Sunday, December 10, 2006

Welkom in Guangdong in China



Spectacular fireworks above the Zhu Jiang (The Pearl River) in Guangdong

The province Guangdong is located in the South-East of China. Guangdong faces the South China Sea to the south and has a total of 4,300 km of coastline. Guangzhou is the capital of the district.

The Pearl River Delta which is filled with hundreds of small islands, is the convergent point of three upstream rivers East River, North River, and West River.

Guangdong is also well known by the name Kanton, or Canton. The name means the “East of the region Guang”. Canton is the French derivation of the name of the region. The city is also celebrated because of the Cantonese opera and Cantonese cuisine.

The local people of Guangzhou and their language are still commonly referred to as Cantonese.

In recent years Guangdong has seen extremely rapid economic growth, aided in part by its close trading links with Hong Kong, which borders it.

Guangdong is a multicultural province. The majority of the population of the province is Han Chinese. There is a small Yao population in the north. Minority groups in Guangdong include Miao, Li, and Zhuang.

Hakka people live in large areas of the province, including Huizhou, Shenzhen, Heyuan, Shaoguan and other areas. Meizhou is considered the center for standard Hakka dialect.

Very famous is the city Shantou (Swatow) because of the porcelain which is made there throughout the centuries.

The city Shenzhen is an economic wonder since it became a Special Economic Zone in 1979.

The “Dialou” in Kaiping county in Jiangmen prefecture are part of the World Heritage List of UNESCO.

Following Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Zhuhai is the third city in Guangdong. The city attracts many international and domestic tourists. It has the reputation of a garden city.

Hainan Island was originally part of Guangdong, but it was separated as its own province in 1988. The next district to visit at the journey will be this island district Hainan.Or take a flight to, of vlieg naar