Jump to content

Guangzhou

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Taurion (talk | contribs) at 07:19, 28 January 2010. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Template:Fixbunching

Guangzhou
广州
Gwong Zau · Canton
Sub-provincial city
广州市
From top: Tianhe CBD, Statue of Five Goats, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport ,Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, Canton Fair Pazhou Expo Complex , and Pearl River Bridge.
From top: Tianhe CBD, Statue of Five Goats, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport ,Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, Canton Fair Pazhou Expo Complex , and Pearl River Bridge.
Nickname(s): 
The Flower City, Five Goats City, Goat City, Wheats City, Ceiba City, Immortals City
Location of Guangzhou within Guangdong in China
Location of Guangzhou within Guangdong in China
CountryChina
ProvinceGuangdong
Officiated1918
Government
 • MayorZhang Guangning
Area
[1]
 • Sub-provincial city7,434.4 km2 (2,870.4 sq mi)
 • Urban
3,843.4 km2 (6,000 sq mi)
Elevation
11 m (37 ft)
Population
 (2007)[1]
 • Sub-provincial city10,045,800
 • Density1,351/km2 (3,500/sq mi)
 • Urban
8,747,300‡
 • Metro
9,754,600[citation needed]
Time zoneUTC+8 (UTC)
Postal code
510000
Websitehttp://www.gz.gov.cn
Footnote: ‡ Refers to shìxiáqū

Template:Fixbunching Guangzhou[2] (simplified Chinese: 广州; traditional Chinese: 廣州; pinyin: Guǎngzhōu; jyutping : Gwong²zau¹; Yale: Gwóngjàu), in English and other European languages also known as Canton[3] (which was first romanized from the Cantonese pronunciation of Guangdong by the Portuguese) and also known as Kwangchow, is a sub-provincial city and the capital of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the People's Republic of China.

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,[citation needed] and an urban area population of roughly 11.85 million,[4] making it the most populous city in the province and the third most populous metropolitan area in China. The provincial government's official estimate of the metropolitan area's population at the end of 2006 was 9,754,600.[citation needed] Guangzhou's urban land area is the third largest in China, behind only Beijing and Shanghai.

History

Site of the first National Congress of Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party)
Combat at Guangzhou during the Second Opium War
1919 street scene
File:Yuexiu, Guangzhou 17 July 2009.png
Guangzhou's Yuexiu CBD and Financial Centres.
Huanghuagang Mausoleum of 72 Martyrs
1888 German map of Hong Kong, Macau, and Guangzhou

The first known city built at the site of Guangzhou was Panyu (Fan-Yü) ( 蕃禺, later simplified to 番禺; Poon Yu in Cantonese) founded in 214 BC.[citation needed] 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.

The Han Dynasty annexed Nanyue in 111 BC, and Panyu became a provincial capital and remains so today. 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.[citation needed]

Although the Chinese name 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.[citation needed]. Today, Panyu generally refers to the region to the south of Haizhu District, which is separated by the Pearl River.

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.[5][6][7] The Arab historian Abu Zayd Hasan of Siraf reports that in 878 followers of the Chinese rebel leader Huang Chao besieged the city and killed a large number of foreign merchants resident there.[8][9]

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the celebrated poet 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 in Guangzhou by sea, establishing a monopoly on the external trade out of its harbor by 1511.[citation needed] They were later expelled from their settlements in Guangzhou (Cantão in Portuguese), but instead granted use of Macau as a trade base with the city in 1557. They would keep a near monopoly on foreign trade in the region until the arrival of the Dutch in the early seventeenth century.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

It is believed that the romanization "Canton" originated from Portuguese Cantão, which was transcribed from Guangdong. Nevertheless, because at the time of the Portuguese arrival the capital city had no specific appellation other than Shang Sheng(省城, lit. the provincial capital) by its people, the province name was adopted for the walled city by the Europeans. The etymology of Canton, as well as the similar pronunciation with the province name Guangdong might have partly contributed to the recent confusion of Canton and Guangdong by certain English speakers. However, definitive English lexica, such as Merriam–Webster's Dictionary, American Heritage Dictionary and Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English don't list Guangdong as a synonym (or variant) under Canton.

After China gained control of Taiwan in 1683, the Qing government became more open to foreign trade. Guangzhou quickly emerged as one of the most suitable ports for international trade and before long ships arrived from all over the world.

The Portuguese in Macau, the Spanish in Manila, Armenians, and Muslims from India were already actively trading in the port by the 1690s, when the French and English 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.[10]

In 1918, the city's urban council was established and "Guangzhou" became the official name of the city.[citation needed] 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 rescinded within a year[citation needed].

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.

After the fall of the capital Nanjing in April 1949, the Nationalist government under the acting president Li Zongren relocated to Guangzhou.

Communist forces entered the city on October 14, 1949. This led the nationalists to blow up the Haizhu bridge as the major link across the Pearl River and to the acting president's leaving for New York, whereas Chiang Kai-shek set up a the capital for the Nationalist government in Chongqing again. Their urban renewal projects of the new communist government 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.

Based on a report in the Guangzhou Daily, there might be as many as 100,000 Africans in Guangzhou, a number that the newspaper reports has been increasing at an annual rate of 30 to 40% since 2003.[11][12][unreliable source?]

Administrative divisions

Guangzhou is a sub-provincial city. It has direct jurisdiction over ten districts (区 qu) and two county-level cities (市 shi) :

Map Subdivision Hanzi Population as of 2006 Land area km²
Guangzhou City Proper
■ Yuexiu-qu 越秀区 1,151,481 32.82
■ Liwan-qu 荔湾区 705,262 62.40
■ Haizhu-qu 海珠区 890,512 90.4
■ Tianhe-qu 天河区 645,453 141
Guangzhou Suburban and Rural
■ Baiyun-qu 白云区 767,688 825
■ Huangpu-qu 黄埔区 193,641 122
■ Huadu-qu 花都区 636,706 961
■ Panyu-qu 番禺区 947,607 661.88
■ Nansha-qu 南沙区 147,579 544.12
■ Luogang-qu 萝岗区 167,360 389.06
■ Zengcheng-shi 增城市 810,554 1,741.4
■ Conghua-shi 从化市 543,377 1,974.5

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 was established out of parts of Panyu, and the district of Luogang was established out of parts of Baiyun, Tianhe, and Zengcheng, plus a part of Huangpu, making an exclave next to Huangpu.

Template:Fixbunching

Guangzhou
Simplified Chinese广州
Traditional Chinese廣州
JyutpingGwong² zau1
Hanyu PinyinGuǎngzhōu
PostalCanton

Template:Fixbunching

Development plan

In January 2009 the National People's Congress approved a development plan for the Pearl River Delta Region. On March 19, 2009 the Guangzhou Municipal Government and Foshan Municipal Government both agreed to establish a framework to merge the two cities.[13]

Significant modern buildings

Economy

Tianhe CBD at night with CITIC Plaza
Shangxiajiu One of Guangzhou's most famous Pedestrian malls.

Guangzhou is the main manufacturing hub of the Pearl River Delta, one of mainland China's leading commercial and manufacturing regions. In 2008, the GDP reached ¥821.58 billion (US $118 billion), per capita was ¥81,233 (US $11,696)[14], ranking 6th among the other 659 Chinese cities.[citation needed]

The China Import and Export Fair, also called "Canton Fair", is held every year in April and October by Ministry of Trading. Inaugurated in the spring of 1957, the Fair is a major event for the city. From the 104th session, Liuhua Complex is not in use to hold Canton Fair. All the booths have been transferred to Pazhou Complex. From the 104th session, Canton Fair has been arranged in 3 phases instead of 2 phases.

Industrial zones

Science City

Malls

Shangxiajiu One South China Mall: World's second largest mall.

Geography and climate

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, high humidity and a high heat index. Winters are mild, dry and sunny.

Template:Guangzhou weatherbox

Transportation

File:Guangzhou-bus.jpg
One of the new buses
Gongyuanqian Station of Guangzhou Metro
File:Baiyun Airport Front Entrance.png
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport
Colonial buildings on Shamian Island
Towers in Guangzhou's CBD (left-center) with
IFC/West Tower (right) and Guangzhou Opera House (front) under construction

With the first line of Guangzhou Metro opened in 1997, Guangzhou is the fourth city in Mainland China to have an underground railway system, behind Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. Currently the underground network is made up of four lines, covering a total length of 116 km, while another four lines are under construction and due to be completed in 2010 before the Asian Games. A long term plan is to make the city's underground system expand over 500 km by 2020 with 15 lines in operation.

The existing four lines of Guangzhou Metro network:

Guangzhou's main airport is the Baiyun International Airport in Huadu District opened on August 5, 2004. It replaced the old Baiyun International Airport, which was very close to the city centre and failed to meet the fast-growing air traffic demand.

Guangzhou is well connected to Hong Kong by train, coach and ferry. The Guangdong Through Train departs from the Guangzhou East railway station (simplified Chinese: 广州东站; traditional Chinese: 廣州東站; pinyin: Gǔangzhōu Dōngzhàn) and arrive at the Hung Hom KCR station in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The route is approximately 182 km in length and the ride takes less than two hours. Frequent coach services are also provided with coaches departing every day from different locations (mostly major hotels) around the city.

There are daily ferry services including an overnight ferry service, which takes eight hours, as well as high-speed catamaran service which takes three hours, to the China Ferry Terminal or Macau Ferry Pier in Hong Kong. The Nansha Pier (新南沙客運港), located in the distant Nansha District outside the city centre, is also operating six daily 75-minute catamaran services to Hong Kong.

From January 1, 2007, the municipal government has banned motorcycles in the urban areas. Motorcycles found violating the ban will be confiscated.[15] The Guangzhou traffic bureau claimed to have reported reduced traffic problems and accidents in the downtown area since the ban.[16]

According to a report on the China Daily of July 6, 2007, all buses and taxis in Guangzhou will be LPG-fueled by 2010 to promote clean energy for transportation and improve the environment.[17] At present, Guangzhou is the city that uses the most LPG-fueled vehicles in the world. As of the end of 2006, 6,500 buses and 16,000 taxis were using LPG, taking up 85% of all buses and taxis.

Local products

  • Canton Province Sculpture is legendary and includes Guangzhou Ivory Carvings, Jade Sculpture, Wood Sculpture and Olive Sculpture.
  • Cantonese Enamel includes Guangzhou Colorful Pottery. It has a history of over 300 years.
  • Cantonese Embroidery, namely "Yue 粤 Embroidery" (meaning literally "Guangdong embroidery")is one of the Four Famous Chinese Embroideries together with Su Embroidery, Xiang Embroidery and Shu Embroidery.
  • Canton Province Bacon is the general designation of cured meat in the Guangzhou and surrounding areas.
  • Zhujiang Beer(Pearl River Beer)

Culture

Parks and gardens

Tourist attractions

Temple of the Six Banyan Trees
Shishi Sacred Heart Cathedral
The Huaisheng Mosque

Guangzhou has a humid, hot sub-tropical climate. Annual average temperature is 21.8 degrees. Autumn, from October to December, is very moderate, cool and windy, and is the best travel time.[18] There are many tourist attractions around the city which include:

Media

Guangzhou has two local radio stations, the provincial Radio Guangdong and the municipal Radio Guangzhou. Together they broadcast Cantonese and Mandarin programmes in more than a dozen channels. The Beijing-based China National Radio broadcasts Putonghua programmes in the city. On the other hand, radio stations from cities around Guangzhou mainly broadcast in Cantonese whose programmes can be received in different parts of the city, depending on their locations and power. Radio Guangdong produces a 15-minute weekly English programme, Guangdong Today, which is broadcast globally through the World Radio Network but not in local channels. Daily English news and several other short weekly English programmes are also produced by Radio Guangdong.

Both TVB Pearl and ATV World, two major English channels in Hong Kong, can be received through cable TV in Guangzhou. The local Guangzhou Television also has its own English channel which runs all-English programmes from evening to midnight every day.

Guangzhou has some of the best Chinese-language newspapers in Mainland China, published by three big newspaper groups in the city. The Guangzhou Daily Press Group, Nanfang Press Corporation and Yangcheng Evening News Group dominate the newspaper market of Guangdong Province or even South Mainland China. The two leading newspaper of the city are Guangzhou Daily and Southern Metropolis Daily. Guangzhou Daily, with a circulation of 1.8 million, has been China's most successful newspaper for 14 years in terms of advertising revenue. In addition to Guangzhou's Chinese-language publications, there are a few English magazines and newspapers, most notably that's PRD (formerly that's Guangzhou) which was started more than a decade ago and has since blossomed into one of China's leading expat magazines with issues in Beijing, Shanghai and formerly Suzhou.

Education

Main article: List of universities and colleges in Guangdong

Higher education institutes

File:Sun Yat-sen University.JPG
Sun Yat-sen College of Medical Science, Sun Yat-sen University
The main gate of Sun Yat-sen University

National universities

Public universities and colleges

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

Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre

Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Centre also known as Guangzhou University City is a large university complex located in the southeast suburbs of Guangzhou. This huge higher education centre occupies the entire Xiaoguwei island in Panyu District, covering an area of about 18 square kilometres. It houses new campuses from ten universities, nine of which still maintain their old campuses in downtown Guangzhou. The whole Higher Education Mega Centre can eventually accommodate up to 200,000 students, 20,000 teachers and 50,000 staffs.[19]

Universities which have campuses in the Mega Centre:

Secondary and high schools

International schools

Sports

Current professional sports clubs (football and basketball) based in Guangzhou include:

Sport League Tier Club Stadium
Football Chinese Super League 1st Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Yuexiushan Stadium
Football China League One 2nd Guangdong Sunray Cave Huangpu Stadium
Basketball National Basketball League 2nd Guangzhou Freemen Tianhe Stadium
Basketball National Basketball League 2nd Guangzhou Six-rice Huangpu Stadium
Baseball China Baseball League 1st Guangdong Leopards Guangdong Olympic Stadium

International relations

Pearl River at night
File:Guangzhou Tower June 2009.jpg
Guangzhou TV & Sightseeing Tower, June 2009

Twin towns — Sister cities

Guangzhou is twinned with the following cities:

Country City County/District/Region/State Date
 Japan Fukuoka Fukuoka 1979
 USA Los Angeles California December 6, 1981
 Philippines Manila Metro Manila November 1982
 Canada Vancouver British Columbia March 1985[20]
 Italy Bari Bari 1986
 Australia Sydney New South Wales May 1986
 Chile Viña Del Mar Valparaíso November 1986
 Germany Frankfurt am Main Hessen April 11, 1988
 France Lyon Rhône November 1988
 New Zealand Auckland Auckland February 1989
 South Korea Gwangju Gwangju October 1996
 Japan Oita Ōita 1997
 Sweden Linköping Östergötland November 1997
 South Africa Durban KwaZulu-Natal July 2000
 United Kingdom Bristol England May 2001[21]
 Russia Yekaterinburg Sverdlovsk July 10, 2002
 Peru Arequipa Arequipa October 27, 2004
 United Kingdom Birmingham England December 2006
 United Arab Emirates Dubai Dubai 2005
 Indonesia Surabaya East Java December 2005
 Brazil Recife Pernambuco 2007
 Malaysia Kota Kinabalu Sabah May 2009
 Bangladesh Dhaka Dhaka

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "Area and Population of Guangzhou. 2007 estimate". The People`s Government of Guangzhou Municipality. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
  2. ^ MapMachine
  3. ^ A concise history of Hong Kong By John Mark Carroll
  4. ^ Demographia World Urban Areas population projections
  5. ^ Welsh, Frank (1974). Maya Rao (ed.). A Borrowed Place: The History of Hong Kong. p. 13. ISBN 1-56836-134-3.
  6. ^ Needham, Joseph (1954). Science & Civilisation in China. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1, 179. {{cite book}}: Check |first= value (help)
  7. ^ Sima Guang. Zizhi Tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror to Aid in Government).
  8. ^ Gabriel Ferrand, ed. (1922). Voyage du marchand arabe Sulaymân en Inde et en Chine, rédigé en 851, suivi de remarques par Abû Zayd Hasan (vers 916). p. 76.
  9. ^ Kaifung Jews. Division of Religion and Philosophy. University of Cumbria.
  10. ^ "Top 10 Cities of the Year 1800". About.com. Retrieved 2008-08-28. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ China and Africa: Stronger Economic Ties Mean More Migration. By Malia Politzer. Migration Information Source. August 2008
  12. ^ Out of Africa and into China, immigrants struggle. Yahoo News. August 22, 2009.
  13. ^ Guangzhou and Foshan signed "City Merge Cooperation Framework"
  14. ^ "Guangzhou's GDP Per Capita Exceeds 10,000 USD, Double of Province's Average". Life of Guangzhou. 2009-01-27. Retrieved 2009-08-17. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  15. ^ "Guangzhou Bans Motorcycles". Life of Guangzhou. 2007-01-03. Retrieved 2008-08-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "Traffic Jam Improve after Motorcycle Ban". Life of Guangzhou. 2007-01-19. Retrieved 2008-08-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "Date set for LPG-fueled buses, taxis". China Daily. 2007-07-06. Retrieved 2008-08-28. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "Travel China Guide: Fascinating Guangzhou". Blogspot. 2008-08-12. Retrieved 2008-08-21. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "Mega Campus goes Wireless" (PDF). Intel Corporation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2008-08-28. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "Vancouver Twinning Relationships" (PDF). City of Vancouver. Retrieved 2009-07-18.
  21. ^ "Bristol City - Town twinning". © 2009 Bristol City Council. Retrieved 2009-07-17. {{cite web}}: External link in |publisher= (help)

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Guangzhou.
Preceded by Capital of the Republic of China (during Chinese Civil War)
1949 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Guangzhou&oldid=340489861"