Guangzhou is the capital and the sub-provincial city of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the People’s Republic of China. The city is also known by an older English name, Canton. She is a port on the Pearl River, navigable to the South China Sea. As of the 2000 census, it has a population of 6 million, and a metropolitan population of 12.6 million (citation needed), making her the most populous city in the province and the third most populous metropolitan area in China.
The Statue of Five Goats
Guangzhou is located the east longitude 113°17′, North latitude23°8′ and is situated at south mainland China. Guangzhou borders on the South China Sea, and is close to Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao special administrative region. Guangzhou is at the subtropics and is the subtropics monsoon climate. The yearly average temperature is 20-22℃, the lowest temperature is about 0℃, and the maximum temperature is 38℃. The average annual rainfall is 1,982 millimeters, and the average relative humidity is 77%. In the whole year, April to June is the rainy season, July to September is very hot, and October to December is the best traveling seasons. Guangzhou has a rough terrain. Topography northeast is high, southwest is low, north and northeastern part is mountainous area, middle is the knoll, south is the Zhujiang Delta plain. Pearl River (China’s third largest river) flows through this city. She has more than 2,210 years’ glorious history and culture. In the long historical perpetual flow, many scenic spots and historical sites like the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King , Chen Clan Academy, the Guangxiao Temple, the Zhenhai Tower, the South China Sea Temple, and so on.
Zhenhai Tower
Guangzhou blends together essence of the Chinese and foreign culture and has formed the unique Lingnan culture. The Lingnan picture faction, Lingnan construct, the Lingnan botanical garden, the Lingnan bonsai, the Guangdong folk music, the Guangdong opera, the Cantonese cuisine, Cantonese as well as the city landscape, the life custom and so on, all has manifested the Lingnan culture style.
From a small fishing village on the South China Sea in ancient times to a modern metropolitan city, economic development is an important driving force. Five thousand years ago, the primitive people living here were engaged in primitive agriculture, fishing and hunting. Guangzhou is one of the ancient capitals which has the longest history, and is the biggest trading port that received oriental and occidental culture. Since ancient days Lingnan was far from the reach of emperors, receiving less of the influence of orthodox politics and culture. As it is on the sea coast, it has a tradition of trading with foreign countries.
When the troops of Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) marched on Lingnan, the whole army was stationed in the city of Panyu (A district of Guangzhou). Sima Qian says in his history book that “Panyu is the metropolitan.” It is evident that Panyu was not a small city at that time. In the Tang Dynasty (618-907A.D.), there were thousand ships of foreign trade coming to and going from Guangzhou. “Sails covering the sky and ships vying against each other” was the scene on the Pearl River. Guangzhou had developed into the biggest port of foreign trade in China. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279A.D.), the number of foreign merchants coming to Guangzhou grew enormously. It is said there were ten thousand households of foreign merchants on the outskirts of Guangzhou. In the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368A.D.), Guangzhou had trade relations with 212 countries and regions.
In the Ming Dynasty (1369-1644A.D.), Guangzhou became the first big port for presenting tribute to the imperial court and trade. The countries that came to Guangzhou to present tribute to the imperial constituted 80% of the total. In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911A.D.), Guangzhou was the only port for foreign trade for 83 years. And this was called “one port for trade”. The trade in the famous “Thirteen Companies” was unprecedentedly prosperous; income from foreign trade became the most important source of national financial revenue.
Thirteen Companies
Since the modern times Guangzhou was one of the areas that were the first to emigrate abroad, with a great number of overseas Chinese that had frequent contact with foreign countries, absorbing the advanced western productive technology and culture, which promoted the development in modern industry, communication, telecommunication and medicine of Guangzhou. At the turn of the 20th century, the city was built according to the planning for modern city, with city walls dismantled, streets paved, port and aviation developed, industrial base established in Xicun, which enable the city to develop continuously.
Guangzhou in 1919
After the founding of the People’s Republic, Guangzhou entered into a period of peaceful social construction, with economic development developing rapidly. Industrial bases were built like Henan, Yuancun, Hedong, and Huangpu, laying the foundation for modern industry in Guangzhou. Streets like Dongfeng Road, Huanshi Road, Industry Street, Jiangnan Street, Xingang Road, Zhongshan Street, etc. became the skeleton of modern urban road netwrork. A great number of culture, sports, and entertainment devices have been built like Scenery Spots of Baiyun Mountain, Yuexiu Park, Liuhua Park, Xiaogang Park and Cultural Park, raising the urban afforestation and providing places for the relaxation and recreation of the urban citizens.
After the opening and reform, Guangzhou has become the southern gateway to exchanges between the inland and foreign countries. She took the lead in opening up to the outside world, intensifying the reform so that the economy has gained high-speed development. Among the ten big cities in the country, Guangzhou ranks in the front in all-round strength. Surfing in the tide of commodity economy, Guangzhou people have absorbed and assimilated the ideology of modern market economy, manifesting the strong figure of the Chinese people confronted with international market competition. Guangzhou, this famous historical cultural city with special features of Lingnan, has a brilliant long history. The historical achievements are the basis for progress, while the glorious tradition is the motive force. In the social construction of modernization of China, Guangzhou will surely perform its function of pioneer and window.
New Guangzhou TV Tower
Guangzhou is also an important cradle of modern civilization as well as the place of origin for the Chinese revolution in modern history. Such great historical events as opium destroying at Human, the anti-British movement at Sanyuanli, the Huanghuagang uprising in the period of the 1911 Revolution, and the Guangzhou Uprising took place here in Guangzhou, thus there are such historic sites as Huanghuagang, Huangpu Military Academy, the Institute of the Peasant Movement in Guangzhou, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, etc.
Guangzhou enjoys favorable geographical location, with beautiful natural landscape and abundant tourism resources. Tourist attractions like Baiyun Mountain, Conghua hot spring, Lotus Hill, the Water World at Jiulongtan and the Liuxi River National Forest Park, etc. All of them have rich cultural connotation and distinctive local specialties. Guangzhou is dotted by numerous parks, such as Yuexiu Park, Liuhua Lake Park, Tianhe Park, Dongshan Lake Park, the Orchid Garden, Guangzhou Zoo and so on, and the recently-built Yuntai Garden, the Sculpture Park. Each park or garden has its own specialties, with nice and tranquil surroundings, shades of green trees, being really a good place to go for a walk and leisure.
Recent years we have found Guangzhou’s tourist attractions spring up rapidly one after another. A batch of large-scale attractions, with distinctive specialties and rich connotation have come into being, ranging from the several-years-ago’s Dongfang Amusement Park, Grand World Scenic Park, the Flying Dragon World, the Feitu Fantasy Studio, to the present Xiangjiang Safari World, the Ocean World, Space Flight Spectacle, hence scenic spots can be said as varied as could. The construction of scenic spots in Guangzhou has never been so brilliant. Now, Guangzhou boasts 123 historical sites protected by the state, and 40-odd tourist attractions.
With the metro, opened in 1997, Guangzhou is the fourth city in China to build an underground railway system. Currently there are eight operational lines and with an ambitious plan to expand rapidly with several lines under construction and some lines that are being planned. Guangzhou’s main airport is the New Baiyun International Airport in Huadu District that opened in 2004 replacing old airport close to the city center.
Baiyun International Airport
Written by: Zhang Tianjie ( Tom) South China Normal University, The School of Geography, Guangzhou
