Guangzhou - WikiHQ

Guangzhou, also known as Canton, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong in southern China. Located on the Pearl River, about northwest of Hong Kong and north of Macau, Guangzhou has a history of over 2,200 years and was a major terminus of the Silk Road.

The port of Guangzhou serves as a transportation hub. Guangzhou is also one of China's three largest cities. For a long time, it was the only Chinese port accessible to the Europeans. Guangzhou was captured by the British during the First Opium War and no longer enjoyed a monopoly after the war. Consequently, it lost trade to other ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai, but continued to serve as a major entrepôt at China.

Guangzhou is at the center of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area, the most populous built-up metropolitan region in the world. The area extends into neighboring cities such as Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, parts of Jiangmen and Huizhou, as well as Zhuhai and Macau, forming an urban agglomeration of about 70 million residents. It is also part of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone. Administratively, the city holds subprovincial status and is one of China's nine National Central Cities. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, nationals of sub-Saharan Africa who had initially settled in the Middle East and Southeast Asia moved in unprecedented numbers to Guangzhou in response to the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis. The domestic migrant population from other provinces of China in Guangzhou was 40% of the city's total population in 2008. Guangzhou has one of the most expensive real estate markets in China. As of the 2020 census, the registered population of the city's expansive administrative area was 18,676,605 individuals (up 47 percent from the previous census in 2010), of whom 16,492,590 lived in 9 urban districts (all but Conghua and Zengcheng). Due to worldwide travel restrictions at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, the major airport of Guangzhou, briefly became the world's busiest airport by passenger traffic in 2020. Guangzhou is the fifth most populous city by urban resident population in China after Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Chongqing.

In modern commerce, Guangzhou is best known for its annual Canton Fair, the oldest and largest trade fair in China. For three consecutive years (2013–2015), Forbes ranked Guangzhou as the best commercial city in mainland China. Guangzhou is highly ranked as an Alpha (global first-tier) city together with San Francisco and Stockholm. It is a major Asia-Pacific finance hub, ranking 21st globally in the 2020 Global Financial Centres Index. Guangzhou is one of the nation's leading hubs for academia and academic research, ranking 6th globally, and is home to numerous Double First-Class Universities, including Sun Yat-sen University and SCUT.

Toponymy

thumb|left|157px|Portrait of the [[Grotto of the Five Immortals, the Taoist temple around the five stones which gave Guangzhou its nickname "The City of Rams"]]

is the official romanization of the Chinese name in Mandarin Chinese. The name of the city is taken from the ancient Guǎng Prefecture after it had become the prefecture's seat of government. The character or means 'broad' or 'expansive'.

Before acquiring its current name, the town was known as Panyu (Punyü; ), a name still borne by one of Guangzhou's districts not far from the main city. The origin of the name is still uncertain, with 11 various explanations being offered, including that it may have referred to two local mountains. The city has also sometimes been known as Guangzhou Fu or Guangfu after its status as the capital of a prefecture. From this latter name, Guangzhou was known to medieval Persians such as Al-Masudi and Ibn Khordadbeh as Khanfu (). Under the Southern Han, the city was renamed Xingwang Fu ().

The Chinese abbreviation for Guangzhou is , pronounced in Cantonese and in Mandarin—although the abbreviation on car license plates, as with the rest of the province, is ), after its nickname "City of Rice" (). The city has long borne the nickname () or () from the five stones at the old Temple of the Five Immortals said to have been the sheep or goats ridden by the Taoist culture heroes credited with introducing rice cultivation to the area around the time of the city's foundation. The former name "City of the Immortals" (/) came from the same story. The more recent () is usually taken as a simple reference to the area's fine greenery.

The English name "Canton" derived from Portuguese , a blend of dialectal pronunciations of "Guangdong" (e.g., Cantonese Gwong2-dung1). Although it originally and chiefly applied to the walled city, it was occasionally conflated with Guangdong by some authors. It was adopted as the Postal Map Romanization of Guangzhou, and remained the official name until its name change to "Guangzhou". As an adjective, it is still used in describing the people, language, cuisine and culture of Guangzhou and the surrounding Liangguang region. The 19th-century name was "".

History

Prehistory

thumb|right|180px|The [[jade burial suit of Zhao Mo in Guangzhou's Nanyue King Museum]]

A settlement now known as Nanwucheng was present in the area by 1100 BC. Some traditional Chinese histories placed Nanwucheng's founding during the reign of King Nan of Zhou, emperor of Zhou from 314 to 256 BC. It was said to have consisted of little more than a stockade of bamboo and mud.

Panyu was the seat of Qin Empire's Nanhai Commandery, and served as a base for the first invasion of the Baiyue lands in southern China. Legendary accounts claimed that the soldiers at Panyu were so vigilant that they did not remove their armor for three years. Upon the fall of the Qin, General Zhao Tuo established the kingdom of Nanyue and made Panyu its capital in 204 BC. It remained independent throughout the Chu-Han Contention, although Zhao negotiated recognition of his independence in exchange for his nominal submission to the Han in 196 BC. Archeological evidence shows that Panyu was an expansive commercial center: in addition to items from central China, archeologists have found remains originating from Southeast Asia, India, and even Africa. Zhao Tuo was succeeded by Zhao Mo and then Zhao Yingqi. Upon Zhao Yingqi's death in 115 BC, his younger son Zhao Xing was named as his successor in violation of Chinese primogeniture. By 113 BC, his Chinese mother, the Empress Dowager Jiu () had prevailed upon him to submit Nanyue as a formal part of the Han Empire. The native prime minister Lü Jia launched a coup, killing Han ambassadors along with the king, his mother, and their supporters. A successful ambush then annihilated a Han force which had been sent to arrest him. Emperor Wu of Han took offense and launched a massive riverine and seaborne war: six armies under Lu Bode and Yang Pu took Panyu and annexed Nanyue by the end of 111 BC.

Imperial China

thumb|right|Canton in the early 1800s

thumb|right|View of [[Pazhou in 1810]]

Incorporated into the Han dynasty, Panyu became a provincial capital. In AD 226, it became the seat of Guang Prefecture, which gave it its modern name. The Old Book of Tang described Guangzhou as an important port in southern China. Direct routes connected the Middle East and China, as shown in the records of a Chinese prisoner returning home from Iraq twelve years after his capture at Talas. Relations were often strained: while China was undergoing the An Lushan Rebellion, Arab and Persian pirates sacked the city on 30 October 758 and in revenge thousands of Arabs and Persians were killed by Chinese rebels in the Yangzhou massacre (760). In the Guangzhou massacre about 200,000 Arab, Persian and other foreigners were killed by Chinese rebel Huang Chao in 878, along with the city's Jews, Christians, and Parsis. The port was closed for fifty years after its destruction. According to Odoric of Pordenone, Guangzhou was as large as three Venices in terms of area, and rivaled all of Italy in the amount of crafts produced. He also noted the large amount of ginger available as well as large geese and snakes. Guangzhou was visited by the Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta during his journey around the world in the 14th century. He detailed the process by which the Chinese constructed their large ships in the port's shipyards.

Shortly after the Hongwu Emperor's declaration of the Ming dynasty, he reversed his earlier support of foreign trade and imposed the first of a series of sea bans. These banned private foreign trade upon penalty of death for the merchant and exile for his family and neighbors. Previous maritime intendancies of Guangzhou, Quanzhou, and Ningbo were closed in 1384 and legal trade became limited to the tribute delegations sent to or by official representatives of foreign governments.

Following the Portuguese conquest of the Melaka Sultanate, Rafael Perestrello traveled to Guangzhou as a passenger on a native junk in 1516. His report induced Fernão Pires de Andrade to sail to the city with eight ships the next year, but De Andrade's exploration was understood as spying and his brother Simão and others began attempting to monopolize trade, enslaving Chinese women and children, engaging in piracy, and fortifying the island of Tamão. Rumors even circulated that Portuguese were eating the children. The Guangzhou administration was charged with driving them off: they bested the Portuguese at the Battle of Tunmen and in Xicao Bay; held a diplomatic mission hostage in a failed attempt to pressure the restoration of the sultan of Malacca, who had been accounted a Ming vassal; and, after placing them in cangues and keeping them for most of a year, ultimately executed 23 by lingchi. With the help of local pirates,

thumb|right|[[Johan Nieuhof|Nieuhof's imaginative 1665 map of "Kanton", made from secondhand accounts when Europeans were still forbidden from entering the walled city]]

In October 1646, the Longwu Emperor's brother, Zhu Yuyue fled by sea to Guangzhou, the last stronghold of the Ming empire. On December 11, he declared himself the Shaowu Emperor, borrowing his imperial regalia from local theater troupes. He led a successful offense against his cousin Zhu Youlang but was deposed and executed on January 20, 1647, when the Ming turncoat Li Chengdong () sacked the city on behalf of the Qing.

The Qing became somewhat more receptive to foreign trade after gaining control of Taiwan in 1683. The Portuguese from Macau and Spaniards from Manila returned, as did private Muslim, Armenian, and English traders. From 1699 to 1714, the French and British East India Companies sent a ship or two each year; the Austrian Ostend General India Co. arrived in 1717, the Dutch East India Co. in 1729, the Danish Asiatic Co. in 1731, and the Swedish East India Co. the next year. These were joined by the occasional Prussian or Trieste Company vessel. The first independent American ship arrived in 1784, and the first colonial Australian one in 1788. By that time, Guangzhou was one of the world's greatest ports, organized under the Canton System. The main exports were tea and porcelain. As a meeting place of merchants from all over the world, Guangzhou became a major contributor to the rise of the modern global economy. Guangzhou is the site of the Thirteen Factories, which were the only legal place to conduct foreign trade with China from 1757 to 1842.

In the 19th century, most of the city's buildings were still only one or two stories. However, there were notable exceptions such as the Flower Pagoda of the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees, and the guard tower known as the Five-Story Pagoda. The subsequently urbanized northern hills were bare and covered with traditional graves. The brick city walls were about in circumference, high, and wide. Its eight main gates and two water gates all held guards during the day and were closed at night. The wall rose to incorporate a hill on its northern side and was surrounded on the other three by a moat which, along with the canals, functioned as the city's sewer, emptied daily by the river's tides. A partition wall with four gates divided the northern "old town" from the southern "new town" closer to the river; the suburb of Xiguan (Saikwan; "West Gate") stretched beyond and the boats of fishers, traders, and Tanka ("boat people") almost entirely concealed the riverbank for about . It was common for homes to have a storefront facing the street and to treat their courtyards as a kind of warehouse. The city was part of a network of signal towers so effective that messages could be relayed to Beijing—about away—in less than 24 hours.

thumb|upright=.9|Guangzhou ("Canton") and the surrounding islands of [[Haizhu, Guangzhou|Henan, Pazhou, Changzhou, and Xiaoguwei in 1841]]

thumb|right|Guangzhou city skyline at dusk in 2011

The Canton System was maintained until the outbreak of the First Opium War in 1839. Following a series of battles in the Pearl River Delta, the British captured Canton on March 18, 1841. The Second Battle of Canton was fought two months later. Following the Qing's 1842 treaty with Great Britain, Guangzhou lost its privileged trade status as more and more treaty ports were opened to more and more countries, usually including extraterritorial enclaves. Amid the decline of Qing prestige and the chaos of the Red Turban Rebellion (1854–1856), the Punti and Hakka waged a series of clan wars from 1855 to 1867 in which one million people died. The foreign trade facilities were destroyed by local Chinese in the Arrow War (1856–1858). The international community relocated to the outskirts and most international trade moved through Shanghai.

The concession for the Guangzhou–Hankou railway was awarded to the American China Development Company in 1898. It completed its branch line west to Foshan and Sanshui before being engulfed in a diplomatic crisis after a Belgian consortium bought a controlling interest and the Qing subsequently canceled its concession. J. P. Morgan was awarded millions in damages and the line to Wuchang was not completed until 1936 and the completion of a unified Beijing–Guangzhou railway waited until the completion of Wuhan's Yangtze River Bridge in 1957.

Modern China

Revolutions

During the late Qing dynasty, Guangzhou was the site of revolutionary attempts such as the Uprisings of 1895 and 1911 that were the predecessors of the successful 1911 Revolution, which overthrew the Qing dynasty. The 72 revolutionaries whose bodies were found after the latter uprising are honored as the city's 72 Martyrs at the ().

Republic of China

After the assassination of Song Jiaoren and Yuan Shikai's attempts to remove the Nationalist Party of China from power, the leader of Guangdong Hu Hanmin joined the 1913 Second Revolution against him but was forced to flee to Japan with Sun Yat-sen after its failure. The city came under national spotlight again in 1917, when Prime Minister Duan Qirui's abrogation of the constitution triggered the Constitutional Protection Movement. Sun Yat-sen came to head the Guangzhou Military Government supported by the members of the dissolved parliament and the Southwestern warlords. The Guangzhou government fell apart as the warlords withdrew their support. Sun fled to Shanghai in November 1918 until the Guangdong warlord Chen Jiongming restored him in October 1920 during the Yuegui Wars. On June 16, 1922, Sun was ousted in a coup and fled on the warship Yongfeng after Chen sided with the Zhili clique's Beijing government. In the following months Sun mounted a counterattack into Guangdong by rallying supporters from Yunnan and Guangxi, and in January established a government in the city for the third time.

From 1923 to 1926, Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang (KMT) used the city as a base to prosecute a renewed revolution in China by conquering the warlords in the north. Although Sun was previously dependent on opportunistic warlords who hosted him in the city, with the leadership of Chiang Kai-shek, the KMT developed its own military power to serve its ambition. The Canton years saw the evolution of the KMT into a revolutionary movement with a strong military focus and ideological commitment, setting the tone of the KMT rule of China beyond 1927.

In 1924, the KMT made the momentous decision to ally with the Communist Party and the USSR. With Soviet help, KMT reorganized itself along the Leninist line and adopted a pro-labor and pro-peasant stance. The KMT–CCP cooperation was confirmed in the 1st National Congress of the KMT and the communists were instructed to join the KMT. The allied government set up the Peasant Movement Training Institute in the city, of which Mao Zedong was a director for one term. Sun and his military commander Chiang used Soviet funds and weapons to build an armed force staffed by communist commissars, training its cadres in the Whampoa Military Academy. In August, the fledgling army suppressed the Canton Merchants' Corps Uprising. The next year the anti-imperialist May Thirtieth Movement swept the country, and the KMT government called for strikes in Canton and Hong Kong. The tensions of the massive strikes and protests led to the Shakee Massacre.

After the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925 the mood was changing in the party toward the communists. In August the left-wing KMT leader Liao Zhongkai was assassinated and the right-wing leader Hu Hanmin, the suspected mastermind, was exiled to the Soviet Union, leaving the pro-communist Wang Jingwei in charge. Opposing communist encroachment, the right-wing Western Hills Group vowed to expel the communists from the KMT. The Canton Coup on March 20, 1926, saw Chiang solidify his control over the Nationalists and their army against Wang Jingwei, the party's left wing, its Communist allies, and its Soviet advisors. By May, he had ended civilian control of the military The opposition to Chiang included KMT leaders like Wang Jingwei, Sun Fo and others from diverse factions. The peace negotiations amid the armed standoff led to the 4th National Congress of Kuomintang being held separately by three factions in Nanjing, Shanghai, and Canton. Resigning all his posts, Chiang pulled off a political compromise that reunited all factions. While the intraparty division was resolved, Chen kept his power until he was defeated by Chiang in 1936. During World War II, the Canton Operation subjected the city to Japanese occupation by the end of December 1938.

People's Republic of China

Amid the closing months before total Communist victory, Guangzhou briefly served as the capital of the Republican government. Guangzhou was captured on October 14, 1949. Amid a massive exodus to Hong Kong and Macau, defeated Nationalist forces blew up the Haizhu Bridge across the Pearl River in retreat. The Cultural Revolution had a large effect on the city, with many of its temples, churches and other monuments destroyed during this chaotic period.

The People's Republic of China initiated building projects including new housing on the banks of the Pearl River to adjust the city's boat people to life on land. Since the 1980s, the city's close proximity to Hong Kong and its ties to overseas Chinese made it one of the first beneficiaries of China's opening up under Deng Xiaoping. Beneficial tax reforms in the 1990s also helped the city's industrialization and economic development.

The municipality was expanded in the year 2000, with Huadu and Panyu joining the city as urban districts and Conghua and Zengcheng as more rural counties. The former districts of Dongshan and Fangcun were abolished in 2005, merged into Yuexiu and Liwan respectively. The city acquired Nansha and Luogang. The former was carved out of Panyu, the latter from parts of Baiyun, Tianhe, Zengcheng, and an exclave within Huangpu. The National People's Congress approved a development plan for the Pearl River Delta in January 2009; on March 19 of the same year, the Guangzhou and Foshan municipal governments agreed to establish a framework to merge the two cities. In 2014, Luogang merged into Huangpu and both Conghua and Zengcheng counties were upgraded to districts.

On 16 June 2022, an EF2 tornado struck the city, causing major power outages and knocking out power to the city's subway lines.

Geography

thumb|Map of Guangzhou (labeled as KUANG-CHOU (CANTON) ) and surrounding region ([[Army Map Service|AMS, 1954)]]

thumb|[[Tiantang Peak, highest mountain in Guangzhou]]

The old town of Guangzhou was near Baiyun Mountain on the east bank of the Pearl River (Zhujiang) about from its junction with the South China Sea and about 300 miles below its head of navigation. It commanded the rich alluvial plain of the Pearl River Delta, with its connection to the sea protected at the Humen Strait. The present city spans on both sides of the river from to longitude and to latitude in south-central Guangdong. The Pearl is the 4th-largest river of China. Intertidal ecosystems exist on the tidal flat lining the river estuary, however, many of the tidal flats have been reclaimed for agriculture. Baiyun Mountain is now locally referred to as the city's "lung" ().

The elevation of the prefecture generally increases from southwest to northeast, with mountains forming the backbone of the city and the ocean comprising the front. Tiantang Peak is the highest point of elevation at above sea level.

Natural resources

There are 47 different types of minerals and also 820 ore fields in Guangzhou, including 18 large and medium-sized oil deposits. The major minerals are granite, cement limestone, ceramic clay, potassium, albite, salt mine, mirabilite, nepheline, syenite, fluorite, marble, mineral water, and geothermal mineral water. Since Guangzhou is located in the water-rich area of southern China, it has a wide water area with many rivers and water systems, accounting for 10% of the total land area. The rivers and streams improve the landscape and keep the ecological environment of the city stable.

Water resources

The main characteristics of Guangzhou's water resources are that there are relatively few local water resources and relatively abundant transit water resources. The city's water area is 74,400 hectares, accounting for 10.05% of the city's land area. The main rivers include Beijiang, Dongjiang North Mainstream, Zengjiang, Liuxi River, Baini River, Pearl River Guangzhou Reach, Shiqiao Waterway, and Shawan Waterway. Beijiang, The Dongjiang River flows through Guangzhou City and merges with the Pearl River to flow into the sea. The local average total water resources is 7.979 billion cubic meters, including 7.881 billion cubic meters of surface water and 1.487 billion cubic meters of groundwater. Calculated based on the amount of local water resources and the permanent population counted in the sixth census in 2010, there are 1.0601 million cubic meters of water resources per square kilometer, with an average of 628 cubic meters per capita, which is one-half of the country's per capita water resources. The amount of water resources for transit passengers is 186.024 billion cubic meters, which is 23 times the total local water resources. The passenger water resources are mainly concentrated in the southern Wanghe District and Zengcheng District. The passenger water resources diverted from the Xijiang and Beijiang Rivers into Guangzhou City are 159.15 billion cubic meters, and the passenger water resources diverted from the Dongjiang River into the north mainstream of the Dongjiang River are 14.203 billion cubic meters. meters and the water inflow from the upper reaches of the Zengjiang River is 2.828 billion cubic meters. The southern river network area is in the tidal influence area, with large runoff and a strong tidal effect. The three major entrances of the Pearl River, Humen, Jiaomen, and Hongqili, enter the Lingding Ocean and exit the South China Sea in the south of Guangzhou City. The annual high tide volume is 271 billion cubic meters and the annual ebb tide volume is 408.8 billion cubic meters. The annual runoff of the three major entrances is 137.7 billion cubic meters. Compared with meters, the annual tide can bring a large amount of water, part of which is freshwater resources that can be utilized.

Biological Resources

Cultivated crops in Guangzhou have the distinctive characteristics of the transition from the tropics to the subtropics, and it is one of the richest regions in China in terms of fruit tree resources, including three major categories of tropical, subtropical, and temperate zones, 41 families, 82 genera and 174 species, totaling more than 500 varieties (among which there are 55 major varieties of lychee). It is the center of origin and variety of lychee, longan, yellow skin, black (white) olive, and so on. Vegetables are known for their high quality and variety, with 15 major categories, 127 species, and more than 370 varieties. Flowers include fresh cut flowers (fresh cut flowers, fresh cut leaves, fresh cut branches), potted plants (potted flowers, bonsai, flower bed plants), ornamental seedlings, edible and medicinal flowers, industrial and other uses of flowers, lawns, seedlings, etc. More than 3,000 traditional varieties and in recent years the introduction of new varieties, development, and utilization. Grain, cash crops, livestock, poultry, aquatic products, wild animals, and a wide variety of famous and excellent varieties, including Zengcheng Simiao rice is the first protected variety in Guangzhou City to obtain geographical indications.

Mineral Resources

The geological structure of Guangzhou City is quite complex, with good conditions for mineralization. Forty-seven kinds of minerals (including subspecies) have been discovered, with 820 mineral sites and 25 large and medium-sized mining areas. The main minerals are granite for construction, limestone for cement, ceramic clay, potassium, sodium feldspar, salt mines, manganese, nepheline orthoclase, fluorite, marble, mineral water, and thermal mineral water. Energy minerals and non-ferrous minerals in the area are in short supply, sporadically distributed, small in scale, and unstable in grade. The relative humidity is approximately 76 percent, whereas annual rainfall in the metropolitan area is over . to on 1 July 2004, though an unofficial record low of , in which modern meteorologists believe it to be was recorded on 18 January 1893 and for the station that begun records in 1912 located in Huangpu District, an unofficial record low of was recorded on 8 December 1934. The last recorded snowfall in the city was on January 24, 2016, 87 years after the second last recorded snowfall.

Administrative divisions

Guangzhou is a sub-provincial city. It has direct jurisdiction over eleven districts:

{|class="wikitable" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"

|rowspan=2 |

</div>

{|class="wikitable sortable collapsible" style="text-font:90%; width:auto; text-align:center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"

! colspan="10" |Administrative divisions of Guangzhou

!! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Division code

!! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Division

!! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Area

!! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Population

!! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Seat

!! scope="col" rowspan=2 |Postal code

!! scope="col" colspan=4 |Subdivisions

!! scope="col" |Subdistricts

!! scope="col" |Towns

!! scope="col" |Residential communities

!! scope="col" |Administrative villages

|- style="font-weight: bold"

|440100 ||Guangzhou ||7,434.40 ||18,734,100 ||Yuexiu ||510000 ||136 ||34 ||1533 ||1142

|440103 ||Liwan ||59.10 ||1,123,700 ||Shiweitang Subdistrict ||510000 ||22 ||style="background:gray;"| ||195 ||style="background:gray;"| 

|440104 ||Yuexiu ||33.80 ||1,028,500 ||Beijing Subdistrict ||510000 ||18 ||style="background:gray;"| ||267 ||style="background:gray;"| 

|440105 ||Haizhu ||90.40 ||1,798,300 ||Jianghai Subdistrict ||510000 ||18 ||style="background:gray;"| ||257 ||style="background:gray;"| 

|440106 ||Tianhe ||96.33 ||2,221,700 ||Tianyuan Subdistrict ||510000 ||21 ||style="background:gray;"| ||205 ||style="background:gray;"| 

|440111 ||Baiyun ||795.79 ||3,637,000 ||Jingtai Subdistrict ||510000 ||18 ||4 ||253 ||118

|440112 ||Huangpu ||484.17 ||1,191,800 ||Luogang Subdistrict ||510500 ||14 ||1 ||90 ||28

|440113 ||Panyu ||529.94 ||2,807,400 ||Shiqiao Subdistrict ||511400 ||11 ||5 ||87 ||177

|440114 ||Huadu ||970.04 ||1,706,200 ||Huacheng Subdistrict ||510800 ||4 ||6 ||50 ||188

|440115 ||Nansha ||783.86 ||929,400 ||Huangge Town ||511400 ||3 ||6 ||28 ||128

|440117 ||Conghua ||1,974.50 ||739,700 ||Jiekou Subdistrict ||510900 ||3 ||5 ||46 ||221

|440118 ||Zengcheng ||1,616.47 ||1,550,400 ||Licheng Subdistrict ||511300 ||4 ||7 ||55 ||282

{|class="wikitable sortable collapsible collapsed" style="text-font:90%; width:auto; text-align:center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"

! colspan="5" |Administrative divisions in Chinese and varieties of romanizations

! English !! Chinese !! Pinyin !! Guangdong Romanization !! Kejiahua Pinyin Fang'an

|Liwan District || ||Lìwān Qū ||lei6 wan1 kêu1 ||lai4 van1 ki1

|Yuexiu District || ||Yuèxiù Qū ||yud6 seo3 kêu1 ||yet6 siu4 ki1

|Haizhu District || ||Hǎizhū Qū ||hoi2 ju1 kêu1 ||hoi2 zu1 ki1

|Tianhe District || ||Tiānhé Qū ||tin6 ho4 kêu1 ||tien1 ho2 ki1

|Baiyun District || ||Báiyún Qū ||bak6 wan4 kêu1 ||pak6 yun2 ki1

|Huangpu District || ||Huángpǔ Qū ||wong4 bou3 kêu1 ||vong2 bu4 ki1

|Panyu District || ||Pānyú Qū ||pun1 yu4 kêu1 ||pan1 ngi2 ki1

|Huadu District || ||Huādū Qū ||fa1 dou1 kêu1 ||fa1 du1 ki1

|Nansha District || ||Nánshā Qū ||nam4 sa1 kêu1 ||nam2/lam2 sa1 ki1

|Conghua District || ||Cónghuà Qū ||cung4 fa3 kêu1 ||vung2 fa3 ki1

|Zengcheng District || ||Zēngchéng Qū ||zeng1 xing4 kêu1 ||zen1 sang2 ki1

! Guangzhou City !! !!Guǎngzhōu Shì !!guong2 zeo1 xi5 !!kong3 ziu1 si4

Economy

Guangzhou is the main manufacturing hub of the Pearl River Delta, one of China's leading commercial and manufacturing regions. In 2021, its GDP reached ¥2,823 billion (US$444.37 billion in nominal), making it the 2nd largest economy in the South-Central China region after Shenzhen. Guangzhou's GDP (nominal) was $444.37 billion in 2021, exceeding that Guangzhou's per capita was ¥151,162 ($23,794 in nominal). and its nominal GDP per capita will reach above $42,000 in 2030. Guangzhou also ranks 21st globally (between Washington, D.C., and Amsterdam) and 8th in the whole Asia & Oceania region (behind Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Shenzhen and Dubai) in the 2020 Global Financial Centers Index (GFCI). Owing to rapid industrialization, it was once also considered a rather polluted city. After green urban planning was implemented, it is now one of the most livable cities in China.

Zhujiang New Town

Zhujiang New Town is the central business district of Guangzhou in the 21st century. It covers 6.44 km2 in Tianhe District. Multiple financial institutions are headquartered in this area.

File:02540-Guangzhou.jpg|Zhujiang New Town

File:GD 廣東 Guangdong 廣州 Guangzhou 天河區 TianHe 花城大道 HuaCheng Avenue 珠江新城 ZhuJiang New Town September 2024 R12S 03.jpg|Skyscrapers in Zhujiang New Town

File:Zhujiang New Town at night 7.jpg|Skyscrapers in Zhujiang New Town

File:Hai Xin Bridge of Guangzhou 01.jpg|Haixin Bridge and Canton Tower near Zhujiang New Town

File:Zhujiang New Town 8.jpg|Zhujiang New Town at night

</gallery>

Canton Fair

The Canton Fair, formally the "China Import and Export Fair", is held every year in April and October by the Ministry of Trade. Inaugurated in the spring of 1957, the fair is a major event for the city. It is the trade fair with the longest history, highest level, and largest scale in China. From the 104th session onwards, the fair moved to the new Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center () in Pazhou, from the older complex in Liuhua. The GICEC is served by two stations on Line 8, one station on Line 11 and three stations on Tram Line THZ1. Since the 104th session, the Canton Fair has been arranged in three phases instead of two phases.

File:1957 Canton Fair.jpg|The first Canton Fair (1957) at the Sino–Soviet Friendship Building

File:Canton Fair.jpg|The former Canton Fair site at Yuexiu's Liuhua Complex

File:Aerial View, Zone B, Canton Fair Complex 20230701-C.jpg|The new Canton Fair Complex

File:Zone D of Canton Fair Complex 20230103 Part 5.jpg|Interior of the Canton Fair Complex