GUANGZHOU, CHINA
Date Modified: 06.28.2008
Content: Guangzhou - City Information and Links
Source: Wikipedia
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Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong Province
in southern China. The city was formerly known internationally
as Canton City or simply Canton, after a French language transliteration
of the city name in Cantonese. It is a port on the Pearl River,
which is navigable to the South China Sea. As of the 2000
census, the city population was 9.94 million making it the
most populous city in the province and the fifth most populous
in China.
The Chinese abbreviation of Guangzhou is Sui (pinyin: sùi)
or sometimes GZ. This city has the nicknames of Wuyangcheng
(city of five rams), Yangcheng (city of rams), Huacheng (city
of flowers), or Suicheng. The city can also be referred to
as the WuMengCheng (City of Wood Wools), a reference to a
tall, native tree that produces wool fiber in its gorgeous
red blossoms. "Canton" was the convenient French
romanisation for Europeans who during the colonial period
generally did not understand ideographic characters (see exonym
and endonym). When the term "Canton" is pronounced
in French it provides a closer oral rendering of the name
in its original Cantonese. Guangzhou is a Mandarin pronunciation
of the Han ideographs.
>>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.
>>Administrative divisions
Guangzhou is a sub-provincial city. It has direct jurisdiction
over ten districts and two county-level cities.
- Yuexiu District
- Liwan District
- Haizhu District
- Tianhe District
- Baiyun District
- Huangpu District
- Huadu District
- Panyu District
- Nansha District
- Luogang District
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 the locals pronounced this in Cantonese as Poon
Yu) 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 in 206 BC.
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 became the seat of the Guang Prefecture (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.Arabs 1 and Persians
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 of the ninth
lunar month in the first year of the Qianyuan era of Emperor
Suzong of the Tang Dynasty.
During the Northern Song Dynasty, a celebrated poet called
Su Shi 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.
In 1711, the British East India Company established a trading
post in Guangzhou. The Qianlong Emperor restricted foreign
traders to a district in Guangzhou under the Canton System
in 1760.
Guangzhou was one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened
by the Treaty of Nanking (signed in 1842) at the end of the
First Opium War between United Kingdom and China. The other
ports were Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai.
In 1918, "Guangzhou" became the official name of
the city, when an urban council was established in Guangzhou.
Panyu became a county's name south of Guangzhou. In both 1930
and 1953, Guangzhou was promoted to the status of a Municipality,
but each promotion was cancelled within the year. Japanese
troops occupied Guangzhou between October 12, 1938 and September
16, 1945.
After the communist take-over, urban renewal projects in
the city improved the lives of many 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,
placing it in the heart of one of mainland China's leading
commercial and manufacturing regions.
In 2003, the GDP per capita was ¥38,568 (about US $4,660),
ranking the city eighth among 659 Chinese cities.
The Chinese Export Commodities Fair, also called "Canton
Fair", is held each spring and autumn. Inaugurated in
the spring of 1957, the Fair is a major event for the city.
Transportation
The Guangzhou Metro opened in 1999. 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 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.
Tourist attractions
- Shamian Island
- Guangdong Provincial Museum
- Museum of the Tomb of the King of Southern Yue in Western
Han Dynasty
- Temple of the Six Banyan Trees
- Shishi Holy Heart Cathedral
- Huaisheng Mosque
Significant buildings
- Guangdong Olympic Stadium
- CITIC Plaza
- Sky Central Plaza
- Guangdong TV Tower
- Guangzhou TV Tower
- China Hotel
Plans are also underway to build what will become the world's
tallest free-standing TV tower.
Culture
- Cantonese (linguistics)
- Cantonese cuisine
- Cantonese opera
Major educational institutions
National
- Jinan University (founded 1906)
- Sun Yat-sen University (founded 1924)
- South China University of Technology
Public
- Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
- South China Agricultural University (founded 1909)
- Zhongkai Agrotechnical College (founded 1927)
- South China Normal University
- Guangzhou Medical College
- Guangzhou University of TCM
- Guangdong College of Pharmacy
- Guangdong University of Technology
- Guangzhou University
- Guangdong Business College
- Xinghai Conservatory of Music
- GuangDong Polytechnic Normal University
- Guangzhou Physical Education Institute
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