Guangzhou Introduction

City Introduction

As the National Central City, Guangzhou has been considered to be “the South Access” to China. Guangzhou is one of the cities of the first group of “Famous Chinese Historical and Cultural cities” publicized by the State Council of China with a history of over 2,200 years. Guangzhou is the original location of the old Maritime Silk Road of China, the central place of Lingnan Culture, the cradle of China’s modern revolution, as well as the forerunner of China’s reform and opening to the outside world. Guangzhou has an interesting nickname-the City of Rams. The city also enjoys the name of “the City of Flowers.”

Guangzhou is one of the most economically developed regions in China, boasting abundant tourism resources and a solid foundation of tourist sources. In recent years, the Guangzhou Municipal Government has launched an ecological-oriented urban construction program and carried out a series of selected tour routes on themes of mountains, water, urban landscape, flowers, and lakes. The main tourist attractions and scenic spots are as follows: Baiyun Mountain, Conghua Hot-spring Tourist Resort, Huacheng Square, Guangdong Provincial Museum, Canton Tower, Haixinsha Island (location of the opening ceremony of the 16th Asian Games), Yuntai Gadern, Nansha Wetland Park, and Chimelong Tourist Resort.

Guangzhou is not only a commercial metropolis with over 2200 years’ history, but is also known as shopping paradise and gastronomic capital. As the host city of Canton Fair, Guangzhou boasts its rich resources and sophisticated supporting facilities for MICE. Currently, Guangzhou has five major professional exhibition centers: Pazhou International Exhibition Centre, Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention Center, Poly World Trade Expo Center, Nanfung International Convention & Exhibition Center (NICEC), Zhongzhou International Business Exhibition Center; 204 star hotels among which 23 are five-star hotels; 477 travel agencies; as well as 49 A-grade scenic spot, among which 2 are 5A-grade and 23 are 4A-grade.

Welcome to Guangzhou!

History

Built as Renxiao City in 214 BC, Guangzhou is a famous cultural city with a long history. Early in the Zhou Dynasty during the ninth century BC, the “Baiyue” nationality here had already communicated with the people of Chu State in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and “Chuting” was established. “Chuting” is the earliest name of Guangzhou.

In 214 BC, Panyu (today’s Guangzhou) was administered by Nanhai County which was built by Emperor Qin.

In AD 226, Sun Quan (the emperor of Wu State) divided Jiaozhou into two parts: Jiaozhou and Guangzhou. Thus, the name of “Guangzhou” appeared. Until 1921, when the city hall was founded, Guangzhou became the official name of the city.

Guangzhou has been a prosperous metropolis since the Qin and Han dynasties; it has been a port of departure on the “Maritime Silk Road” since Han and Tang dynasties; during Song and Yuan dynasties, Guangzhou was said to be three times larger than Venice, a world-famous commercial city at that time.

In the Qin Dynasty when the closed-door policy was implemented, Guangzhou served as the only port that was open to the outside world. Besides, Guangzhou was the first foreign trading port.

Guangzhou was also a cradle for China’s modern and contemporary revolutions such as Huanghuagang Uprising and Guangzhou Uprising. Sun Yat-sen founded Huangpu Military Academy in Guangzhou. On October 14th, 1949 Guangzhou was liberated. In 1982, the State Council of China announced Guangzhou as a national famous historical and cultural city.

Guangzhou is also known as “the City of Rams” and “the City of Spikes”. According to legend, during the Zhou Dynasty, Guangzhou was beset with famine for many years and the locals lived a miserable life. One day, five immortals riding rams that had five-colored spikes in their mouths appeared on five colorful clouds floating above the South China Sea. The immortals bestowed the spikes to the locals and wished that famines would never hit the city. Then the immortals left, while the five rams attached to the earth and stayed in the city to bless favorable weather. To express gratitude to the immortals, the locals built the Wuxian Temple (Temple of Five Immortals). Inside the temple are the statues of the five immortals and five rams. There are also Statues of Five Rams in Yuexiu Park. The legend was adopted in the design of the mascot of 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games.

Natural Environment

Geographical location

Located on the north-central side of the Delta of the Pearl River and in the south-central part of Guangzhou in Southern China, Guangzhou sits where the Xijiang River, the Beijing River, and the Dongjiang River converge. It borders on the South China Sea. It neighbors, Dongguan City and Zhongshan City in the south, overlooks Hong Kong and Macao across the sea. As a starting point of the Maritime Silk Road, Guangzhou has been considered to be “the South Access” to China.

Guangzhou spans from 112° 57' to 114° 03' E longitude and 22° 26' to 23° 56' N latitude. Its city center is at 113° 15' 53'' E longitude and 23° 06' 32'' N latitude.

Topography

Guangzhou is situated in a hilly area which is higher in the northeast and lower in the southwest, with mountains forming the backbone, and the ocean comprising the front. Forests cluster in the northern hilly and mountainous areas. Tiantang Peak (meaning Peak of Paradise in Chinese), located at the junction between Conghua City and Longmei County, which stands 1,210 m (3,970 ft) above the sea level, is the highest mountain in Guangzhou; its northeast part is comprised of low mountains including the Baiyun Mountain which is locally referred to as the lung of the city; its middle part is dominated by hills and basins, and its southern part is a coastal alluvial plain, a part of the Pearl River Delta.

Rivers

The Pearl River and its tributaries flow through the whole city.

Climate

Located in the sub-tropical coastal areas, with the Tropic of Cancer crossing its south central, Guangzhou has an oceanic subtropical monsoon climate, which is characterized by warm and rainy weather, abundant sunlight, long summer, and a short frost season. The annual average temperature is 20-22°C, which makes it one of the cities with the minimal average annual temperature difference in China. The hottest month in a year is July, with the average monthly temperature of up to 28.7°C. The coldest month is January, with the average monthly temperature of 9-16°C. The average relative humidity is 77%, and the urban annual precipitation is about 1,720 mm. The rainy season spans from April to June. Guangzhou is hot and typhoon-prone from July to September. The city enjoys moderate temperatures in October, November, and March. The cool winters lasts from December to February. It rains a lot, which is beneficial for plants and thus, creates a city of flowers.

Holidays

The same as the statutory holidays in China

New Year’s Day: January 1 - January 3

Spring Festival: Lunar New Year’s Eve to the sixth day of the lunar January

Tomb-sweeping Day: April 2 - April 4

Labor Day: April 30 - May 2

Dragon Boat Festival: June 9 - June 11

Mid-Autumn Festival: September 15 - September 17

National Day: October 1 - October 7