Guangdong Province, bordering on the South China Sea, is located in the southernmost of China’s mainland. It adjoins Fujian Province on th east, Jiangxi and Hunan provinces on the north and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Rejion on the west, with Hong Kong and Macou lying to its south respectively on the east and west banks of the Pearl River estury. It covers an area of about 180,000 square kilometers of land and 420,000 square kilometers of sea with a total population of 94,500,000.
Located on the subtropical zone, Guangdong enjoys a mild climate and a rich rainfall, with an average annual temperate of 22.3 C centigrade and rainfall of 1,700mm.
With Guangzhou as its capital, Guangdong Province now has jurisdiction over 21 prefecture-level cities, among which Shenzhen, Zhuhai and Shantou are the three earliest Economic Special Zones opened to the outside world. Four prefectural cities-Chaozhou, Meizhou, Foshan and Zhaoqin-enjoy a reputation of ”National Historical and Cultural City”. Moreover, there are still 19 cities or countries that have been awarded with the honorable title of ”National Excellent Tourism City”.
During the Pre-Qin period, Guangdong area was inhabited by the Nan Yue ethnic people. Qin unified South China in 219 A.D. And set up Guilin, Xiangjun and Nanhai prefectures. Today’s Guangzhou is where the Nanhai Prefercture was located.
At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, a former Qin commanding general, Zhao Tuo by name, founded the first local state in the presentday Guangdong area, the Kingdom of Nanyue, thus promoting the fusion between the Han and the Yue ethnics and accelerating the social, economic and cultural progress in South China. Under the Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms period, the region to the north of Hepu was named Guangzhou, which ruled the Nanhai, Changwu and Yulin prefectres. Hence, the name of ruled the Nanhai, Changwu and Yulin prefectures. Hence, the name of ”Guangzhou” came into being. At that time, China’s foreign trade channel starting from Panyu was establishe, which is the origin of the Maritime Silk Road.
In Ming Dynasty, Guangdong, became one of the 13 provinces. The early Qing Dynasty inherited Ming’s system and set up Guangdong Province. The name of ”Guangdong” was officially adopted. The government of Qing established Guangdong Customs in Guangzhou, which is the first offical established Guangdong Customs in Guangzhou, which is the first official established Guangdong Customs in Guangzhou, which is th first official establishment of customs in the history of our country. The late Qing Dynasty witnessed the birth of national capitalism and national industry, and the ”Westernization Movement” in which the Chinese people learned from the West in search of a road of wealth and power. With Kang Youwei and Liang Qinchao as the leading exponents, the Bourgeois reformists wrote books to diseminate their ideas and popularize their reformist thoughts, which were gradually developed into a political practice, and eventually led to a capitalist reform movement. Guangdong is also the original place of China’s modern revolution. Sun Yat-sen from Xiangshan county led and founded the first bourgeois political party in China: the Tong Meng Hui (Revolutionary League). He led the Huanghua Gang Uprising, the Law-Protecting Movement and also successfully achieved the First Cooperation of the Communist Party and the Kuomintang. Sun Yat-sen was honored as ”the Forerunner of Democratic Revolution” and ”Father of the Republic of China”.
Since the 1980s, Guangdong, a place propitious for giving birth to great men, was the first province to open to the outside world and quickly became one of the most economically developed regions in China, with an average per capita GDP exceeding 4000US dollars. People’s living standard for the time reached the comparatively well-off level. Guangzhou Trade Fairs, established in 1957 and held in every April and October, is known as the ”NO.1 Exhibiton of China”.
The Pearl River Delta today has attained fruitful attainments. It has entered a new era of vigorous development.
In the long process of historical development, the unique Lingnan(the area covering Guangdong and Guangxi) culture has formed after the exchange, clash, and fusion of various cultures. In Guangdong Province, there exist three groups of people: Guangfu, Chao-shan, Kakka, which are corresponding to Guangfu culture, Chao-shan culture and Kakka culture respectively. The Guangfu group appeared the earliest, which lives in the Pearl River Delta and some other counties and cities in the middle and west part of Guangdong Province. The Kakka group can best reflect the fusion and transformation between Lingnan culture and Central Plain culture. It is distributed mainly over Meizhou region. The Kakkas have inherited in the fine tradition from the Central Plain culture, such as practicing frugality, self-esteem and self-reliance, showing respect to teachers and attaching great importance to education. The Chao-shan group mainly lives in Chaozhou and Shantou. Chao-shan people are adventurous, innovation and ingenious. The significant feature distinguishing the three groups in their different dialects, that is , the ”Baihua”(the plain language)based on Guangzhou dialect, the Kakka language based on Meizhou dialect and the Chao-shan language based on Shantou local dialect. The minorities of Guangdong are distributed mainly in places like Liannan and Ruyuan districts. Local customs such as the Getang(the Singing Meet) and the Wooden Handle Lion of Yao nationality, the Eighth of April Festival and the Ox King Birthday Celebration of Zhuang nationality, as well as the Third of March Festival and the Second of February Festival of She nationality are of unique flavor.
As a vehicle of Lingnan culture, the architectures in Guangdong are also distinctive. Folk buildings unique to the region all present distinct Lingnan characteristics, for example, the Xiguan big house and the arcaded building, the Hakka circular houses; buildings of social institutions, such as the Temple of South China Sea God, Foshan Ancestral Temple, the Chen Family Temple and the Panyu Academy; buildings of world cultural heritage such as the Kaiping watchtowers, and buildings for city defense such as the Xinhui Yanmen artillery fort and the Guangzhou Zhenhai Tower. The Lingnan garden, represented by Qinghui Garden, Ke Garden and Yuyinshanfang Garden, together with Northern Garden and Suzhou Garden, are reputed as the ”three major landscape gardens in China”.
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