Guangzhou or Canton, city (1994 est. pop. 3,113,800), capital of Guangdong prov., S China, a major deepwater port on the Pearl River delta.

Economy

Among the largest cities in the country, Guangzhou is the transportation, industrial, financial, and trade center of S China. It is a special economic development zone and an important trading point with Hong Kong. It has an integrated steel complex, paper mills, a long-established textile industry (silk, cotton, jute, and more recently synthetic fibers), and factories producing tractors, machinery, machine tools, newsprint, refined sugar, small appliances, tires, bicycles, sports equipment, porcelain, cement, and chemicals.

Traditional arts and crafts, principally ivory and jade carvings, are still produced. The hub of water transportation along the Pearl River, it is the southern terminus of the Guangzhou-Wuhan RR. It has a large international airport and is linked with Hong Kong by the Guangzhou-Jiulong RR. Highways completed in the 1990s connect it with cities on the coast. Guangzhou is one of the marketplaces for China's world trade; great national trade expositions, held there every spring and fall (since 1957), attract thousands of business people from all over the world.

Points of Interest

The city is also a cultural and educational center with several institutions of higher learning, notably Sun Yat-sen (Sun Zhongshan) Univ. and Jinan Univ. Tourist attractions include a large pagoda overlooking the river, now a museum of ceramics; the huge Temple of the Six Banyan Trees; and a park, with pavilions, commemorating the 1927 conflict between the Communists and the Kuomintang. Its museums include the Guangzhou Municipal Museum, the Sun Yat-sen Museum, and the museum of the Peasant Movement Institute. Nearby are Conghua hot springs and an important army base.

History

Guangzhou became a part of China in the 3d cent. B.C. Hindu and Arab merchants reached Guangzhou in the 10th cent., and the city became the first Chinese port regularly visited by European traders. In 1511, Portugal secured a trade monopoly, but it was broken by the British in the late 17th cent.; in the 18th cent. the French and Dutch were also admitted. Trading, however, was restricted until the Treaty of Nanjing (1842) following the Opium War, which opened the city to foreign trade. Following a disturbance, French and British forces occupied Guangzhou in 1856. Later the island of Shameen (Shamian) was ceded to them for business and residential purposes, and this reclaimed sandbank with its broad avenues, gardens, and fine buildings was known for its beauty; it was restored to China in 1946.

Guangzhou was the seat of the revolutionary movement under Sun Yat-sen in 1911; the Republic of China was proclaimed there. From Guangzhou the Nationalist armies of Chiang Kai-shek marched northward in the 1920s to establish a government in Nanjing. In 1927, Guangzhou was briefly the seat of one of the earliest Communist communes in China. The fall of Guangzhou to the Communist armies in late Oct., 1949, signaled the Communist takeover of all China. Under the Communist government, Guangzhou was developed as an industrial center and a modern port, with a great trade to and from Hong Kong.

Guangzhou (jyutping : Gwong²zau¹; Yale: Gwóngjàu) is the capital and a 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 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. The official estimate of the metro's population at end 2006 by the Provincial Government was 9,754,600.

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.

Guangzhou has a humid subtropical climate influenced by the Asian monsoon. Summers are wet with high temperatures and a high humidity index. Winters are mild, dry and sunny.

Population

Population (2006)： Metro - 9,754,600, Urban - 6,253,300, and City - 7,607,200

Districts/Cities	Population
Yuexiu	1,151,481
Liwan	705,262
Haizhu	890,512
Tianhe	645,453
Baiyun	767,688
Huangpu	193,641
Huadu	636,706
Panyu	947,607
Nansha	147,579
Luogang	167,360
Zengcheng City	810,554
Conghua City	543,377

Administrative divisions

Guangzhou is a sub-provincial city. It has direct jurisdiction over ten districts and two county-level cities.

Name	Chinese characters (Hanzi)	Hanyu Pinyin
Districts
Yuexiu	越秀区 / 越秀區	Yuèxiù Qū
Liwan	荔湾区 / 荔灣區	Lìwān Qū
Haizhu	海珠区 / 海珠區	Hǎizhū Qū
Tianhe	天河区 / 天河區	Tiānhé Qū
Baiyun	白云区 / 白雲區	Báiyún Qū
Huangpu	黄埔区 / 黃埔區	Huángpǔ Qū
Huadu	花都区 / 花都區	Huādu Qū
Panyu	番禺区 / 番禺區	Pānyú Qū
Nansha	南沙区 / 南沙區	Nánshā Qū
Luogang	萝岗区 / 蘿崗區	Luógǎng Qū
County-level cities
Zengcheng City	增城市 / 增城市	Zēngchéng Shì
Conghua City	从化市 / 從化市	Cónghuà Shì

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, and Zengcheng also a part of Huangpu making an exclave next to Huangpu.

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History

The first known 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.

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 6 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 harbor by 1511. They were later expelled from their settlements in Guangzhou (in Portuguese Cantão), but instead granted use of Macau 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.

Guangzhou's monopoly on English trade ended with the Treaty of Nanking, signed in 1842 to end the First Opium War between Britain and China. The treaty opened four new treaty ports, allowing British merchants to trade in Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai in addition to Guangzhou.

In 1918, the city's urban council was established and "Guangzhou" became the official name of the city. 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 October 12, 1938 to September 16, 1945, after violent bombings. In the city, the Imperial Japanese Army conducted 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.

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 2007, the GDP reached ¥705 billion (US $92 billion), per capita was ¥71,219 (US $9,302), ranking 6th 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

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 in operation with an ambitious plan to expand rapidly with three lines under construction and four lines that are being planned.

• The First Line of Guangzhou Metro: From Guangzhou East Railway Station to Xilang Station
• The Second Line of Guangzhou Metro: From Sanyuanli Station to Wanshengwei Station
• The Third Line of Guangzhou Metro: From Guangzhou East Railway Station or Tianhe Coach Terminal to Panyu Square Station
• The Fourth Line of Guangzhou Metro: From Wanshengwei Station to Huangge Station

Guangzhou's main airport is the New Baiyun International Airport in Huadu District, that opened on 5 August 2004 replacing the 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 (新南沙客運港), located some distance from the city centre, is now open with 6 lines daily traveling between Hong Kong and Guangzhou and taking 75 minutes.

Since 1 January 2007, the city government has banned motorcycles from the urban area. Motorcycles found violating the ban will be confiscated. The Guangzhou traffic bureau has reported reduced traffic problems and accidents in the downtown area since the ban.

According to the newspaper China Daily of 6 July 2007, all buses and taxis in Guangzhou will be LPG-fueled by 2010 to promote clean energy for transportation and improve the environment .

The hub for water transportation along the Pearl River lies in the southern terminus of the Guangzhou-Wuhan RR. Highways completed in the 1990s connect it with other cities on the coast.

Tourist attractions

• Chen Family Confucian Academy ()
• Guangdong Museum of Folk Handcraft
• Shamian Island (literally, "Sand Face 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 Sacred Heart Cathedral
• Huaisheng Mosque ()
• Bright Filial Piety Temple ()
• Chime-Long Paradise ()
• Chime-Long WaterPark ()
• Museum of the Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum of the Nanyue King南越王墓()
• Guangzhou Peasant Movement Institute广州市农民运动讲习所()

Local products

• Canton Sculpture includes Canton Ivory Carvings, Jade Sculpture, Wood Sculpture and Olive Sculpture.
• Canton Enamel is short for Guangzhou Colorful Pottery. It has a history of over 300 years.
• Canton Embroidery, namely Yue Embroidery, is one of the Four Famous Chinese Embroideries together with Su Embroidery, Xiang Embroidery and Shu Embroidery.
• Canton Bacon is the general designation of cured meat in the Guangzhou Area.

Parks

• Baiyun Mountain (literally "White Cloud Mountain")
• Lie Shi Ling Yuan (）
• Yue Xiu Park (）

Significant buildings

• Guangdong Olympic Stadium (）
• CITIC Plaza (）
• Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower (）
• Guangzhou TV Tower (）
• Pearl River Tower (）
• Guangzhou Zhujiang Brewery Group (）

Plans are also underway to build what will become the world's tallest free-standing 610 m tall Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower for the 2010 Asian Games.

Hotels

• The Garden Hotel ()
• China Hotel ()
• White Swan Hotel ()
• DongFang Hotel ()
• Holiday Inn City Centre Guangzhou ()
• Grand International Hotel ()
• Ramada Pearl Hotel Guangzhou ()
• Guangzhou Westin hotel ()
• Guangzhou Chimelong Hotel ()

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

• Cantonese (linguistics)
• Cantonese cuisine
• Cantonese opera
• Guangdong music (genre)

Education

Major educational institutions

International Schools

• American International School of Guangzhou

National

• Sun Yat-sen University (中山大学) (founded 1924)
• South China University of Technology (华南理工大学)
• South China Normal University (华南师范大学)
• Jinan University (暨南大学) (founded 1906)

Public

• Guangdong University of Finance (Longdong)
• Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (广东外语外贸大学)
• South China Agricultural University (华南农业大学) (founded 1909)
• Zhongkai Agrotechnical College (仲恺农业技术学院) (founded 1927)
• Guangzhou Medical College (广州医学院)
• Guangzhou University of TCM (广州中医药大学) (English-language site)
• Guangdong College of Pharmacy (广东药学院)
• Guangdong University of Technology (广东工业大学)
• Guangzhou University (广州大学)
• Guangdong Institute of Science and Technology (广东省科技干部学院)
• Guangdong Business College (广东商学院)
• Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (广州美术学院)
• Xinghai Conservatory of Music (星海音乐学院)
• GuangDong Polytechnic Normal University (广东技术师范学院)
• Guangzhou Physical Education Institute (广州体育学院)

Guangzhou Higher Education Mega

Guangzhou Higher Education Mega is home to 10 of the province's universities' campuses, many of whom also have campuses located elsewhere. They are listed as below:

• Sun Yat-sen University (中山大学)
• South China University of Technology(华南理工大学)
• South China Normal University(华南师范大学)
• Guangdong University of Technology(广东工业大学)
• Guangdong University of Forign Studies(广东外语外贸大学)
• Guangzhou University of TCM (广州中医药大学) (English-language site)
• Guangdong College of Pharmacy (广东药学院)
• Guangzhou University(广州大学)
• Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts (广州美术学院)
• Xinghai Conservatory of Music(星海音乐学院)

Guangzhou Higher Education Mega can accommodate up to 200,000 students, 20,000 teachers and 50,000 staff. .

High School

• Guangdong Experimental High School
• The Affiliated High School of South China Normal University ()
• Guangzhou No.47 High School ()
• Guangzhou No.6 High School ()
• Guangdong Guangya Middle School ()
• Guangzhou Zhi Xin Middle School ()
• Guangzhou No.8 High School ()
• Guangzhou 109 Secondary School ()

Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.

Sister locations

Canton is twinned with the following places:

• Fukuoka, Japan (May 1979)
• Los Angeles, United States (March 2, 1982)
• Manila, Philippines (November 1982)
• Vancouver, Canada (March 1985)
• Sydney, Australia (May 1986)
• Viña Del Mar, Chile (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, England (May 2001)
• Yekaterinburg, Russia (July 10, 2002)
• Arequipa, Peru (October 27, 2004)
• Birmingham, England (Dec 2006)
• Dubai, United Arab Emirates
• Recife, Brazil
• Surabaya, Indonesia (Dec 2005)

See also

• Rafael Perestrello
• Fernão Pires de Andrade

References

Bibliography

• Johnson, Graham E. (1999). Historical Dictionary of Guangzhou (Canton) and Guangdong. Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press.
• Lee, Edward Bing-Shuey (1936). Modern Canton. Shanghai: The Mercury Press.
• Ng, Yong Sang (1936). Canton, City of the Rams: A General Description and a Brief Historical Survey. Canton: M.S. Cheung.
• Shaw, Samuel; Josiah Quincy (1847). The journals of Major Samuel Shaw : the first American consul at Canton : with a life of the author. Boston: Wm. Crosby and H.P. Nichols. Shaw, Samuel (1754-1794).
• Vogel, Ezra F. (1969). Canton Under Communism: Programs and Politics in a Provincial Capita, 1949–1968. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

External links

• Guangzhou Government website
• Life of Guangzhou
• Guangzhou