Left to right, top to bottom: Downtown Shaoguan from across the Bei River, street scene in central Shaoguan, Shaoyang Tower, the Pagoda of Sixi Temple, aerial view of the city
Location of Shaoguan City jurisdiction in Guangdong
Shaoguan is a prefecture-level city in northern Guangdong Province (Yuebei),South China,bordering Hunan to the northwest and Jiangxi to the northeast. It is home to the mummified remains of the sixth ZenBuddhist patriarch Huineng. Its built-up (or metro) area made up of Zhenjiang,Wujiang and Qujiang urban conurbated districts was home to 1,028,460 inhabitants as of the 2020 census.[3]
Shaozhou or Seochew was a prefecture under the Tang and Song.
In 1589,Matteo Ricci relocated his mission house–the first ever Jesuit mission in mainland China–to Shaoguan after a fallout with the authorities in Zhaoqing. He remained in Shaoguan for a few years,eventually benefiting from Shaoguan's location on the important north–south travel route to establish connections with traveling dignitaries that allowed him to move north,to Nanchang,Nanjing,and Beijing.[4]
During World War II the city,then called Kukong,was the temporary capital of Guangdong Province.
The main languages spoken are Hakka and Shaozhou Tuhua,related to Ping Chinese. Shaozhounese or Seochewese is spoken in Shaozhou city and Hakka (mainly Yetpet and Seunan dialects) are spoken in neighboring counties.
In the past,Seochew culture followed its people outside of the mainland China. In the past,the Seochew community was an important part of Nam Định City. They joined right when the French protectorate government first built the city. To this day,the most famous specialty of Nam Định City is Seochew candy[5][6][7] (kẹo sìu-châu),sweet-meat xôi[8] (xôi xá-xíu) and sweet-meat pho[9] (phởxá-xíu) which is produced by families with long-standing Seochew roots in the old town area of Nam Định City.
Northwest of Shaoguan, at the town of Pingshi, a stretch of river known as the Nine Torrents and Eighteen Shoals is a popular place for white-water rafting. The city is served by Shaoguan Danxia Airport. Besides, Shaoguan University is located in the city.
The Fengcai Tower (风采楼) in the centre of Shaoguan was built in the Ming dynasty. To the south of the tower, at the other end of a pedestrian shopping street, the Dajian Monastery was founded in 660.
Near Shaoguan is the town of Maba, home of relics and museum of the Maba Man, Chinese Neanderthals. Near Maba is Nanhua Temple, which was founded by Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism. Shaoguan Iron and Steel is also located near Maba. Danxia Mountain is located in Renhua County, Shaoguan.
Notable people
Zhang, Jiu Ling (張九齡): a high-ranking official of the Tang dynasty. (A.D. 618–A.D. 1127)
Yu, Jing (余靖): a high-ranking official of the Northern Song dynasty. (A.D 960–A.D. 1127)
Regina Ho Yee Ting (何依婷): Winner of 2017 Miss Hong Kong pageant, also an actress of Hong Kong
Geography
Shaoguan is the northernmost prefecture-level city of Guangdong, bordering Chenzhou (Hunan) to the northwest and north, Ganzhou (Jiangxi) to the northeast, Heyuan to the east, Guangzhou and Huizhou to the south, and Qingyuan to the west. It spans latitude 23° 53'−25° 31' N and longitude 112° 53'−114° 45' E.[10] It is situated at the southern end of the Nan Mountains (Nan Ling), which primarily run east–west here, and is marked by numerous erosion-created valleys; within its borders lies the 1,902m (6,240ft)Mount Shikeng (石坑崆), the highest point in the province. The city is located on the Jingguang Railway (Beijing−Guangzhou) about 221 kilometres (137mi) north of the provincial capital of Guangzhou. Shaoguan is also readily accessible by road as it is adjacent to the G4 Beijing–Hong Kong and Macau Expressway as well as numerous other National Highways.
At Shaoguan, the Wu River from the northwest and the Zhen River from the northeast join up to create the North River (Bei Jiang) which flows south to Guangzhou. The downtown part of Shaoguan is located on a peninsula between the Wu and Zhen Rivers. The rivers are maintained at a constant level by a dam about 12 kilometres (7.5mi) downstream from the city. The city has about 20 kilometres (12mi) of tree-lined riverside esplanades along the banks of the rivers. There are seven bridges crossing the three rivers.
Shaoguan has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (KöppenCfa), with short, mild, damp winters, rainy springs, long, hot, and humid summers, and relatively sunny autumns. Due to the city's location far inland, winters are significantly cooler than in the rest of the province, with freezing rain possible in the nearby mountain passes in some years. Winter begins dry and relatively sunny but becomes progressively cloudier and damper. Spring is the cloudiest and wettest season, with the sun shining less than 30% of the time. The annual rainfall is around 1,600mm (63in), much of it delivered from April thru June. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from 10.3°C (50.5°F) in January to 29.0°C (84.2°F) in July; the annual mean is 20.5°C (68.9°F). With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 16% in March to 54% in July, the city receives 1,617 hours of bright sunshine annually.
Climate data for Shaoguan (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2020)
Zhongshan alternately romanized via Cantonese as Chungshan is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is now part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation with 65,565,622 inhabitants. The city-core subdistricts used to be called Shiqi or Shekki.
Jiangmen, alternately romanized in Cantonese as Kongmoon, is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province in southern China. It consists of three urban districts, Heshan, and the more rural Siyi, which is the ancestral homeland of approximately 4 million overseas Chinese. As of the 2020 census, Jiangmen had a total population of about 4,798,090. Its urban region, consisting of Pengjiang, Jianghai, and Heshan, had 2,657,062 inhabitants.
Meizhou is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong province, China. It has an area of 15,864.51 km2 (6,125.32 sq mi), and a population of 3,873,239 as of the 2020 census. It comprises Meijiang District, Meixian District, Xingning City and five counties. Its built-up or metro area made up of two urban districts was home to 992,351 inhabitants.
Zhaoqing, alternately romanized as Shiuhing, is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province, China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 4,113,594, with 1,553,109 living in the built-up area made of Duanzhou, Dinghu and Gaoyao. The prefectural seat—except the Seven Star Crags—is fairly flat, but thickly forested mountains lie just outside its limits. Numerous rice paddies and aquaculture ponds are found on the outskirts of the city. Sihui and the southern districts of the prefecture are considered part of the Pearl River Delta.
Huizhou is a city in central-east Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Heyuan to the northeast, Shanwei to the east, and Daya Bay of the South China Sea to the south. As of the 2020 census, the city has about 6,042,852 inhabitants and is administered as a prefecture-level city. Huizhou's core metropolitan area, which is within Huicheng and Huiyang Districts, is home to around 2,090,578 inhabitants.
Jieyang is a prefecture-level city in eastern Guangdong Province (Yuedong), People's Republic of China, part of the Chaoshan region whose people speak Chaoshan Min distinct from neighbouring Yue speakers. It is historically important as the hometown of many overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia. It borders Shantou to the east, Chaozhou to the northeast, Meizhou to the north, Shanwei to the west, and looks out to the South China Sea to the south.
Maoming, alternately romanized as Mowming, is a prefecture-level city located in southwestern Guangdong province, China. Facing the South China Sea to the city's south, Maoming city borders Zhanjiang to the west, Yangjiang to the east, and Yunfu to the northeast, and is 362 kilometers (225 mi) from Guangzhou and 121 kilometers (75 mi) from Zhanjiang. The Maoming Port is a Grade I port that handled 16.8 million tons of cargo in 2007. Refined oil and aquatic products are the major export products from the city. Major export destinations include Hong Kong, Macao and ASEAN member nations.
Qingyuan, formerly romanized as Tsingyun, is a prefecture-level city in northern Guangdong province, China, on the banks of the Bei or North River. During the 2020 census, its total population was 3,969,473, out of whom 1,738,424 lived in the built-up area made of urbanized Qingcheng and Qingxin districts. The primary spoken language is Cantonese. Covering 19,015 km2 (7,342 sq mi), Qingyuan is Guangdong's largest prefecture-level division by land area, and it borders Guangzhou and Foshan to the south, Shaoguan to the east and northeast, Zhaoqing to the south and southwest, and Hunan province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to the north. The urban core is surrounded by mountainous areas but is directly connected with Guangzhou and the Pearl River Delta by Highway 107.
Heyuan is a prefecture-level city of Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,837,686 whom 1,051,993 lived in the built-up area made of Yuancheng urban District and Dongyuan County largely being urbanized. Zijin County itself is quickly being conurbated in the agglomeration. The majority of the people are Hakka. The city includes many rainforests and the largest lake in Guangdong: Xinfengjiang Reservoir. The literal meaning of the city's name is "origin of the river". It has recently been officially titled as the "Hometown of the Dinosaur in China", due to the thousands of dinosaur egg fossils that have been unearthed in its vicinity.
Sanshui District, formerly romanized as Samshui, is an urban district of the prefecture-level city of Foshan in Guangdong province, China. It had a population of 622,645 as of the 2010 census. It is known for the "Samsui women", emigrants who labour in Singapore, and for a large fireworks explosion in 2008.
Nam Định is a capital-city of Nam Định province in the Red River Delta of the Northern Vietnam.
Yangjiang, alternately romanized via Cantonese as Yeungkong, is a prefecture-level city in southwestern Guangdong Province in the People's Republic of China. It borders Maoming to the west, Yunfu to the north, Jiangmen to the east, and looks out to the South China Sea to the south. The local dialect is the Gaoyang dialect, a branch of Yue Chinese. During the 2020 census, its population was 2,602,959 inhabitants of whom 1,292,987 lived in the built-up and largely urbanized area comprising Jiangcheng District and Yangdong County.
Zengcheng District is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China.
Nanhua County is a county located in Chuxiong Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China.
Gaozhou is a county-level city in southwestern Guangdong Province, China. Formerly the primary city in the area, it is now administered as part of the prefecture-level city of Maoming. As of the 2020 census, Gaozhou had a population of 1,328,658 living in its 3,270.86 km2 (1,262.89 sq mi) territory, nevertheless its built-up area is much smaller. The locals speak a variation of the Gaozhou dialect. It is best known in China for being the ancestral home of Leo Ku.
Renhua County is a county in the northernmost portion of Guangdong province, in China, bordering Jiangxi to the northeast and Hunan to the northwest. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Shaoguan. Renhua County spans an area of 2,223 square kilometres (858 sq mi), and has a population of 200,354 as of the 2010 Chinese Census.
Wengyuan is a county in the north of Guangdong Province, China, bordering Jiangxi to the northeast. It is under the administration of Shaoguan City. It has a population of 421,756 in 2019, 99.55% of whom speak Hakka. Yao languages are spoken in some parts of the county. 0.616% of the population belongs to minority ethnic groups, most of them Yao.
Xinfeng County is a county in the northeast of Guangdong Province, China. It is the southernmost county-level division of the prefecture-level city of Shaoguan.
Lechang is a county-level city in the northern Guangdong province, People's Republic of China, bordering Hunan province to the north. It is under the administration of Shaoguan prefecture-level city.
Fogang County is a county of north-central Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Qingyuan City, and is connected to major cities in Guangdong by public highways and toll roads. The closest aviation hub is Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport (CAN).
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