CHAOZHOU
CITY
Located in the north of the Delta of
the
Hanjiang River, Chaozhou city is one of the famous historic cities.
It had been the location of Lu Administration, prefecture and
capital of dynasties of past ages. It was named Chaozhou originally
in the Sui Dynasty (591 AD). Chaozhou City now governs 1 district,
20 towns and 3 small towns and has 1,411 square kilometers in
area, and 1.24 million in population. Chaozhou City is surrounded
by the Golden Mountain, the Silver Mountain and Hanshan Mountain.
The Hanjiang River flows through the city and eight scenes distributed
along its both banks. There are many valuable historic relics
in Chaozhou city, totally about 600 units and among them 42 are
classified as the state, provincial and city's key preservation
units of cultural relics, The city's feature is known as "Classic
Tourist City" which receives numerous tourists both from
abroad and home.
Chaozhou has a long history of
handicrafts.
It is famous in the world for its traditional drawnwork, Chaozhou
embroidery, pottery, porcelain, and woodcut which sell well both
on foreign and domestic markets. In recent years a lot of new
industries have emerged. Chaozhou is also one of well-known
agricultural
high production zones in China, with its fine tradition of intensive
cultivation and attacking great importance to agricultural science
and technology. Many of agricultural and sideline productions
gain a great reputation in world markets. With unique styles,
the Chaozhou Drama, Chaozhou Music and Chaozhou handicrafts are
not only well received by local people, but also loved by overseas
Chinese in South-east Asia. As its characteristics of sweet-smelling
, thickness, freshness and sweetness, the Chaozhou cooking is
enjoying more popularity.
FOSHAN
CITY
Located in the central part of the
Zhujiang River Delta, Foshan
has a favorable geographic location and excellent natural conditions,
and long been called"a land of fish and rice " for its
plentiful products. It has a total area of 4, 736 square kilometers
(the city proper, 77 square kilometers) and a population of 2.63
million in 1987 (municipal population, 0.33 million). During the
Qin and Han Dynasty, Foshan became an agricultural and fishery
village of a considerable size, and the present urban seat was
called "Jihua Village" in the Sui Dynasty. In 628 (AD),
three bronze statues of Buddha were excavated in Tapo Hill within
the town, thus changing its name to Foshan which is called "Chan"
for short. Ceramic industry rose in the Tang Dynasty and brought
the name "Ceramic Capital in South China" for the city
whose products sold well at home and abroad. During the Ming and
Qing Dynasties, Foshan had enjoyed equal popularity with Zhuxian
Town in Henan Province, Jingde Town in Jiangxi Province, Hankou
Town in Hubei Province, thus identified as one of the four famous
towns in China. Ceramics, casting, textile, pharmacy and folk
handicrafts were extremely flourishing in the early Qin Dynasty
when the population reached 0.9 million. Foshan was a town of
Nanhai county after the Xinghai Revolution, and became a city
in 1951. Being a well-known industrial city of medium size in
Guangdong Province, Foshan has four pillar industries of textile,
electronics, ceramics and plastics, and also a rather string foundation
in food-processing, pharmacy, printing, crafts, hardware, electric
appliance, machinery and casting, acting as a comprehensive commodity
base in Guangdong Province. 24 external ports opened by Foshan
Airport. Keeping abreast with large cities such as Shenyang and
Wuhan, Foshan got a total output value of industry and agriculture
of 16.8 billion Yuan in 1988, three times what was in 1980. Purchasing
value for foreign export was 2.3 billion Yuan in 1988. Since 1960's,
Foshan has been a national Red-Flag (model) City in public hygiene,
and also renowned for track and field sports. Zumiao (ancestral)
Temple and Lianyuan Garden are the main ancient buildings. Traditional
handicrafts include papercuttings, decorative lamps, Shiwan figures,
and colorful costumes worn by local people who parade in the streets
in the autumn.
ZHAOQING
CITY
The city is an ancient one with a
history of more than two thousand
years and was called Duanzhou in ancient times. The city was built
as a military base during the Qin Dynasty, it was called the Gaoyou
County during the Han Dynasty in 111 BC and changed to Duanzhou
during the Sui Dynasty, Zhaoqingfu during the Beisong Dynasty
in 1101 and has been called Zhaoqing City since 1958. The city
has ten counties and two districts with an area of 22, 612 square
kilometers and a population of 5, 230,000. Before liberation the
economy was developed very slowly within a few mills. Today, the
city has become an industry city with electronics, instrument,
making and textile.
Zhaoqing City is well known for its
beautiful
scenery. It is one
of the best known tourist cities in Lingnan regions since it has
the walls of the Song Dynasty, one river (the Xijiang River),
two lakes (the Xinghu Lake and the Dinghu Lake), three canyons
(the Sanrong Canyon, the Dading Canyon and the Lingyang Canyon),
eight wonderful sights and such scenic spots as the Yuejiang Mansion
, the Meiyan Nannery and etc. Zhaoqing produces the Duanxi ink stone
as well as other famous traditional artwork.
Located at the middle and lower
reaches of Dongjiang, exactly
at the confluence of Dongjiang and Xizijiang, Huizhou has an urban
district and outskirts of 417 square kilometers and a population
of nearly 0.2 million. Huizhou is a famous historical city with
a history of more than 2000 years. Belonging to Baiyuedi in the
period of Chunqiu, and to Nanhai prefecture in the Sui Dynasty
and Zhenzhou capital in Wudai (Five Dynasties ) and Southern Han,
and changed to Hui in the Song Dynasty, resulting in the name
of Huizhou. Another name of Huizhou , Goose Town, is based on
a legend that the Feie Hill to the south of the city was formed
by a flying goose ridden by a celestial being.
As a collection of hill, river, lake,
sea and
spring, Huizhou
is described as "half town of hill scenery, half town of
lake". When ascending a height to enjoy a distant view, you
will find multi peaked mountains in dark green and faintly visible
islets in rivers in the near sites where five lakes and six bridges
come to the eye. This picture is embellished with green and old
luxuriant banyans, verdant palms, flaming phoenix and kapok trees,
which make you relaxed and happy. You can not help being intoxicated
by this lovely scenery of Huizhou.
Huizhou was a pure consumptive city
before
liberation. Benefiting
from the reform and open-door policy, Huizhou's foreign-oriented
industry has been developed rapidly. Until 1989, 18 foreign countries
and districts have invested funds of 0.34 billion US dollars in
Huizhou, thus preliminarily forming industries of electronics,
textile and food processing etc. whose products are on sale in
68 countries and regions. Panda Town for producing cars mainly
for export is being constructed in Aotou. Much attention has been
paid to building traffic facilities. Air routes were opened in
1985. Water and land transportation is also very convenient.
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MEIZHOU CITY
Under
the jurisdiction of Jieyang County,
Nanhai Prefecture in Qin and Han Dynasties, Meizhou was originally
called Meizhou in the Song Dynasty (971 AD) from its Mei Brook
and plum blossom (Mei Blossom ) in ancient times, it was Jiaying
Zhou in Qing Dynasty and it was changed into Meixian in 1911.
Meizhou has jurisdiction over seven counties and one district.
Its area is 16, 197 square kilometers and population is 4,190,000
, an area of 321 square kilometers and a population of 21,000
in the city proper.
Meizhou is an important city on the
upper
reaches of the Hanjiang River. It is a hub of communication on
the borders of Fujian, Guangdong and Jiangxi and also the material
collecting and distributing center. Meizhou is also a well-known
overseas Chinese hometown with about 500,000 overseas Chinese
scattered in about 70 countries and regions. It also has the name
of " cultural hometown". Its culture can be traced to
the same origin from central China to ancient times and is the
center of the kejia culture with a galaxy of talent.
There locate many scenic spots and
historical
sites in Meizhou City. The Tower with One Thousand Buddhists "situated
in the summit of Eastern Mountain was built in Han Dynasty, same
as the East and the West iron Towers in Guangxiao Temple of Guangzhou.
The "Renjinglu" Cottage in the brook lip of eastern
district was former residence of Mr. Huang Zunxian, the late patriotic
poet, outstanding statesman and diplomat. It is now the key
preservation
unit of cultural relic.
DONGGUAN
CITY
Located at the lower reaches of the
Dongjiang, lying in the
north-east
section of the Zhujiang (Pearl River) Delta, it is adjacent to
Huizhou in the east, faces Guangzhou in the north and west just
across the northern trunk stream of the Dongjiang and Sizi Yang,
and neighbors Shenzhen to the south. As one of the districts under
the jurisdiction of the city, Humen stands on the exit of the
main-stream of the Zhujiang. The city covers a total area of 2,
465 square kilometers (the municipal population, 0.23 million).
The predecessor of the city is Dongguan County which was administered
by Panyu County in Han Dynasty and by Baoan County in Eastern
Jin (317-420 AD). In the third year of Zhide period of Tang Dynasty
(735 AD), Baoan County was changed into Dongguan County . The
seat was then moved to the present city proper form Nantou (now
belongs to Shenzhen City). It became a city in September of 1985.
The area within the boundaries of the city covers mainly with
the alluvial plain except for a stretch of hills and platforms
in its southern section.
Abundant in its products,
Dongguan is
one of the richest and most populous cities and counties in Guangdong
Province. Since the beginning of reforming and opening to the
outside world, industries of electronics, textile, clothing, toy,
headdresses, leather and plastic products, and foodstuff have
been well developed through introducing constantly advanced equipment
and techniques from foreign countries, thus leading to the formation
of an overall industrial complex. The total industrial output
value reached over 4, 300 million Yuan while the agricultural
output valued at 700 million Yuan in 1988. The income in foreign
currencies amounted to 300 million US dollars in that very year.
There are two major harbors located there: the Guancheng Harbor--an
inland water port and the Taiping Harbor --a port of the inland
water and ocean transportation, both of which have a handling
capacity of over one million tons. In 1988, the total length of
highway open to the traffic in the city region reached 1,445 km.
Dongguan ranks the top in the country
in terms of the highway
density. There are many scenic spots and historical sites among
which one is the battlefield of the Opium War in Humen renowned
both abroad and at home. It abounds with various fruits especially
litchi and banana, which are on sale all the year around. There
are also plenty of seafood. The fireworks made in Dongguan sells
well on the domestic and foreign markets. The physical mass sports
are extremely popular and active in Gongguan which is known as
"The Home of Swimming " and "The Home of Weightlifting".
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