.

The province was the homeland and base of operations of Sun Yat-Sen, widely accepted as the founder of modern China.

Name

'Guang' itself means 'expanse' or 'vast', and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. 'Guangdong' and neighboring Guangxi literally mean 'expanse east' and 'expanse west'. Together, Guangdong and Guangxi are called the 'Dual-Guangs' (兩廣 liăng guăng). The modern abbreviation 粵/粤 (Yue) is related to the Hundred Yue (百越), a collective name for various peoples that lived in Guangdong and other areas in ancient times.

Prior to the introduction of Hanyu Pinyin, the province was known as Canton Province based on a Portuguese-derived transliteration of 'Guangdong'. Canton refers to the city Romanized as Guangzhou in Pinyin, the provincial capital. The local people of Guangzhou and their language are still commonly referred to as Cantonese.

History

Guangdong was far away from the center of ancient Chinese civilization in the north China plain. It was populated by peoples collectively known as the Hundred Yue, who may have been Kradai and related to the Zhuang people in modern Guangxi.

Chinese administration in the region began with the Qin Dynasty. After establishing the first unified Chinese empire, the Qin expanded southwards and set up Nanhai Commandery at Panyu, near what is now part of Guangzhou. It used to be independent as Nanyue between the fall of Qin and the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. The Han Dynasty administered Guangdong, Guangxi, and northern Vietnam as Jiao Province. Under the Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms period, Guangdong was made its own province, the Guang Province, in 226.

As time passed, the demographics of what is now Guangdong slowly shifted to (Han) Chinese-dominance, especially during several periods of massive migration from the north during periods of political turmoil and/or nomadic incursions from the fall of the Han Dynasty onwards. For example, internal strife in northern China following the rebellion of An Lushan resulted in a 75% increase in the population of Guangzhou prefecture between 740s-750s and 800s-810s. As more migrants arrived, the local population was gradually assimilated to Han Chinese culture, or displaced.

Together with Guangxi, Guangdong was made part of Lingnan Circuit (political division Circuit), or Mountain-South Circuit, in 627 during the Tang Dynasty. The Guangdong part of Lingnan Circuit was renamed Guangnan East Circuit guǎng nán dōng lù in 971 during the Song Dynasty (960-1279). 'Guangnan East' is the source of 'Guangdong'.

As Mongols from the north engaged in their conquest of China in the 13th century, the Southern Song Dynasty retreated southwards, eventually ending up in today's Guangdong. The Battle of Yamen 1279 in Guangdong marked the end of the Southern Song Dynasty (960-1279).

During the Mongol Yuan Dynasty, Guangdong was a part of Jiangxi. Its present name, 'Guangdong Province' was given in early Ming Dynasty.

Since the 16th century, Guangdong has had extensive trade links with the rest of the world. European merchants coming northwards via the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea, particularly the Portuguese and British, traded extensively through Guangzhou. Macau, on the southern coast of Guangdong, was the first European settlement in China since 1557. It was the opium trade through Guangzhou that triggered the Opium Wars, opening an era of foreign incursion and intervention in China. In addition to Macau, which was then a Portuguese colony, Hong Kong was ceded to the British, and Kwang-Chou-Wan to the French.

In the 19th century, Guangdong was also the major port of exit for labourers to Southeast Asia and the West, i.e. United States and Canada. As a result, many overseas Chinese communities have their origins in Guangdong. The Cantonese language therefore has proportionately more speakers among overseas Chinese people than mainland Chinese. In the US, there is a large number of Chinese who are descendants of immigrants from the otherwise unremarkable Guangdong region of Taishan (Toisan in Cantonese), who speak a distinctive dialect of Cantonese called Taishanese (or Toishanese).

During the 1850s, the first revolt of the Taiping Rebellion by the Hakka people took place in Guangdong. Because of direct contact with the West, Guangdong was the center of anti-Manchu and anti-imperialist activity. The generally acknowledged founder of modern China, Sun Yat-Sen, was from Guangdong.

During the early 1920s of the Republic of China, Guangdong was the staging area for Kuomintang (KMT) to prepare for the Northern Expedition, an effort to bring the various warlords of China back under the central government. Whampoa Military Academy was built near Guangzhou to train military commanders.

In recent years, the province has seen extremely rapid economic growth, aided in part by its close trading links with Hong Kong, which borders it. It is now the province with the highest gross domestic product in China.

In 1952, a small section of Guangdong's coastline was given to Guangxi, giving it access to the sea. This was reversed in 1955, and then restored in 1965. Hainan Island was originally part of Guangdong but it was separated as its own province in 1988.

Geography

Guangdong faces the South China Sea to the south and has a total of 4,300 km of coastline. Leizhou Peninsula is on the southwestern end of the province. There are a few inactive volcanoes on Leizhou Peninsula. The Pearl River Delta is the convergent point of three upstream rivers: the East River, North River, and West River. The river delta is filled with hundreds of small islands. The province is geographically separated from the north by a few mountain ranges collectively called the Southern Mountain Range (南岭). The highest point in the province is Datian Ding 1,704 meters (5587') above sea level.

Guangdong borders Fujian province to the northeast, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces to the north, Guangxi autonomous region to the west, and Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions to the south. Hainan province is offshore across from the Leizhou Peninsula.

Cities around the Pearl River Delta include Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Shunde, Taishan, Zhongshan and Zhuhai. Other cities in the province include Chaozhou, Chenghai, Kaiping, Nanhai, Shantou, Shaoguan, Xinhui, Zhanjiang, Zhaoqing, Yangjiang and Yunfu.

Guangdong has a humid subtropical climate (tropical in the far south), with short, mild, dry, winters and long, hot, wet summers. Average daily highs in Guangzhou in January and July are 18C (64F) and 33C (91F) respectively, although the humidity makes it feel much hotter in summer. Frost is rare on the coast but may happen a few days each winter well inland.

Economy

Shops in one of the streets of Guangzhou specialize on selling various electronic components, supplying the needs of local consumer electronics manufacturers. The shop in front is in the LED business.

This is a trend of official estimates of the gross domestic product of the Province of Guangdong with figures in millions of Chinese Yuan:
Year      Gross domestic product
1980     24,521
1985     55,305
1990     140,184
1995     538,132
2000     966,223
2008     3,570,000

After the communist takeover and until the start of the Deng Xiaoping reforms in 1978, Guangdong was an economic backwater, although a large underground, service-based economy has always existed. Economic development policies encouraged industrial development in the interior provinces which were weakly linked to Guangdong via transportation links. The government policy of economic autarchy made Guangdong's access to the ocean irrelevant.

Deng Xiaoping's open door policy radically changed the economy of the province as it was able to take advantage of its access to the ocean, proximity to Hong Kong, and historical links to overseas Chinese. In addition, until the 1990s when the Chinese taxation system was reformed, the province benefited from the relatively low rate of taxation placed on it by the central government due to its post-Liberation status of being economically backward.

Although Shanghai is often cited as evidence of China's success, Guangdong's economic boom exemplifies the reality of the vast labor-intensive manufacturing powerhouse China has become, and all the rewards and shortcomings that come with it. Guangdong's economic boom began with the early 1990s and has since spread to neighboring provinces, and also pulled their populations inward. The economy is based on manufacturing and export.

The province is now one of the richest in the nation, with the highest GDP among all the provinces, although wage growth has only recently begun to rise due to a large influx of migrant workers from neighboring provinces. Its nominal GDP for 2008 was 3.57 trillion yuan (US$522 billion).

In 2007, Guangdong's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were worth 174.62 billion yuan, 1.59 trillion yuan, and 1.3 trillion yuan respectively. Its per capita GDP reached 32,713 yuan (about US$4,300). Guangdong contributes approximately 12.5% of the total national economic output. Now, it has three of the six Special Economic Zones: Shenzhen, Shantou and Zhuhai. The affluence of Guangdong, however, remains very much concentrated near the Pearl River Delta. Guangdong province has the highest average salary in China. Its average salary is $19000USD.

In 2007 its foreign trade also grew 20% from the previous year and is also by far the largest of all of China. By numbers, Guangdong's foreign trade accounts for 29% of China's US$2.17 trillion foreign trade or roughly US$634 billion.

Recently, more than 7000 factories based in southern Guangdong cities such as Shenzhen and Dongguan has shut due to rapidly falling demand from western consumers, stricter labour and environmental regulations and the global financial crisis.

Economic and Technological Development Zones

* Da Yawan Economic and Technical Development Zone
* Foshan National New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (Chinese Version)
* Futian Free Trade Zone
* Guangzhou Development District
* Guangzhou Export Processing Zone
* Guangzhou Free Trade Zone
* Guangzhou Nansha Economic and Technical Development Zone
* Guangzhou Nanhu Lake Tourist Holiday Resort (Chinese Version)
* Guangzhou New & Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
* Huizhou Zhongkai National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone (Chinese Version)
* Shantou Free Trade Zone
* Shatoujiao Free Trade Zone
* Shenzhen Export Processing Zone
* Shenzhen Hi-Tech Industrial Park
* Yantian Port Free Trade Zone
* Zhanjiang Economic and Technological Development Zone (Chinese Version)
* Zhuhai National Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone
* Zhuhai Free Trade Zone
* Zhongshan Torch High-tech Industrial Development Zone

Demographics

Guangdong officially became the most populous province in January 2005. Official statistics had traditionally placed Guangdong as the 4th most populous province of China with about 80 million people, but recently released information suggests that there are an additional 30 million migrants who reside in Guangdong for at least six months every year, making it the most populous province with a population of more than 110 million. The massive influx of migrants from other provinces, dubbed the 'floating population', is due to Guangdong's booming economy and high demand for labor.

Guangdong is also the ancestral home of large numbers of overseas Chinese. Most of the railroad laborers in Canada, Western United States and Panama in the 19th century came from Guangdong. Emigration in recent years has slowed with economic prosperity, but this province is still a major source of immigrants to North America and elsewhere in the world.

The majority of the province's population is Han Chinese. There is a small Yao population in the north. Other smaller minority groups include She, Miao, Li, and Zhuang.

Within the Han Chinese, the largest group in Guangdong are the Cantonese people. Two other major groups are the Hakka people in Meizhou and the Teochew people in Chaoshan.

Politics

During the 1980s, the Guangdong provincial government had a reputation of resisting central government directives, especially those regarding the economy. At the same time, the good economic situation of Guangdong has made it relatively quiet in the area of political and economic activism. Despite political, economic, and linguistic differences between Guangdong and Beijing, the idea of Guangdong seceding from China didn't bring much concern.

Relations with Hong Kong and Macau

Although both Hong Kong and Macau have historically been part of Guangdong before becoming colonies of the United Kingdom and Portugal respectively, they became special administrative regions, a first-order administrative division, when their sovereignty was transferred to the People's Republic of China.

Media

Guangdong and the greater Guangzhou Province is served by several Guangdong Radio stations and Guangdong TV. There is an international station Radio Guangdong which broadcasts information about this region to the entire world through the World Radio Network.

Culture

Guangdong is a multicultural province. The central region, which is also the political and economic center, is populated predominantly by Cantonese-speakers. This region is associated with Cantonese cuisine (simplified Chinese: 粤菜; traditional Chinese: 粵菜). Cantonese opera (simplified Chinese: 粤剧; traditional Chinese: 粵劇) is a form of Chinese opera popular in Cantonese speaking areas.

The Hakka people live in large areas of Guangdong, including Huizhou, Meizhou, Shenzhen, Heyuan, Shaoguan and other areas. Much of the Eastern part of Guangdong is populated by the Hakka people except for the Chaozhou and Hailufeng area. Hakka culture include Hakka cuisine (客家菜), Han opera (simplified Chinese: 汉剧; traditional Chinese: 漢劇), Hakka Hanyue and sixian (traditional instrumental music) and Hakka folk songs (客家山歌).

The area comprised of the cities of Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang in east Guangdong, known as Chaoshan, forms its own cultural sphere. The Teochew people here, alongside with Hailufeng people in Shanwei, speak Teochew (simplified Chinese: 潮语, traditional Chinese: 潮語), which is closely related to Min-nan and their cuisine is Teochew cuisine. Teochew opera (simplified Chinese: 潮剧, traditional Chinese: 潮劇) is also very famous with a unique form.

In addition to their mother tongue, people especially the younger generation speak Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese) also and increasingly.

Education
National
* Jinan University (Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Shenzhen)
* Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, Zhuhai)
* Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (广东外语外贸大学)
* Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine
* South China Agricultural University (华南农业大学) (founded 1909) (Guangzhou)
* South China University of Technology (Guangzhou)

Provincial

* Dongguan Institute of Technology
* Dongguan University of Technology (Dongguan)
* Foshan University (Guangzhou, Foshan)
* Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (广州美术学院)
* Guangdong University of Business Studies (广东商学院)
* Guangdong Institute of Science and Technology (广东省科技干部学院)
* Guangzhou Medical College (广州医学院)
* Guangzhou Normal University
* Guangdong Pharmaceutical University (广东药学院)
* Guangdong Polytechnic Normal University (广东技术师范学院)
* Guangzhou Sports University (广州体育学院)
* Guangdong University of Technology (广东工业大学)
* Guangzhou University (广州大学)
* Hanshan Teachers College
* Huizhou University
* Guangdong Education and Research Network
* Guangzhou Education College
* Guangdong Institute of Education
* Guangdong Medical College
* Guangdong Petrochemical Academy
* Guangdong Radio & TV. University
* Panyu Polytechnic
* Shaoguan University
* Shenzhen Party School
* Shantou University (Shantou)
* Shenzhen University (Shenzhen)
* Shenzhen Polytechnic
* Shunde University (Shunde)
* South China Normal University (华南师范大学)
* Southern Medical University
* Xijiang University
* Xinghai Conservatory of Music (星海音乐学院)
* Zhanjiang Normal University
* Zhaoqing University (肇庆大学)
* Zhongkai Agrotechnical College (仲恺农业技术学院) (founded 1927)

Sports

Professional sports teams based in Guangdong include:

* Chinese Super League
o Guangzhou Pharmaceutical F.C.
o Shenzhen F.C.
* China League One
o Guangdong Sunray Cave F.C.
* Hong Kong First Division League
o Xiangxue Eisiti (Shenzhen F.C. Reserves)
* Chinese Women's Super League
o Guangdong Highsun F.C.
* CBA
o Guangdong Winnerway
o Dongguan New Century
* NBL
o Dongguan Park Lane
* WCBA
o Guangdong Asia Aluminum

Tourism

Notable attractions include Danxia Mountain, Yuexiu Hill in Guangzhou, Star Lake and the Seven Star Crags, Dinghu Mountain, and the Zhongshan Sun Wen Memorial Park for Sun Yat-sen in Zhongshan.

Administrative divisions