Guangzhou City Facts & Districts

Guangzhou is a famous hometown for overseas Chinese. It has the largest population of overseas Chinese people. These overseas Chinese do a great deal of good for Guangzhou: opening international markets, bridging Guangzhou and the rest of the world, and establishing many schools, hospitals, nurseries, kindergartens and rest homes in Guangzhou.

Due to the rapid development of the provincial capital of Guangzhou in recent years, a few counties and cities around have merged into Guangzhou Municipality. Those newly set up districts are not only experiencing high-speed economic growth, but also going through sweeping changes. The four former satellite cities have joined hands to develop their tourist attractions to entertain Guangzhou urbanites. It has become a big business.

The sub-provincial city of Guangzhou administers 12 county-level divisions, including 10 districts and 2 county-level cities. The 10 districts / areas include:

Yuexiu District

As one of the oldest urban areas in the city Yuexiu District is the birthplace of Guangzhou, which enjoys a long history of more than 2,000 years. The district is the political centre of Guangzhou as the provincial and municipal governments are both situated inside. Guangzhou is prosperous in commerce. Yuexiu is just the city' s traditional shopping centre. The well-known showcases include Beijing Pedestrian Street, Nonglinxia Road, Yide-road Dried Seafood Market and Toy Street, Liuhua Clothing Markets, Zhuangyuan-Fang lane of Stationery and fun items, Yanjiang (Riverside) Bar Street, Gaodi Clothing Business Street , Tiancheng-road Market of printing, Taikang-road and Danan-road Markets of home decoration, Jiefang-road Market of Electronics, Huifu-road Food Street etc. All these have been attracting sea of shoppers, tourists and investors.

Yuexiu was ever the capital of three dynasties of ten emperors, and boasts a large number of cultural relics and historic sites spanning a history of 2,210 years. Guangxiao Temple, Huaisheng Mosque, Nanyue Royal Tomb Museum, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall and so on shines in this city heartland. The Chinese Export Commodities Fair is held at the Liuhua Expo Center, Yuexiu District twice a year and attracts hundreds of thousands of exhibiters and businessmen from all over the world.

Liwan District

Liwan District is one of the old center districts of Guangzhou. The new Liwan District has an area of 64.2 square kilometers after putting the administrative area of the former Fangcun District under administration of Liwan District. With over two thousand years of history, Liwan has always been a fascinating place with beautiful sceneries and historic relics and one of the most prosperous commercial centers in Guangzhou.

Liwan District serves as an area connecting Guangzhou with Foshan, Nanhai and Shunde. The traffic is convenient with the network connecting Guangzhou Railway Station, Guangzhou New Baiyun International Airport, Panyu District and Foshan City.

The economy of Liwan is well developed. The district is unique in its humanistic sights, strong in its traditional style, convenient in its transportation and great in its market potential. Liwan is also an ideal place for industries.

Haizhu District

Along with Liwan, Yuexiu and Dongshan Districts, the Haizhu District was the largest in area and the least dense of the four old districts in Guangzhou before the city expanded its size. Today, it is no longer the largest district in area nor it is the southern most district, however, it has some of the most pricey real estate in city. The eastern end of Guangzhou's Metro Line 2 reaches Haizhu District. Metro Lines 3 and 5, currently under construction, will also have stations in the district. Another metro line, the Guangfo Line, is currently under construction and will connect Guangzhou and Foshan, a city just west of Guangzhou. If built, it will be the first and only metro line connecting two cities in China.

Tianhe District (Booming CBD)

Located in eastern part of Guangzhou, Tianhe District is the geographical centre of the city. Tianhe covers an area of about 139 square kilometers, with a population of 1.2 million. Starting from Tianhe, through convenient and fast road and rail transportation, you can easily reach the new Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, Guangzhou Huangpu Port, Nansha Port, and every corner of the Pearl River Delta - the manufacturing centre in South China.

Tianhe District, incorporating the functions of commerce, emerging industries, information technology, culture and education, is the central district of Guangzhou. The prosperous economy and commerce within the Tianhe District have attracted many large shopping malls and class-A office buildings, leading the district into being one of the most competitive and influential areas in Guangzhou.

Tianhe District boasts of rich resources of talents, education and R&D capability. There are over 60 institutions of higher learning and R&D in the district. Tianhe Software Park is listed among the ten most important software manufacturing bases in China. Being the industrial base of internet gaming and flash in Guangzhou, Gaotang New Zone within the Park has become an important support to the Tianhe District's aim of developing their high tech industry.

Baiyun District

Situated in the west and north of Guangzhou City and covering a land of nearly 900 square kilometers, Baiyun District has a population of more than 1.7 million with 4 towns and 15 administrative streets under its jurisdiction. Baiyun District is in possession of 6 of the 10 land exits of Guangzhou. Its road density reaches the standard of world medium developed countries. Baiyun acts as a transportation hub of Guangzhou and guards the passes of Guangzhou in the directions of northeast, north, northwest and west. Baiyun connects well-developed Pearl River Delta in the south and inner land which is full of resources in the north. The new and old Baiyun international airports and the largest railway marshalling yard in south China, and Beijing-Guangzhou, guangzhou-Shenzhen, guangzhou-Foshan, Beijing-Zhuhai, guangzhou-Huizhou, 105, 106, 107 highways or national roads passes through this district.

Huangpu District

Huangpu District, located in the north of Pearl River Delta and the east of Guangzhou, is in the intersection of Pearl River and the estuary of Dongjiang River. Huangpu is 148 kilometers away from Shenzhen, and 80 nautical miles apart from Hong Kong. Covering 94.23 square kilometers, Huangpu has a total population of 400,000.

Enjoying abundant tourism resources like "Huangpu Military Academy" and "South China Sea God Temple", Huangpu is a modern industrial base in the east of Guangzhou. Huangpu has complete industrial varieties and covers many industries including automobile, petroleum, chemical industry, iron and steel, electronics, machinery and food.

Huangpu District provides domestic and foreign investors with great potential for business development, thanks to the advantages involving long industrial chain, great volume of logistics, a diversity of traffic by railway, highway and waterway. Huangpu Port has the largest port in South China whose international shipping lines can reach more than 300 ports in over 100 countries and areas.

A convenient transportation network has been built in Huangpu, like guangzhou-Shenzhen Railway and Expressway, 107 national highway, Guangyuan East Express Trunk. They run through the whole district and connect Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Kowloon. No.5, 7 and 9 Metro Lines are planned to be constructed to run through Huangpu. It takes no more than 30 minutes from Huangpu District to new Baiyun Airport.

Huadu District

Huadu District was an independent county a decade ago, established as a county in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Huadu was recognized as a city in 1993, and in 2000 became an attached suburban district of Guangzhou with a population of over 713,400. Huadu District is located in the north part of the Pearl River Delta and abuts to Hong Kong and Macao. Huadu (Flower Capital in Chinese) lies northwest of Guangzhou, fenced in by mountains to the east, north and west. The Tropic of Cancer runs through the district, bringing a warm and humid climate to this area. Huadu is often called the barrier of the capital city of Guangzhou and the throat of North Guangdong and South Guangdong.

Huadu, with its beautiful scenery and international facilities for entertainment, recreation and living, is like a large-scale modern city offering excellent investment prospects. With a rich rainfall, Huadu is abundant in a variety of crops, vegetables, tea, litchis, bananas, longans, peanuts and sugarcane. The new Baiyun Airport is located in Huadu, which is connected with the other districts and cities nearby through the subway and Jichang Expressway. Guangzhou Northern Train Station, as a switchyard of cargo trains, is also located in Huadu District.

Panyu District

Panyu is a new district under the administration of Guangzhou, located in the southeast of Guangzhou.Panyu is the center of the Pearl River delta region. Covering an area of 1313.8 square kilometers, Panyu is 38 sea miles away from Hong Kong and 42 sea miles from Macao. With a crisscross network of highways and water channels, Lianhuashan Harbor provides a direct shipping access to Hong Kong and Kowloon.

Benefited from the opening, reform policy and its geography, the economy of Panyu has grown rapidly and drastically. So far, there are many key construction projects in the district as follows: The University Town, which has put into operation, The New Railway Station, two metro line projects, a couple of expressways and Nansha Branch of Guangzhou Port etc.

Nansha District

As the geographic center of the Pearl River Delta, Nansha's future attracts nearby cities, especially Hong Kong, Macao, Shenzhen, Zhongshan, Dongguan and Zhuhai. It takes about an hour or so to go from Nansha District to any of the cities mentioned above.

Guangdong Government is hoping to turn Nansha into another Shenzhen over the next few years. When construction is all completed, the place will become the largest water and land transportation hub in the Pearl River Delta, a major commercial city and a holiday resort catering to people from Hong Kong and Macao.

Luogang District

Located in the eastern part, the new Luogang District covers an area of 395 square kilometers with a population of 320,000. The Luogang Central Area in the center of Luogang District is planned as an administrative center integrating various functions of administrative office, culture, education, sports, residence and retail support facilities etc.