Guangdong
is a province on the southern coast of China. The province
is also known by an alternative English name, the Canton Province.
It overtook Henan and Sichuan to become the most populous
province in China in January 2005, registering 79 million
permanent residents and 31 million migrants who lived in the
province for at least six months. The provincial capital of
Guangzhou and economic hub Shenzhen are among the most populous
and important cities in China.
Guangdong
is the country's richest province with the highest total
GDP among all provinces. Its nominal GDP for 2003 was US$165
billion, increased to US$265 billion in 2005 (about the
same size as Denmark). In 2006 that number increased to
US$329.07 billion and by 2007 its GDP has grown another
14.5% to reach 3.06 trillion yuan (US$422 billion). Guangdong
contributes approximately 12.5% of national economic output.
Guangdong also hosts the largest Import and Export Fair
in China called the Canton Fair which is hosted by the city
of Guangzhou - Guangdong's capital city.
The
province was the homeland and base of operations of Sun
Yat-Sen, the widely accepted founder of modern China.
"Guang" itself means "expanse" or "vast",
and has been associated with the region since the creation
of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. "Guangdong" and
neighboring Guangxi literally mean "expanse east"
and "expanse west". Together, Guangdong and Guangxi
are called the "Dual-Guangs" ( liang guang). The
modern abbreviation (Yue) is related to the Hundred Yue,
a collective name for various peoples that lived in Guangdong
and other areas in ancient times.
Prior
to the introduction of Hanyu Pinyin, the province was known
as Canton Province based on a Portuguese-derived transliteration
of "Guangdong". Canton refers to the city Romanized
as Guangzhou in Pinyin, the provincial capital. The local
people of Guangzhou and their language are still commonly
referred to as Cantonese.
Guangdong was far away from the center of ancient Chinese
civilization in the north China plain. It was populated
by peoples collectively known as the Hundred Yue, who may
have been Tai-Kadai and related to the Zhuang people in
modern Guangxi.
Chinese
administration in the region began with the Qin Dynasty.
After establishing the first unified Chinese empire, the
Qin expanded southwards and set up Nanhai Commandery at
Panyu, near what is now part of Guangzhou. It used to be
independent as Nanyue between the fall of Qin and the reign
of Emperor Wu of Han. The Han Dynasty administered Guangdong,
Guangxi, and northern Vietnam as Jiao Province. Under the
Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms period, Guangdong was made
its own province, the Guang Province, in 226.
As
time passed, the demographics of what is now Guangdong slowly
shifted to (Han) Chinese-dominance, especially during several
periods of massive migration from the north during periods
of political turmoil and/or nomadic incursions from the
fall of the Han Dynasty onwards. For example, internal strife
in northern China following the rebellion of An Lushan resulted
in a 75% increase in the population of Guangzhou prefecture
between 740s-750s and 800s-810s. As more migrants arrived,
the local population was gradually assimilated to Han Chinese
culture, or displaced.
Together
with Guangxi, Guangdong was made part of Lingnan Circuit
(political division Circuit), or Mountain-South Circuit,
in 627 during the Tang Dynasty. The Guangdong part of Lingnan
Circuit was renamed Guangnan East Circuit guang nán
dong lù in 971 during the Song Dynasty (960-1279).
"Guangnan East" is the source of "Guangdong".
