Guangdong

Hong Kong: bridge

Guangdong province

Guangdong, Wade-Giles romanization Kuang-tung, conventional Kwangtung, sheng (province) of South China. It is the southernmost of the mainland provinces and constitutes the region through which South China’s trade is primarily channeled. Guangdong has one of the longest coastlines of any province, fronting the South China Sea to the southeast and south (including connections to the two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau). It is also bounded by the Zhuang Autonomous Region of Guangxi to the west and by the provinces of Hunan and Jiangxi to the north and Fujian to the northeast. The capital is Guangzhou (Canton), at the head of the Pearl (Zhu) River Delta.

Historically, Guangdong and Guangxi often were jointly governed. Guangdong was first administered as a separate entity in 997 ce; it was from this time that the term Guangdong (Chinese: “Eastern Expanses”) began to be used. Guangdong has its own physical and cultural identity. Its topography separates it somewhat from the rest of China, and this factor—together with its long coastline, its contact with other countries through its overseas emigrants, and its early exposure to Western influence through the port of Guangzhou—resulted in the emergence of a degree of self-sufficiency and separatism. Guangzhou long dominated the province to an unusual extent, though that dominance has lessened somewhat as Hong Kong has been reintegrated back into China and cities around the Pearl River Delta (notably Shenzhen) have risen in prominence. Area 76,100 square miles (197,100 square km). Pop. (2020) 126,012,510.