Guangzhou is the
capital and the
sub-provincial city of
Guangdong Province in the
southern part of the
People's Republic of China. The city is also known by an older English-language name,
Canton. It is a port on the
Pearl River,
navigable to the
South China Sea, and is located about 120 km (75 miles) northwest of
Hong Kong. As of the
2000 census, the city has a population of 6 million, and a metropolitan population of roughly 8.5 million (though some estimates are as high as 12.6 million) making it the most populous city in the province and the
third most populous metropolitan area in mainland
China.
Name
The
Chinese abbreviation of Guangzhou is
Sui (穗; pinyin: sùi; Jyutping: seoi6; Yale: seuīh) or sometimes GZ. The city has the nicknames of
Wuyangcheng (City of Five Rams),
Yangcheng (City of Rams),
Huacheng (City of Flowers), or
Suicheng (City of Wheats). The city can also be referred to as the
MuMianCheng (City of
Ceiba).
"Canton" was the convenient
Portuguese or
French romanisation of "Guangdong" Province. The city Guangzhou is the
capital of the province and frequently referred as 廣東省城 ("the Canton Province Capital City") or simply 省城 ("the Province City") by Cantonese people. The city naturally represents the province and thus was erroneously used as the city's name. It may have been more convenient for
Europeans who during the colonial period generally did not understand Chinese nor the written logo graphic
characters (see
exonym and endonym).
Guangzhou is the
pinyin Romanization of the
Mandarin name for the city.
Geography
Guangzhou is located at 112°57'E to 114°3'E and 22°26'N to 23°56'N. The city is part of the
Pearl River Delta.


CITIC Plaza
Administrative divisions
Guangzhou is a
sub-provincial city. It has direct jurisdiction over ten
districts and two
county-level cities.
- Districts
- County-level cities
- Zengcheng City
- Conghua City
As of
April 28,
2005, the districts of Dongshan and Fangcun have been abolished and merged into Yuexiu and Liwan respectively; at the same time the district of Nansha is established out of parts of
Panyu, and the district of Luogang is established out of parts of
Baiyun,
Tianhe, Huangpu, and Zengcheng.
History
It is believed that the first city built at the site of Guangzhou was Panyu (蕃禺, later simplified to 番禺;
Poon Yu in Cantonese) founded in
214 BC. The city has been continuously occupied since that time. Panyu was expanded when it became the capital of the
Nanyue Kingdom (南越) in
206 BC.
Recent archaeological founding of her palace suggests that the city might have traded frequently with by foreigners by the sea routes. The foreign trade continued through every following dynasty and the city remains a major international trading port to this day.
The
Han Dynasty annexed Nanyue in
111 BC, and Panyu became a provincial capital and remains so until this day. In
226 AD, the city however became the seat of the Guang Prefecture (廣州; Guangzhou). Therefore, "Guangzhou" was the name of the prefecture, not of the city. However, people grew accustomed to calling the city Guangzhou, instead of Panyu.
Although the Chinese name of Guangzhou replaced Panyu as the name of the walled city, Panyu was still the name of the area surrounding the walled city until the end of
Qing era.
Arab and
Persian pirates sacked Guangzhou (known to them as
Sin-Kalan) in AD 758, ² according to a local Guangzhou government report on
October 30 758, which corresponded to the day of
Guisi (癸巳) of the ninth
lunar month in the first year of the
Qianyuan era of
Emperor Suzong of the
Tang Dynasty.
[1][2][3]
During the Northern Song Dynasty, a celebrated poet called Su Shi (Shisu) visited Guangzhou's
Baozhuangyan Temple and wrote the inscription "Liu Rong" (Six Banyan Trees) because of the six banyan trees he saw there. It has since been called the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees.
The
Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive to the city by sea, establishing a monopoly on the external trade out of its harbour by
1511. They were later expelled from their settlements in Guangzhou (in Portuguese Canton or Cantao), but instead granted use of
Macau (first occupied in
1511) as a trade base with the city in
1557. They would keep a near monopoly of foreign trade in the region until the arrival of the Dutch in the early
seventeenth century.
After China claimed control of
Taiwan in 1683, the Qing government became open to encouraging foreign trade. Guangzhou quickly emerged as one of the most adaptable ports for negotiating commerce and before long, many foreign ships were going there to procure cargos. Portuguese in Macau, Spanish in Manila, and Armenians and Muslims from India were already actively trading in the port by the 1690s, when the French and English
British East India Company's ships began frequenting the port through the
Canton System. Other companies were soon to follow: the Ostend General India company in 1717;
Dutch East India Company in 1729; the first Danish ship in 1731, which was followed by a Danish Asiatic Company ship in 1734; the Swedish East India Company in 1732; followed by an occasional Prussian and Trieste Company ship; the Americans in 1784; and the first ships from Australia in 1788. By the middle of the 18th century, Guangzhou had emerged as one of the world's great trading ports under the
Thirteen Factories, which was a distinction it maintained until the outbreak of the
Opium Wars in 1839 and the opening of other ports in China in 1842. The privilege during this period made Guangzhou one of the top 3 cities in the world.
[4]
Guangzhou was one of the five Chinese
treaty ports opened up by the
Treaty of Nanking (signed in 1842) at the end of the
First Opium War between
Britain and
China. The other ports were
Fuzhou,
Xiamen,
Ningbo, and
Shanghai.
In 1918, "Guangzhou" formally became the official name of the city, when an urban council was established in it. Panyu became a county's name to the southern side of Guangzhou. In both 1930 and 1953, Guangzhou was promoted to the status of a Municipality, but each time promotion was cancelled within the year.
Japanese troops occupied Guangzhou from 1938-10-12 to 1945-09-16, after violent bombings. The
Imperial Japanese Army established in the city the bacteriological research
unit 8604, a section of
unit 731, where Japanese doctors experimented on human prisoners.
Communist forces entered the city on October 14, 1949. Their urban renewal projects improved the lives of some residents. New housing on the shores of the Pearl River provided homes for the poor
boat people. Reforms by
Deng Xiaoping, who came to power in the late 1970s, led to rapid economic growth due to the city's close proximity to
Hong Kong and access to the Pearl River.
As labor costs increased in Hong Kong,
manufacturers opened new plants in the cities of
Guangdong including Guangzhou. As the largest city in one of China's wealthiest provinces, Guangzhou attracts farmers from the countryside looking for factory work. Cantonese links to overseas Chinese and beneficial tax reforms of the 1990s have aided the city's rapid growth.
In 2000, Huadu and
Panyu were merged into Guangzhou as districts, and Conghua and Zengcheng became county-level cities of Guangzhou.
Modern Guangzhou
Economy
Guangzhou is the economic centre of the
Pearl River Delta and is the heart of one of
mainland China's leading commercial and manufacturing regions. In 2006, the GDP exceeded ¥600 billions (USD 76.8 billions), per capita was ¥85,000 (about US $11,000),
ranking First among the other 659 Chinese cities.
The
Chinese Export Commodities Fair, also called "Canton Fair", is held each
spring and
autumn by Bo Liu. Inaugurated in the spring of 1957, the Fair is a major event for the city.
Transportation


One of the new buses
With the
Guangzhou Metro, opened in 1999, Guangzhou is the fourth city in China to build an underground railway system. Currently there are four lines operational with an ambitious plan to expand rapidly with three lines under construction and four lines that are being planned.
Guangzhou's main
airport is the
New Baiyun International Airport in Huadu District, that opened on
5 August 2004 replacing old
Baiyun International Airport close to the city centre.
Guangzhou is connected to
Hong Kong by train, bus and ferry services. Express trains depart to Hong Kong from the
Guangzhou East railway station and arrive in Hong Kong at the
Hung Hom KCR station. They cover the 182 km route in approximately two hours.
Daily ferry sailings include an overnight steamer, which takes eight hours, and high-speed catamarans and hydrofoils which take three hours to reach the
China Ferry Terminal or
Macau Ferry Pier in Hong Kong. The new Nansha Pier (新南沙客运港) is now open with 6 lines daily traveling between Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The trip takes 75 minutes (¥116-230). However, Nansha is very far from the city center, although there is a bus route available from White Swan Hotel, running three times a day. Location Nansha Port: 1.6km South from Humen Bridge, Nansha District, Guangzhou. Passengers can take buses at White Swan Hotel to the Dock, 3 runs per day.
Schedule: Nansha to Hongkong: 09:30 11:00 12:00 15:00 16:00 17:30 Hongkong to Nansha: 08:00 08:20 09:00 13:00 14:00 15:30 Tickets: Economic ¥116.00, Business ¥170.00, VIP ¥230.00
Since Monday,
1 January 2007, the city government has banned motorcycles from the urban area. From Tuesday,
16 January 2007, motorcycles found violating the ban will be confiscated.
[5] The Guangzhou traffic bureau has reported reduced traffic problems and accidents since the motorcycle ban in downtown area.
[6].
According to the newspaper China Daily of
6 July 2007, all buses and taxis of Guangzhou will be
LPG-fueled by 2010 to promote clean energy for transportation and improve the environment
[7].
Tourist attractions
Parks
- Baiyun Mountain ()
- Lie shi ling yuan ()
- Yue Xiu Park ()
Significant buildings
Plans are also underway to build what will become the world's tallest free-standing 610m tall
Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower for the
2010 Asian Games.
Media
Guangdong and the greater metropolitan area 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
Education


Temple of the Six Banyan Trees
Major educational institutions
National
Public
Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.
Sister cities


Pearl River at night
Canton is
twinned with the following cities:
Fukuoka, Japan (May 1979)
- Los Angeles, United States (March 2, 1982)
Manila, Philippines (November 1982)
Vancouver, Canada (March 1985)
Sydney, Australia (May 1986)
Bari, Italy (November 1986)
Frankfurt am Main, Germany (April 11, 1988)
Lyon, France (November 1988)
- Auckland, New Zealand, (February 1989)
- Gwangju, South Korea (October 1996)
Linköping, Sweden (November 1997)
Durban, South Africa (July 2000)
- Bristol, United Kingdom (May 2001)
- Yekaterinburg, Russia (July 10, 2002)
Arequipa, Peru (October 27, 2004)
- Birmingham, United Kingdom (Dec 2006)
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Notes
External links
Simplified Chinese
Sister systems Kanji, Chữ Nôm
ISO 15924 Hans
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
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Traditional Chinese
Child systems Simplified Chinese
Chữ Nôm
Sister systems Hanja, Kanji
ISO 15924 Hant
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode.
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Cantonese or Yue (粵語) is a major Chinese dialect group or language, a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The exact number of Cantonese speakers is unknown due to a lack of statistics and census data.
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This page contains Chinese text.
Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters.
Jyutping (sometimes spelled
Jyutpin..... Click the link for more information. Pinyin, more formally called
Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese:
汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese:
漢語拼音..... Click the link for more information. Hakka}}}
Official status
Official language of: none (legislative bills have been proposed for it to be one of the 'national languages' in the Republic of China); one of the statutory languages for public transport announcements in the ROC ; ROC government sponsors Hakka
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This page contains Chinese text.
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Standard Mandarin, also known as
Modern Standard Chinese..... Click the link for more information. Pinyin, more formally called
Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese:
汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese:
漢語拼音..... Click the link for more information.
Wade-Giles /ˌweɪdˈʤaɪlz/ (Simplified Chinese:
威妥玛拼音 or 韦氏拼音..... Click the link for more information. Chinese Postal Map Romanization (Traditional Chinese: 郵政式拼音; Pinyin: Yóuzhèngshì Pīnyīn) refers to the system of romanization for Chinese place names which came into use in the late Qing dynasty and was officially sanctioned by
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Min (Chinese: ; Pinyin: Mǐn fāngyán; POJ: Bân hong-giân; BUC: Mìng huŏng-ngiòng) is a general term for a group of dialects of the Chinese language spoken in the southeastern Chinese
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Min Nan, Minnan, or Min-nan (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: 閩南語; Pinyin: Mǐnnányǔ
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Cantonese or Yue (粵語) is a major Chinese dialect group or language, a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. The exact number of Cantonese speakers is unknown due to a lack of statistics and census data.
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Jyutping (sometimes spelled
Jyutpin..... Click the link for more information. country,
state, and
nation can have various meanings. Therefore, diverse lists of these entities are possible. Wikipedia offers the following lists:
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Anthem
March of the Volunteers (义勇军进行曲)
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A province, in the context of China, is a translation of sheng (Chinese: 省; Pinyin: shěng), which is an administrative division.
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广东省
Guǎngdōng Shěng
Abbreviations: ? (Pinyin: Yuè)
Origin of name 广 guǎng - region name
东 dōng- "East"
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Area is a physical quantity expressing the size of a part of a surface. The term
Surface area is the summation of the areas of the exposed sides of an object.
Units
Units for
measuring surface area include:
- square metre = SI derived unit
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square kilometer), symbol
km², is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of surface area, the square metre, one of the SI derived units. 1 km² is equal to:
- 1,000,000 m²
- 100 ha (hectare)
Conversely:
..... Click the link for more information. square mile is an imperial and US unit of area equal the area of a square of one statute mile. It should not be confused with the archaic miles square, which refers to the number of miles on each side squared.
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elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, often the mean sea level. Elevation, or geometric height, is mainly used when referring to points on the Earth's surface, while altitude or geopotential height
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1 metre =
SI units
1000 mm 0 cm
US customary / Imperial units
0 ft 0 in
The
metre or
meter[1](symbol:
m) is the fundamental unit of length in the International System of Units (SI).
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SI units
0 m 0 mm
US customary / Imperial units
0 yd 0 in
A
foot (plural:
feet or
foot;
[1] symbol or abbreviation:
ft or, sometimes,
′..... Click the link for more information. An urban area is an area with an increased density of human-created structures in comparison to the areas surrounding it. This term is at one end of the spectrum of suburban and rural areas. An urban area is more frequently called a city or town.
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metropolitan area is a large population centre consisting of a large metropolis and its adjacent zone of influence, or of more than one closely adjoining neighboring central cities and their zone of influence.
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time zone is a region of the Earth that has adopted the same standard time, usually referred to as the local time. Most adjacent time zones are exactly one hour apart, and by convention compute their local time as an offset from UTC (see also Greenwich Mean Time).
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Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is a high-precision atomic time standard. UTC has uniform seconds defined by International Atomic Time (TAI), with leap seconds announced at irregular intervals to compensate for the earth's slowing rotation and other discrepancies.
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UTC+8 is a band of timezones separated from the Greenwich Mean Time by 8 hours.
UTC+8 is a possible candidate for ASEAN Common Time.
Timezones
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..... Click the link for more information. capital (also called capital city or political capital — although the latter phrase has a second meaning based on an alternative sense of "capital") is the center of government.
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