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        (1)外文名称: Guangzhou City
       (2)中文名称: 广州市（广东省）
       (3)内容: Guangzhou City

GUANGZHOU (long known as Canton in the West) is the capital of Guangdong Province and the most important industrial and foreign trade center in south China. This steamy, subtropical metropolis, with its gray- green hues, lush parks, boisterous atmosphere, and world-famous cuisine, has an aura that is unique among China's largest cities.
Guangzhou, which administers 5 urban districts and six surrounding counties, has a population of about 5.3 million, densely packed into an area of 4,330 sq.km. (1,678 sq miles) on the northern bank of the Pearl River (Zhu Jiang) Delta. It has an area of 11,300 square kilometers, of which the city proper covers 4,000 sq km.
Guangzhou's Huangpu Harbor, which handles 20 million tons of cargo annually, is still the largest export-import harbor in South China. About 1.3 million natives of Guangzhou are living in Hong Kong, Macao and overseas.
China's Window to Outside World
After 1949, when the PRC was largely inaccessible to foreign visitors, Guangzhou continued to receive compatriots from neighboring Hong Kong and Macao, many of whom had originally emigrated from Guangdong Province. With the establishment of the semi-annual Chinese Export Commodities Fair (Guangzhou Trade Fair) in 1957, the city has been drawing an average of
25,000 foreign business people twice a year.
Guangzhou is the largest city in south China and the political, economic, cultural and communication center in this area. It has long been the oldest foreign-trade port in China, which 1,000 years ago attracted merchants from all over Asia and Africa who were housed in a special quarter in the city.
In recent years, the commerce and lifestyle of Guangzhou have become increasingly integrated with those of Hong Kong 182 km to the southwest). Official PRC encouragement of joint business ventures between China and foreign firms and the creation of three "special economic zones" in Guangdong Province since 1979 have led to substantial investment in Guangzhou by Hong Kong business people. Furthermore, compatriots from Hong Kong who stream across the border to conduct business, to visit relatives, or to do sightseeing have acquainted the citizens of Guangzhou nor only with various types of consumer goods that are not yet produced in China, but also with fashions and hairstyles that are quickly emulated by Guangzhou's youth.
The Goat City
Legend has it that Guangzhou was founded by five celestial beings that descended from the heaven astride five goats, each animal bearing a stalk of rice in its mouth. The rice was the symbol of a promise by the gods that the region would never suffer from famine. Although the promise was not always kept, the legend stuck and Guangzhou is still referred to as Yangcheng (Goat City). Indeed, many products manufactured in Guangzhou today carry the "Goat Brand" and the statue of five goats standing in
Yuexiu Park has virtually become the logo of the city.

Guangzhou in History
The region is originally the home of tribal peoples over 2,000 years ago. During the Qin Dynasty(221-206 BC), large numbers of Han Chinese were rounded up and sent to settle in the area around Guangzhou, which became an active trading port known as Panyu. In 714, the Tang Dynasty officially sanctioned Guangzhou as a foreign trade center. The town already contained
a sizable Muslim population, and as a result of its trade with India, Persia, and Southeast Asia, Guangzhou became subject to a number of positive and negative foreign influences. From the 10th to the 17th century, it developed into a major port and shipbuilding town.
The earliest European influence in Guangzhou was Portuguese. Portugal established an embassy here in 1557. Soon afterwards, the Spanish and Dutch arrived, followed by the British, the French, and the Americans in the 18 century. Conflict between China and the West did not erupt until the 19th century when Commissioner Lin Zexu destroyed 20,000 chests of opium dumped
into Guangzhou by the British and Americans sneakily. This event triggered the first Opium War of 1839-42. Guangzhou subsequently became one of the five Chinese ports opened to foreign trade in accordance with the unequal Treaty of Nanjing. Following the second Opium War(1856-60), sections of Guangzhou were parceled out to foreign nations.
The decay of China's dynastic systems and the loss of national economic independence profoundly transformed Guangzhou. Western settlements in the city (remnants of which are visible today on Shamian Island) contained large compounds and spacious buildings, contrasting sharply with the squalid slums and cluttered canal boats inhabited by the local people. As a result of pervasive poverty and overcrowding, large numbers of Chinese migrated during this period to other Asian countries, North America, and Europe, the vast majority exiting via the port of Guangzhou.

Renewal of City Proper
Prior to 1949, Guangzhou was a city of sprawling slums and dilapidated houseboats. Since 1949, a tremendous amount of urban renewal has occurred. Much of the new housing built along the shores of the Pearl River accommodates the 60,000 previously wretched boat people.
The rich alluvial soil of Pearl River Delta provides the Guangzhou region with highly productive agricultural base. Some 92,000 hectares (227,000 acres) are under cultivation. In addition to growing three rice crops a year, the area produces wheat, fruit, vegetables, sugarcane, and oil-bearing crops. Guangzhou City itself includes 33 communes and 16 state farms.
The city also has over 3,200 factories producing newsprint, refined sugar, ships, cement, steel, chemicals, automobiles, machinery, textiles, rubber goods, canned goods, and fertilizer. Clothing (about one-third of which is exported), bamboo and rattan products, pottery, ivory, jade, and jewelry are also manufactured here.
Cultural Undertakings
Guangzhou has over a dozen colleges and research institutes,
including the renowned Zhong Shan (Sun Yetsan) University, famous for its medical school. It is also the home to the Guangdong Province Historical Museum, and several children's cultural palaces.
Guangzhou has staunchly maintained its unique cultural traditions, including its distinctive earthy dialect, vernacular literature, lively music, colorful opera, and splendid varied cuisine.