1 : Guangzhou
2 : Administration
3 : History
4 : Geography
5 : Economy
6 : Culture
6.1 : Touristic highlights
7 : Colleges and Universities
8 : Footnotes
9 : External link
Guangzhou (Traditional Chinese: 廣州, Simplified Chinese: 广州, pinyin: Guǎngzhōu, Wade-Giles: Kuang-chou) is the capital of the Guangdong Province in southern China. It was formerly known as Canton or Kwangtung (named after the province).
The Chinese abbreviation of Guangzhou is Yue (TC: 粵; SC: 粤; pinyin: yuè), like Guangdong Province. Population (1999): city: 6.85 million; urban population: 4.05 million.
Administration
Guangzhou has direct jurisdiction over twelve districts: Yuexiu, Dongshan, Liwan, Haizhu, Tianhe, Baiyun, Huangpu, Fangcun, Huadu, Conghua, Zengcheng, Panyu.
History
It is believed that the first city was built in 214 BC, named Fanyu (番禹) and have had a continuous occupation since that time.
In 206 BC, it became the capital of Kingdom Nanyue (南越), and the city was expanded.
Han Dynasty annexed Nanyue in 111 BC, and Fanyu became a provincial capital and remains so until this day.
Fanyu was renamed Guangzhou in 226 AD.
Guangzhou was sacked by Arabs ¹ and Persians in AD 758, ² based on 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 Tang Dynasty. ³
During Song Dynasty, Su Shi (苏轼), a celebrated poet, visited Baozhuangyan Temple (founded in 537 AD), and left his hand-writing "liu rong" (six banyan trees) to the temple, so the name "Liu Rong Temple".
In 1711, the British East India Company established a trading post in Guangzhou.
Guangzhou was one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the Treaty of Nanjing (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.
Geography
Guangzhou is located at 112°57'E to 114°3'E and 22°26'N to 23°56'N. The Municipality is part of the Pearl River Delta.
Economy
The Pearl River Delta is one of mainland China's leading economic regions and a massive manufacturing centre.
Guangzhou's main airport is Baiyun International Airport, a hub for China Southern Airlines.
The GDP per capita was ¥38568 (ca. US$4660) in 2003, ranked no. 8 among 659 Chinese cities.
Culture
Touristic highlights
Colleges and Universities
[National]
[Public]
Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.
Footnotes
¹ Frank Welsh, A Borrowed Place: The History of Hong Kong, Maya Rao (editor), p. 13. [1]
² Joseph Needham, Science & Civilization in China, 1, pp.179 - Cambridge University Press 1954
³ Sima Guang, Zizhi Tongjian, ch. 220.
External link
- Official (in simplified and traditional Chinese)
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