Everything about Guangdong totally explained
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Guangdong (;
EFEO :
Kouangtong;
pinyin Guǎngdōng;
Postal map spelling:
Kwangtung) is a
province on the southern coast of
China. 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 2007 its GDP has grown another 14.5% to reach 3.06 trillion yuan (US$422 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, the widely accepted 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
Tai-Kadai and related to the
Zhuang people in modern
Guangxi.
Chinese administration in the region began with the
Qin Dynasty, which, after establishing the first
unified Chinese empire, 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(汉朝) administered Guangdong, Guangxi, and northern Vietnam as
Jiao Province. Under the
Wu Kingdom（吴国） 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 in south-east Asia and the western
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 USA, there's 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.
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 about 1,600 meters 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 and
Zhaoqing.
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
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 |
| 2005 |
2,100,128 |
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 2006 was 2.60 trillion yuan (US$329.07 billion), a rise of 12.9% on a year-on-year basis. By 2007 its GDP has grown yet another 14.5% to reach US$422 billion.
In 2005, Guangdong's primary, secondary, and tertiary industries were worth 137.46 billion yuan, 1.08 trillion yuan, and 957.94 billion yuan respectively. Its
per capita GDP reached 28,007 yuan (US$3,509), more than double than in 2000. Guangdong contributes approximately 12.5% of the total national economic output.
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
Miao,
Li, and
Zhuang.
Because of the high population density and the close proximity in which humans and animals live, Guangdong has often been the source of
respiratory diseases such as
influenza. In late
2002, Guangdong was suspected as the initial source of
SARS.
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. Although some in the West assume that Guangdong's economic growth and distinctive language would give rise to
separatism, this isn't the case, and there has never been any significant support for separatism.
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, 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
SARS virus is thought to have originated in Guangdong, due to the cuisine of the region, which famously includes "anything that walks, crawls or flies".
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 composed of the cities of
Chaozhou,
Shantou and
Jieyang in eastern Guangdong, known as
Chaoshan, forms its own cultural sphere. Here, the
Teochew people and the people in
Hailufeng 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 and has a unique form.
In addition to their mother tongue, most people also speak
Putonghua (Mandarin Chinese).
Education
Colleges and universities
Sports
Professional sports teams based in Guangdong include:
Chinese Basketball Association
Chinese Football Association Jia League
Chinese Football Association Super League
Tourism
Notable attractions include Danxia Mountain, Yuexiu Hill in Guangzhou, Star Lake and the Seven Star Crags, and Dinghu Mountain.
Administrative divisions
The current immediate administrative divisions of Guangdong consist of 21 prefecture-level cities:
The sub-province-level cities:
Guangzhou (广州) (Canton)
Shenzhen (深圳) (Sumzun)
The prefecture-level cities:
Chaozhou (潮州) (Teochew)
Dongguan (东莞) (Donggoon)
Foshan (佛山) (Futsaan)
Heyuan (河源) (Hoyun)
Huizhou (惠州) (Waizao)
Jiangmen (江门) (Gongmoon)
Jieyang (揭阳) (Keetyeung)
Maoming (茂名) (Mohming)
Meizhou (梅州) (Muizao)
Qingyuan (清远) (Tsingyun)
Shantou (汕头) (Swatow)
Shanwei (汕尾) (Seenmei)
Shaoguan (韶关) (Seeoogoon)
Yangjiang (阳江) (Yeunggong)
Yunfu (云浮) (Wunfao)
Zhanjiang (湛江) (Sumgong)
Zhaoqing (肇庆)
Zhongshan (中山) (Zhongsan)
Zhuhai (珠海) (Zuhoi)
The above division govern, in total, 49 districts, 30 county-level cities, 42 counties, and three autonomous counties. For county-level divisions, see the list of administrative divisions of Guangdong.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Guangdong'.
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