Guangdong
Guangdong (广东 Pinyin: Gŭangdōng), Kwangtungolder transliterationKuang-tungWade-Giles, isprovince onsouth coast ofPeople's RepublicChina.
Together, Guangdongneighboring Guangxicalled"Two Guang" (兩廣 liang3 gaung3).
Sometimes, "Canton Province" (based on an obsolete transliteration"Guangdong")usedmean Guangdong. Thisas opposed"Canton (City)", which refersGuangzhou.
The abbreviation, Yue, isname oflegendary ethnicity bysame name - also Yue (粤) - that livedGuangdong.
| Province Abbreviations: 粤 yue4 | |
| Capital | Guangzhou |
| Area - Total - % water | Ranked 12th 197,000 kmē xx% |
| Population
- Total (2000) - Density | Ranked 3rd
86,420,000 440/kmē |
| Administration Type | Province |
| Image:China provinces guangdong.png | |
| Tablecontents |
|
2 Geography 3 Economy 4 Demographics 5 Politics 6 Culture 7 Tourism 8 Miscellaneous topics 9 External links |
History
The BattleYamen (1279) took placetoday's Guangdong. It markedend ofSouthern Song Dynasty.
Since16th century, Guangdong has had extensive trade links withrest ofworld. European merchants, particularlyBritish, traded extensively through Guangzhou,it wasopium trade through Guangzhou that triggeredOpium Wars.
In19th century, Guangdong wasmajor portexitlaborerssoutheast Asia andWestern United States. Untillate 20th century, residentsChinatowns tendedbe overwhelmingly from Guangdong.
During1850s,first revolt ofTaiping Rebellion took placeGuangdong. Becausecontact withWest, Guangdong wascenteranti-Manchuanti-imperialist activity. The generally acknowledged foundermodern China, Sun Yat-Sen was from Guangdong.
Duringearly 1920s ofRepublicChina, Guangdong wasstaging areaKMTprepare forNorthern Expedition. Whampoa Military Academy was built near Guangzhoutrain military commanders.
In recent years,province has seen extremely rapid economic growth, aidedpart by its close trading linksHong Kong, which borders it.
GuangdongbelievedbesourceSARS2003.
Administration
In 214, Qin Shi Huangdi madearea Nanhai Commandry (南海郡), withcapital at Pan District (番禺) (today Guangzhou). InHan Dynasty, itin Jiao Prefecture (交州). It,Guangxi, was Lingnan Circuit (嶺南道), or Mountain-South Circuit,627 duringTang Dynasty.
The Guangdong partLingnan Circuit was renamed Guangnan East Region (廣南東路 guang3 nan2 dong1 lu4)971 duringSong Dynasty. "Guangnan East" issource"Guangdong". "Guang" means "Expanse".
DuringYuan Dynasty,waspartJiangxi. Its present name, "Guangdong Province" was given duringQing Dynasty.
Hainan was originally partGuangdong but was separated in1980s.
The current administrative divisionsGuangdong province are:
Chaozhou, Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Heyuan, Huizhou, Jiangmen County, Jieyang, Maoming, Meizhou, Qingyuan, Shantou, Shanwei, Shaoguan, Shenzhen sub-provincial city, Yangjiang, Yunfu, Zhanjiang, Zhaoqing, Zhongshan, Zhuhai.
Geography
Guangdong facesSouth China Sea tosouthhadtotal4,300 kmcoatdline. Leizhou Peninsulaonsouthwestern end ofprovince. There arefew inactive volcanoes on Leizhou Peninsula. The Pearl River Delta isconvergent pointthree upstream rivers:East River, North River,West River. The river deltafilledhundredssmall islands. The provincegeographically separated fromnorth byfew mountain ranges collectively calledSouthern Mountain Range (南岭). The highest point inprovinceabout 1,600 meters above sea level.
Guangdong borders Fujian province tonortheast, JiangxiHunan provinces tonorth, Guangxi autonomous region towest,Hong KongMacau special administrative regions tosouth. Hainan provinceoffshore across fromLeizhou Peninsula.
Cities aroundPearl River Delta include Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Shunde, Taishan, ZhongshanZhuhai. Other cities inprovince include Chaozhou, Chenghai, Kaiping, Nanhai, Panyu, Shantou, Shaoguan, Xinhui, ZhanjiangZhaoqing.
Economy
Aftercommunist takeoveruntilstart ofDeng Xiaoping reforms1978, Guangdong was an economic backwater. Economic development policies encouraged industrial development ininterior provinces which were weakly linkedGuangdong via transportation links. The government policyeconomic autarky made Guangdong's access toocean irrelevant.
Deng Xiaoping's open door policy radically changedeconomy ofprovince aswas abletake advantageits access toocean, its closenessHong Kong,historical linksoverseas Chinese. In addition, until1990s whenChinese taxation system was reformed,province benefited fromrelatively low ratetaxation placed onbycentral government dueits historical statusbeing economically backward.
The provincenow one ofrichest innation. It has three offour Special Economic Zones: Shenzhen, ShantouZhuhai.
Demographics
The majority ofprovince's populationHan Chinese. There issmall Yao population innorthern part ofprovince. Other smaller minority groups include Mian, Li,Zhuang.
The Cantonese dialect, rather thanofficial Mandarin Chinese dialect, serves aslingua franca60,000,000 or so peopleGuangdong speaking various dialects. MinnanHakka dialectsalso spoken. Mandarintaughtschoolunderstood by majority ofpopulation.
Owing toclosenessGuangdong toocean,isancestral homelarge numbersoverseas Chinese. Most ofrailroad laborers inWestern United States in19th century came fromprovince. Emigrationrecent years has slowed due torelatively good economy inprovince,Guangdong ismajor destination offloating population from more northern provinces.
Because ofhigh population density andclose proximitywhich humansanimals live, Guangdong has often beensourcerespiratory diseases such as influenza. In late 2002, Guangdong wasinitial sourceSARS.
Politics
During1980s,Guangdong provincial government hadreputationresisting central government directives, especially those regardingeconomy. Atsame time,good economic situationGuangdong has maderelatively quiet inareapoliticaleconomic activism. Although some inWest assume that Guangdong's economic growthdistinctive language would give riseseparatism, thisnotcase,there has never been any significant supportseparatism.
Although both Hong KongMacau have historically been partGuangdong,basic lawsboth special administrative regions (SAR) explicitly forbid provincial governments from interveningpolitical issues. Many issues, such as border policywater rights, regardingrelationship between Hong KongMacao andrestChinasettled via negotiation betweenSAR's andGuangdong provincial government. BecauseSAR'ssubdivisionsChina, itimpossible fornegotiationoccur betweencentral government andSAR government since theyof different statuses withcentral governmenthigher power. However, because Guangdong andSAR'sequal statusneither having control overother, negotiation between thempossiblein fact encouraged on issueswhichCentral Government has no opinion.
Culture
- Cantonese Chinese
- Cantonese cuisine (粤菜)
- Chiuchow cuisine
- Cantonese opera (粤剧) isformChinese opera popularCantonese speaking areas.
Tourism
Miscellaneous topics
Collegesuniversities
- Jinan University (Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Shenzhen)
- Shantou University (Shantou)
- South China UniversityTechnology (Guangzhou)
- Sun Yet-sen UniversityMedical Sciences (Zhongshan)
- Zhongnan University (Zhongshan)
- Zhongshan University (Zhongshan)
