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Chinese Cities and Province Information
Guangdong Province |
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China City and Province:
Guangdong Province |
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Geography of Guangdong |
Bordering on the South China Sea, Guangdong is China’s southern most
provinces with a coastline of over 4,300 kilometres. It consists of the
continental part and off-shore Island and reefs, including Hainan Island
and the South China Sea Islands. The province covers an area of more
than 212,000 square kilometres and has a population of
86.42 million (2006).
The region is inhabited by people of the Han, Li, Yao, Zhuang, Miao, Hui,
Manchu and She nationalities. Guangdong Province's capital is
Guangzhou.
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Climate of Guangdong |
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Guangdong
has tropical and subtropical monsoon climate with long time summer
and abundant rainfall. The Leizhou Peninsula is in the tropical zone.
Since Guangdong
province is located in the low latitude area and faces the
South China Sea, it's tropical and subtropical climates.
The Guangdong's
average temperature of spring is about 20°C; summer is 28°C
(82 °F) ; autumn is 25°C (77 °F); winter is 12°C (54 °F).
There are many typhoons in summer and autumn.
Between April and
September is the rainy seasons, with an annual average
rainfall of 1,500-2,000mm. The Pearl River Delta is where
"there is no snow in three winters and flowers blossom all
year around". The spring and autumn are the best seasons for
traveling in Guangdong.
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Brief History of Guangdong Province |
Situated to the south of the Nanling Mountains, Guangdong was developed
much late than the central plains. The region was occupied by the
500,000 troops sent by the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty soon after
he had conquered the 6 independent states in 221 BC. It was then divided
into three prefectures, namely, Guilin, Nanhai, and Xiang. The
prefectural government of Nanhai was located at Panyu(Guangzhou). In the
Tang Dynasty, Panyu became an important trade centre. After the first
Opium War of 1840, Guangdong was gradually semi colonized.
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Products Guangdong Province |
Guangdong Province is one of the largest fruit producing centres in
China, totalling more than 370 varieties. Among them, lychee, banana,
orange and pineapple are the most widely grown. Selling well both
domestic and abroad market, they are the region’s four famous fruits.
Production of coffee, cocoa, lemongrass and pepper in Hainan Island and
Leizhou Peninsular is fast developing. Particularly known for Yingde
black tea, the hilly country in central and northern Guangdong abounds
with tea, rosin, tung oil and tea oil. The province’s ocean fishing and
freshwater and sea-water aquatics culture are quite developed. Of all
the Guangdong handcraft articles, Guangzhou ivory carving is the most
famous. In 1918, a layer concentric ivory ball made in Guangzhou won a
gold medal at Panama International Fair. Now, Guangzhou artisans can
make 45 layer concentric ivory balls. Apart from ivory carving,
Guangzhou embroidery, Fashan ceramics, Zhaoqing ink stones, Dongguan
fireworks, Xinhui palm-leaf fan, Shantou draw work and Hainan cocoanut
shell carving are all very famous.
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Guangdong Local Cuisine |
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Braised salamander and Eight Delicacies and Feast of Tianmahan Chicken
are famous local dishes with high nutrition. Love Bean Curd Fruit and
Bijie Stuffed Dumplings are popular refreshments with diners. |
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Places of Interest and Tourist Attractions: Guangdong |
In Guangdong Province, cities like Guangzhou, Fashn, Zhaoqing, Shenzhen,
Jiangmen and Haihou, and counties like Nanhai, Zhongshan and Shunde are
all ideal places for sightseeing. Among them, Guangzhou has already been
listed among the first group of famous historical and cultural cities
and Star Lake in Zhaoqing has come under state protection.
A Land of fish and rice well-known in China, the City of Guangzhou has a
history more than two thousand years.
It is also an important trading port and has many scenic spots,
historical sites and revolutionary monuments.
Major scenic spots include Yuexiu Mountian, Dinghu Mountain,
Loufu Mountain, Baiyun
Mountain, Xiqiao Mountain, Kaiyuan Temple.
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Guangdong
Related Article and Report Links |
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Hidden beauty of concrete jungle -
Guangzhou is definitely not a city you will fall in love with at
first sight. Every corner seems packed with high-rise buildings,
elevated highways, overpasses, vehicles, and lots and lots of people
- it feels like a city that is about to explode.
Your initial
instinct could well be to get out as soon as possible. However, if
you overcome this urge and stay longer, you will discover its more
personable side.
This
2,200-year-old port city, located on the Pearl River in Guangdong
province, is home to 10 million people and is one of China's
economic powerhouses.
But the city's
traditional neighborhoods, mostly in Xiguan area, still moves at a
leisurely pace - with elderly folk sitting outdoors playing chess or
just indulging in idle chatter; old stores, usually run by
generations of the same family, tucked away in the back streets and
selling a variety of medicinal herbs and dried seafood; and
centuries-old banyan trees, with their numerous aerial roots looking
like street sculptures.
A good way to
explore what the city and its people are really like is to have a
dim sum breakfast at a local restaurant.
In this
food-obsessed city, meals are a major source of happiness and
determines the pulse of everyday life of the local Cantonese people.
Restaurants in
Guangzhou are open for business as early as 6 am and the most
popular ones are usually huge, covering several floors, serving
about 1,000 people at a time, and full of noise and chaos.
It would be wise
to go with a local because the Guangdong dialect, called "bird
language" thanks to its minimum nine tones, might fail most Mandarin
speakers, let alone foreigners.
As soon as you
sit down, a pot of tea is promptly placed on your table. Soon, you
will notice servers walking around with trolleys stacked high with
bamboo canisters full of steaming hot food, like shrimp dumplings,
turnip cake, chicken feet, rice noodle rolls and egg tarts.
Simply point at
what you want as the carts pass by and the food will be delivered to
your table right away. The portions are usually small, so you can
sample a wide variety of dishes at one time.
Of course, dim
sum is not the only treat of the city's bustling food scene. You can
tuck into the city's best fish congee in a food stall with tiny
tables and plastic tools, or the best barbecued goose and ribs in a
humbly-decorated bistro located just around the corner from the big
restaurants.
Guangzhou is not
only a paradise for foodies, but also a magnet for businessmen from
all over the world.
The city's annual
trade fair, launched in 1957, is the oldest and one of the biggest
in China. The city's trading history dates back to ancient times and
recent archaeological finds suggest that the city may have had
traded frequently with foreigners more than 2,000 years ago.
Today, commercial
activity remains as vigorous as ever. Hundreds of thousands of
buyers travel from everywhere - Africa, the Middle East and Europe -
and buy anything they reckon they can sell back home, including all
sorts of clothes, shoes and handbags.
Shopping areas
like Beijing Road and Shangxiajiu in the heart of the city are good
places to experience the fast pace of city life and to find hot
bargains.
After spending a
whole day in the hustle and bustle of commercial Guangzhou, you can
head to Shamian, a small island on the Pearl River, for a quiet and
peaceful afternoon. Shamian means "sandy surface", in reference to
its historical past when the Guangzhou authorities handed over this
area to colonial Britain and France in the 19th century.
Shamian's
colonial heritage is still evident in the old European-styled
buildings, gardens and boulevards .
It's a perfect
place for a stroll. And as the sun goes down over the Pearl River,
settle down for a cup of coffee at one of the many restaurants or
cafes, and take in the beautiful view.
(Source: China Daily)
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Guangdong Useful Links and Sites |
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Major Citis
in Guangdong Province: |
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China's
Administrative Divisions |
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4 Municipalities*
23 Provinces:
5 Autonomous Regions***
2 Special Administrative
Regions (SAR)****
Notes:
* Municipalities
are directly under the administration of central government. A
municipality has the same political, economical and jurisdictional
rights as a province;
**Taiwan
Issue:
a result of China's civil
war in late 1940s'. In the earlier years of separation of mainland
China and Taiwan, both sides of China (also called People's Republic
of China "PRC" or "communist China", "red China" , "mainland China")
and Taiwan (also called Republic of China "ROC") claim the legal
sovereignty over China. Mainland China keeps claiming Taiwan as one of
its provinces while Taiwan regards itself as an independent country.)
*** Autonomous Regions was
provincial level administrative division of China, like
province, an autonomous region has its won local government,
but has more legislative rights. Autonomous Region is a
minority entity which has higher population of a particular
minority ethnic group.
**** Special Administrative
Regions (SAR) was established specially designed for solving
Hong Kong and Macao issues and based on the concept of "one country,
two systems", SAR is in a pattern within which two completely
different social systems (socialist system and capitalist system) and
ideologies can coexist, SAR has more autonomous power regulated
clearly by laws, including executive, legislative and independent
judicial power.
The statistics of each administrative division are collected from
official and unofficial publications, updated constantly and for your
reference only.
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