Guangzhou and Shenzhen, China
Guangzhou
Guangzhou [-d ʒ ə ʊ ], Canton, Capital of the province of Guangdong, China, (2010) 12.7 million residents in the entire administrative area, of which (2017) 12.5 million residents in the city districts.
Guangzhou is located at the northern end of the funnel mouth of the Pearl River, 150 km from the open sea (still in the tidal range), in the middle of the flow network of the South China rivers, whose valleys lead the way from the coast to the South China mountains and over low passes into the river area of the Yangtze River to Central and North China open. Guangzhou has 7 universities, including Sun Yat-sen University (founded in 1924), TU, technical colleges for engineering, agriculture and others, sports college, institutes of botany and applied chemistry, agricultural research institute; several museums, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall (built in 1931), botanical garden. Guangzhou is a traditional trade center for the inland and overseas exchange of goods; Spring and autumn fair. The outer harbor, which is still within the eastern city limits Huangpu (Whampoa) is of prime importance for China’s foreign trade. In addition, Guangzhou is the hub of inland waterway traffic in the southernmost province. Textile, food industry, iron and steel works, shipbuilding, machine and vehicle construction, chemical, electronic and plastics industries; many foreign company branches; Railway connection with Beijing and Hong Kong, subway, new major international airport since 2004: Baiyun International Airport (after Beijing and Hong Kong the most important air traffic hub in the country).
Attractions
Much of the historic buildings were destroyed during a renovation in the 1920s. In the center is the temple complex “Of the six banyan trees” with three Buddha statues from the Qing period and the octagonal flower pagoda Hua Ta (537, burned down in the 10th century, reconstructed in 1097) with a good panoramic view of the city. The Guangxiao Temple from the 4th century was restored and expanded in the 19th century, in the temple courtyard two iron pagodas from the 10th century. The Huaisheng Mosque (627) was restored in the style of the Qing period. A folklore museum is now housed in the ancestral temple of Chenjia (19th century). The 28-meter-high Zhenhai Tower (“Pavilion Overlooking the Sea”), which has been a historical museum since 1953, is located in Yuexiu Park. Several memorials, including the “Park of the Martyrs of the Uprising of the Cantonal Communes” (1924) and the “Mausoleum of the 72 Martyrs”, which commemorates the revolutionaries of 1911. Modern skyscrapers shape the cityscape today. In 2010 the television tower Canton Tower (with 600 m the second highest television tower in the world) was opened.
History
Around 200 BC Founded in BC, Guangzhou, from which many places in southern China can be reached by water, was an important overseas trading center as early as the Tang period (618–907). The first contact with Europeans (Portuguese) took place in 1517. Under Emperor Kangxi (1661-1722) Guangzhou was one of the four ports open to foreign ships and from 1757 until the end of the Opium War (1842) China’s only foreign trading center. Through intensive contact with foreign countries (“concessions” and trading houses) it became a gateway for Western influence in China, but also the scene of xenophobic and nationalist currents. The Chinese reform movement of 1898 and the revolution of 1911 received decisive impulses from Guangzhou; In 1924 the 1st National Congress of the Chinese National Party (Guomindang) took place here. Many later leaders of China (Chiang Kai-shek, Zhou Enlai) were at the Huangpu Military Academy.
Shenzhen
Shenzhen [ ʃ εnd ʒ ən], Shumchun [ ʃ umt ʃ un], city and county in Guangdong Province, southern China, on the border with Hong Kong, on the Dapeng Wan and Lhujiang Kou Bays of the South China Sea, 1 991 km 2, (2017) 12.5 million residents (1980 only 300,000 residents).
The city developed from 1979 onwards from a border town (1979: 23,000 residents) on the railway line between Canton and Hong Kong to a modern urban center of the special economic zone founded in 1980, initially 412 km 2 (identical to the actual urban area) for foreign investors with free trade zones and own port (strong development of the container port); On July 1, 2010, the special economic zone was expanded many times over to 1,991 km 2expanded. Due to its geographical location, Shenzhen had close ties to Hong Kong from the very beginning in terms of investments, logistics and international transport and is important as a production, trade and service center in close cooperation with and as an extended workbench of Hong Kong. According to Zhengsourcing, the special economic zone generates a large part of the exports of the Guangdong province.
In 1995 a new industrial zone (district Longgang) for computer and software production, telecommunications and microelectronics was established in order to carry out the structural change in Shenzhen from a previously simple processing industry to an export-oriented high-tech location. Electronic and telecommunications related products account for almost 60% of industrial production. Shenzhen is also developing into a logistics and trade fair location; Stock exchange (China’sfirst).
Modern high-rise architecture: Di Wang Tower (completed in 1996, 384 m high), Kingkey 100 (completed in 2011, 442 m high); Tourism. The international airport is located directly on the sea in the Bao’an district. The container port (district of Yantian) is one of the largest in the world with a handling of (2012) 205.5 million t (22.9 million TEU).
