Shantou

Shantou, Wade-Giles romanization Shan-t’ou, conventional Swatow, city in eastern Guangdong sheng (province), southern China. It lies on the coast of the South China Sea a short distance west of the mouth of the Han River, which, with its tributary, the Mei River, drains most of eastern Guangdong. The Han forms a delta, and Shantou is on an inlet that extends about 10 miles (16 km) inland on the southwestern part of the delta. The city stands at the narrow seaward end of this inlet, where the delta on the north shore approaches the rocky promontory to the south. The harbour is impeded by a sandbar and is subject to irregular weather and typhoons. In 1922 a typhoon wrecked the port and killed some 50,000 people. In spite of these disadvantages, Shantou is the regional centre and chief port for the eastern part of Guangdong. The Han is navigable by shallow-draft boats to Meizhou, some 35 miles (55 km) above Xingning.

Until the 19th century, Shantou was only a small fishing village subordinate to the county of Chenghai. In 1858 Chaozhou (formerly Chao’an), some 20 miles (32 km) up the Han River, was designated a treaty port; Shantou was opened three years later as its outport. It then developed rapidly into a major port and centre of transportation and commerce. By the 1930s Shantou had an enormous junk trade with various ports on the coasts of Fujian and Guangdong provinces, ranking second only to Guangzhou (Canton) among the southern Chinese ports. Shantou was also one of the principal ports from which Chinese emigrants went to Southeast Asia. It has been calculated that some 2.5 million emigrants left Shantou in 1880–1909. During the second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), the port was seriously damaged by Japanese bombardments in 1938 and was captured by the Japanese in 1939, remaining in their hands until 1945.

Shantou obtained its first railway—a short line running to Chao’an (Chaozhu)—as early as 1906. It proved, however, to be uncompetitive with local junk traffic and fell into disrepair in the 1930s, as also did a narrow-gauge line to nearby Chenghai. Shantou thus depended on the Han River and on a reasonably good highway system to give it access to its considerable hinterland, which includes parts of southern Jiangxi and southwestern Fujian provinces, as well as eastern Guangdong.

Shantou was once known mainly for its exports of sugar, fruit, canned goods, and marine products. However, there has been much industrial development since 1949, with an unusually diversified range of production. In 1981 a special economic zone was established in Shantou, and later in 1991 it expanded to the whole urban districts under the city, thus ushering in an extended period of economic development. Industries of photochemistry, ultrasonic instruments, magnetogram and electronic products, toys, textiles, and processed foods have been developed. Drawnwork and other local needlework handicrafts are known throughout the country. A railway completed in 1995 links the city with Hong Kong and Guangzhou and connects another line east to Fujian province. Expressways provide the city with fast access to Shenzhen and farther to Guangzhou. Ports of the city have marine cargo-shipment services with more than 200 domestic and overseas ports. Shantou University, supported financially by overseas Chinese, was established in the city in the early 1980s. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 1,201,184; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 1,601,000.