Guangdong
From ChinaTravelGuide
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[edit] Overview
Guangdong is a province on the southern coast of People's Republic of China. The province was occasionally written with an alternative English name, the Canton Province, though Kwangtung Province was more commonly used. 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.[1][2] The provincial capital Guangzhou(also known as Canton) and economic hub Shenzhen are among the most populous and important cities in China.
Guangdong is one of China's most prosperous provinces. As of 2008, it has the highest total GDP among all provincial-level jurisdictions. According to latest figures its GDP has reached 3.57 trillion yuan, or US$522 billion, making its economy roughly the same size as that of Sweden.[3] Guangdong contributes approximately 12% of national economic output. The province is home to the production facilities and offices of a wide-ranging set of multinational and Chinese corporations. 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.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] 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 Jiaozhi 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.[4] As more migrants arrived, the local population was gradually assimilated to Han Chinese culture,[5] 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.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] 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 peak in the province is Shikengkong 1,902 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, 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.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Cities
[edit] Other Places
[edit] Attractions
[edit] Video
| Guangdong |
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| New Guangdong Under The Blue Sky |
[edit] Culture
[edit] Language
Mandarin is widely spoken, almost universally by educated people, especially in areas like Shenzhen and Zhuhai which have had heavy immigration from all over China.
The language of the area is Cantonese which differs from Mandarin as much as French differs from Italian or Spanish. Cantonese people are extremely proud of their language (this applies in Hong Kong as well) and continue to use it widely despite efforts at Mandarinization. Cantonese itself is more closely related to the language of the great Tang Dynasty than the more modern (circa Yuan Dynasty) Mandarin. Cantonese people worldwide tend to refer to themselves as Tang Ren (People of the Tang) rather than Han, the standard appellation for ethnic Chinese. Note that there can be significant dialectal variations within Cantonese, and the Cantonese spoken in areas in the far Western reaches of Guangdong (eg. Taishan) are only marginally, or sometimes even not mutually intelligible with the Cantonese spoken in Hong Kong or Guangzhou.
At the coastal areas near the border with Fujian, most notably Chaozhou and Shantou, a variant of Minnan known commonly as Teochew (the native pronunciation of Chaozhou) is spoken. Teochew is not mutually intelligible with Cantonese, but is still mutually intelligible with the Xiamen dialect of Minnan to a small extent.
Certain parts of the province are also home to Hakka communities, and they speak the Hakka dialect, which is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin, Cantonese or Teochew.
--from wikitravel.org
[edit] Cuisine
Cantonese (Yue) cuisine comes from Guangdong in southern China. Of all the regional varieties of Chinese cuisine, Cantonese is renowned both inside and outside China. Its prominence outside China is due to its palatability to Westerners and the great numbers of early emigrants from Guangdong. In China, too, it enjoys great prestige among the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine, and Cantonese chefs are highly sought after throughout the country.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Music
In modern times, the Chinese province of Guangdong has become known for Guangdong music (later Guangdong folk tunes), a synthesis of a number of local folk music styles (like kunqu opera), intended as an accompaniment for the region's folk operas when it arose along the Pearl River Delta in the 1920s. It gradually evolved into a string ensemble format by the 1960s, led by the gaohu with ruan, qinqin, yangqin, sanxian, yehu, and various woodwind (including houguan or saxophone) and percussion instruments. Formerly, bowed stringed instruments such as the erxian and tiqin were used. Compositions by the noted gaohu player Lü Wencheng (吕文成, 1898-1981) remain particularly popular.
Cantonese opera is popular in Guangdong. Musical institutions in Guangdong include the Guangdong International Summer Music Festival.
Hakka music is literary and laid-back in tone, and consists entirely of five notes; many folk songs only use three notes.
--from wikipedia.org
[edit] Notables
[edit] Ethnic Groups
[edit] Colleges and Universities
[edit] 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)
[edit] 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)
[edit] Area and Postal Codes
| City | Area Code | Postal Code | City | Area Code | Postal Code | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chaozhou (潮州) | 768 | 521000 | Dongguan (东莞) | 769 | 523000 | |
| Foshan (佛山) | 757 | 528000 | Guangzhou (广州) | 20 | 510000 | |
| Heyuan (河源) | 762 | 517000 | Huizhou (惠州) | 752 | 516000 | |
| jiangmen (江门) | 750 | 529000 | Jieyang (揭阳) | 663 | 522000 | |
| Maoming (茂名) | 668 | 525000 | Meizhou (梅州) | 753 | 514000 | |
| Qingyuan (清远) | 763 | 511500 | Shantou (汕头) | 754 | 515000 | |
| Shanwei (汕尾) | 660 | 516600 | Shaoguan (韶关) | 751 | 512000 | |
| Shenzhen (深圳) | 755 | 518000 | Yangjiang (阳江) | 662 | 529500 | |
| Yunfu (云浮) | 766 | 527300 | Zhanjiang (湛江) | 759 | 524000 | |
| Zhaoqing (肇庆) | 758 | 526000 | Zhongshan (中山) | 760 | 528403 | |
| Zhuhai (珠海) | 756 | 519000 |
