Guangdong (simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese; EFEO : Kouangtong; pinyin is a province on the southern coast of China. It overtook Henan and Sichuan to become the most populous province in China in January 2005, registering 79 million permanent residents and 31 million migrants who lived in the province for at least six months. The provincial capital of Guangzhou and economic hub Shenzhen are among the most populous and important cities in China.
Guangdong is the country's richest province with the highest total GDP among all provinces. Its nominal GDP for 2003 was US$165 billion, increased to US$265 billion in 2005 (about the same size as Denmark). In 2006 that number increased to US$329.07 billion and by 2007 its GDP has grown another 14.5% to reach 3.06 trillion yuan (US$422 billion). Guangdong contributes approximately 12.5% of national economic output. Guangdong also hosts the largest Import and Export Fair in China called the Canton Fair which is hosted by the city of Guangzhou - Guangdong's capital city.
The province was the homeland and base of operations of Sun Yat-Sen, the widely accepted founder of modern China. Guangdong faces the South China Sea to the south and has a total of 4,300 km of coastline. Leizhou Peninsula is on the southwestern end of the province. There are a few inactive volcanoes on Leizhou Peninsula. The Pearl River Delta is the convergent point of three upstream rivers: the East River, North River, and West River. The river delta is filled with hundreds of small islands. The province is geographically separated from the north by a few mountain ranges collectively called the Southern Mountain Range. The highest point in the province is about 1,600 meters above sea level.
Guangdong borders Fujian province to the northeast, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces to the north, Guangxi autonomous region to the west, and Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions to the south. Hainan province is offshore across from the Leizhou Peninsula.
Cities around the Pearl River Delta include Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Shunde, Taishan, Zhongshan and Zhuhai. Other cities in the province include Chaozhou, Chenghai, Kaiping, Nanhai, Shantou, Shaoguan, Xinhui, Zhanjiang and Zhaoqing.
Guangdong has a humid subtropical climate (tropical in the far south), with short, mild, dry, winters and long, hot, wet summers. Average daily highs in Guangzhou in January and July are 18C (64F) and 33C (91F) respectively, although the humidity makes it feel much hotter in summer. Frost is rare on the coast but may happen a few days each winter well inland. |
