Guangzhou, the provincial capital of Guangdong, is one of the largest and most prosperous city in southern China. Situated between the Baiyun Hill in the north and the Zhujiang (Pearl River) Delta Plain in the south. The city is 125 kilometers northwest of Hong Kong on the Pearl River.
Guangzhou is one of the 24 cities which are the first to have been announced as famous cities of historic and cultural interest in China. The history of 2,200 years has left behind many places of historic interest and scenic beauty. They are vivid witness of past brilliance of Guangzhou.
As early as in the 9th century B.C, together with the Chu people on the middle reaches of the Yangtse River, people there built Chuting, then they established Nanhai Prefecture in the Qin Dynasty, and Nanyue Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty. Guangzhou is the starting point of the Silk Road on the Sea which links China with the Arabian and Western countries in trading. Before the Qing Dynasty, Guangzhou was China's only foreign trade port at sea. Guangzhou has the longest history among the international trade port cities in the world. Silk, porcelain and tea are the three main foreign trade commodities in Guangzhou in ancient times.
The spoken language of Guangzhou - Cantonese - is incomprehensible to northern Chinese, who typically speak Mandarin. Cantonese has nine tones instead of the four tones in the Mandarin dialect. (The area around Guangzhou was overcrowded even 200 years ago, and many peasants from the region emigrated to Southeast Asia, North America, and Europe; as a result, Cantonese is the most common dialect among early overseas Chinese.)
Guangzhou has superior geographical and regional advantages. In terms of distance, Guangzhou is located in the geometrical center of the economic circle of Southeast Asia and therefore it is equidistant from Japan and Southeast Asian countries within a flight voyage of 3 to 4 hours in general.
In terms of geographical location, Guangzhou is an open coastal city neighboring Hong Kong and Macao, and the economic, political, and cultural center, and also the commercial center, which combines manufacturing, transportation, commerce, finance, information, education and human resources as a whole. It is located in the center of the Pearl River Delta, one of the most economically dynamic and flourishing areas in China. Guangzhou exerts an impact on China, East Asia and even the world with its economic capacity and radiation.
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