Guangzhou
(;
Postal System Pinyin: Canton) is the
capital of
Guangdong Province in
southern China. The native name of the city, in
Cantonese, is 廣州 (
Jyutping: Gwong
2 zau
1). The city was formerly known internationally as
Canton City or simply
Canton, after a
French language transliteration of the name of the province in
Cantonese. It is a port on the
Pearl River,
navigable to the
South China Sea. As of the
2000 census, the city has a population of 12.6 million, making it the most populous city in the province and the fifth most populous in
China.
The
Chinese abbreviation of Guangzhou is
Sui (穗; pinyin: sùi; Jyutping: seoi6; Yale: seuīh) or sometimes GZ. This city has the nicknames of
Wuyangcheng (City of Five Rams),
Yangcheng (City of Rams),
Huacheng (City of Flowers), or
Suicheng (City of Wheats). 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 of "Guangdong" Province, which was erroneously used as the city's name. It was more convenient 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.
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.
 |
CITIC Plaza |
|
Temple of the Six Banyan Trees |
Administrative divisions
Guangzhou is a
sub-provincial city. It has direct jurisdiction over ten
districts and two
county-level cities.
;Districts
*
Yuexiu District*
Liwan District*
Haizhu District*
Tianhe District*
Baiyun District*
Huangpu District*
Huadu District*
Panyu District*
Nansha District*
Luogang DistrictAs 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.
It is believed that the first city built at the site of Guangzhou was Panyu (番禺; 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 (南越) in
206 BC.
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Guangzhou jurisdiction (in yellow) |
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 (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.
Arabs 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 (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 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.
|
1888 German map of Hong Kong, Macau, and Canton (now Guangzhou) |
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.
Astronomical phenomena
The previous total
solar eclipse as seen from Guangzhou (downtown) was
Solar eclipse of 1814-Jul-17 (
July 17,
1814).
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 2005, the GDP per capita was ¥58,000 (about US $7,000), ranking the city eighth among 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
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.
|
Shishi Holy Heart Cathedral |
*
Baiyun Mountain (白云山)
*
Yue Xiu Park (越秀公园)
*
Ancestral Temple of the Chen Family (陈家祠)
*
Guangdong Museum of Folk Handcraft*
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 MosqueSignificant buildings
*
Guangdong Olympic Stadium*
CITIC Plaza*
Sky Central Plaza*
Guangdong TV Tower*
Guangzhou TV Tower*
China HotelPlans are also underway to build what will become the world's tallest free-standing TV tower.
Culture
*
Cantonese (linguistics)*
Cantonese cuisine*
Cantonese operaMajor educational institutions
National*
Sun Yat-sen University (中山大学) (founded 1924)
*
South China University of Technology (华南理工大学)
*
Jinan University (暨南大学) (founded 1906)
Public*
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)
*
South China Normal University (华南师范大学)
*
Guangzhou Medical College (广州医学院)
*
Guangzhou University of TCM (广州中医药大学)
*
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 Business College (广东商学院)
*
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"育学院)
Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.
Guangzhou is
twinned with the following cities:
*
Fukuoka,
Japan (May, 1979)
*
Los Angeles,
United States (
March 2,
1982)
*
Manila,
Philippines (November, 1982)
*
Vancouver,
Canada (March, 1985)
*
Sydney,
Australia (May, 1986)
*
Bari,
Italy (November, 1986)
*
Frankfurt am Main,
Germany (
April 11,
1988)
*
Lyon,
France (November, 1988)
*
Auckland,
New Zealand, (February, 1989)
*
Kwangju,
South Korea (October, 1996)
*
Linköping,
Sweden (November, 1997)
*
Durban,
South Africa (July, 2000)
*
Bristol,
United Kingdom (May, 2001)
*
Yekaterinburg,
Russia (
July 10,
2002)
*
Arequipa,
Peru (
October 27,
2004)
*
Whampoa Military Academy*
Guangzhou Uprising (1927)
*
Canton porcelain*
Lingnan University (Guangzhou)*
Official Guangzhou Website*
Satellite photo of the city*
Guangzhou Photo Gallery* http://www.nudieman.com/anrg/flower_pagoda.htm (A description of the Flower Pagoda)
* http://www.orientalarchitecture.com/ (With descriptions and many pictures of the: Chen Family Confucian Academy, Guangxiaosi Temple, Sun Yat-sen Memorial (1929-31), Wong Tai Sin Temple, Wuxianguan Temple, Zhenhai Tower)
*
raildog in the attic-photo weblog
