Dongguan ' onMouseout='HidePop("30676")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Standard_Cantonese">Cantonese
Cantonese sensu stricto, also known as Canton dialect or Guangzhou dialect, is the prestige dialect of Yue Chinese , especially when pronounced with a Canton City accent...
: Dung1 gun2; old spelling Tung-kuan) is a
prefecture-level cityA prefecture-level city or prefecture-level municipality is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China, ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. Prefecture-level cities form the second level of the administrative structure...
in central
GuangdongGuangdong is a province on the southern coast of People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
province,
People's Republic of ChinaThe People's Republic of China , commonly known as China, is the largest country in East Asia and the most populous in the world with over 1.3 billion people, approximately one-fifth of the world's population...
.
An important industrial city located in the
Pearl River DeltaThe Pearl River Delta in southern People's Republic of China is the low-lying area alongside the Pearl River estuary where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Since economic liberalisation was adopted by the Chinese government in the late 1970s, the delta has become one of the leading...
, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of
GuangzhouGuangzhou , in English formerly known as Canton and also known as Kwangchow, is a sub-provincial city and the capital of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the People's Republic of China.It is a port on the Pearl River,...
to the north,
HuizhouHuizhou is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. Part of the Pearl River Delta, Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shaoguan to the north, Heyuan to the northeast, Shanwei to the east, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, and...
to the northeast,
ShenzhenShenzhen is a city of sub-provincial administrative status in southern China's Guangdong province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong...
to the south, and the
Pearl River-Bodies of water:*Pearl River **Pearl River Delta*Pearl River , in the United States-Communities and administrative divisions:In the United States:*Pearl River, Louisiana*Pearl River, Mississippi*Pearl River, New York...
to the west.
It is also home to the world's largest shopping mall,
South China MallSouth China Mall in Dongguan, China is the second largest mall in the world after Dubai Mall. It has the most gross leasable area of any mall in the world; room for over 1,500 stores in approximately 7.1 million square feet of leasable space and 890.000 square metres of total area.The mall has...
. City administration is considered especially progressive in seeking
foreign direct investmentForeign direct investment in its classic form is defined as a company from one country making a physical investment into building a factory in another country. It is the establishment of an enterprise by a foreigner. Its definition can be extended to include investments made to acquire lasting...
. The three neighboring municipalities of
GuangzhouGuangzhou , in English formerly known as Canton and also known as Kwangchow, is a sub-provincial city and the capital of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the People's Republic of China.It is a port on the Pearl River,...
, Dongguan, and
ShenzhenShenzhen is a city of sub-provincial administrative status in southern China's Guangdong province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong...
are home to over 25 million residents, accounting for a large proportion of the Pearl River Delta Region's population.
Dongguan ranks behind only
ShenzhenShenzhen is a city of sub-provincial administrative status in southern China's Guangdong province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong...
,
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
and
SuzhouSuzhou is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens which have contributed to its status as a great tourist attraction...
in exports among Chinese cities, with $65.54bn in shipment.
Administration
The
prefecture-level cityA prefecture-level city or prefecture-level municipality is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China, ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. Prefecture-level cities form the second level of the administrative structure...
of Dongguan administers 3 county-level divisions, all of which are districts.
- Guancheng District
Guancheng District is a district of Guangdong Province, China. It is under the administration of Dongguan city....
(莞城区)
- Dongcheng District
Dongcheng District, Dongguan is a district of Guangdong Province, China. It is under the administration of Dongguan city....
(东城区)
- Wanjiang District
Wanjiang District is a district of Guangdong Province, China. It is under the administration of Dongguan city....
(万江区)
- Nancheng District
Nancheng District is a district of Guangdong Province, China. It is under the administration of Dongguan city.Nancheng is a town located in the new city central area of Dongguan, and also where the Municipal Committee of the CPC and the Municipal Government of Dongguan situate at...
(南城区)
The city government also directly administers the following 28 towns.
- Mayong Town (麻涌镇)
- Shilong Town
Shilong is a town in Dongguan prefecture-level city, Guangdong province, People's Republic of China.Shilong town has a territory of only 12.5 km². It is the smallest town in Dongguan city, even the whole Guangdong province...
(石龙镇)
- Humen Town
Humen , also known as Taiping, is a county-level city within the Dongguan prefecture-level city, on the eastern side of the Bocca Tigris on the east bank of the Pearl River Delta, in the Guangdong Province of southern China.-Economy:...
(虎门镇)
- Daojiao Town (道滘镇)
- Shijie Town (石碣镇)
- Hongmei Town (洪梅镇)
- Liaobu Town (寮步镇)
- Dalingshan Town (大岭山镇)
- Dalang Town (大朗镇)
- Huangjiang Town (黄江镇)
- Zhangmutou Town (樟木头镇)
- Fenggang Town (凤岗镇)
- Tangxia Town (塘厦镇)
- Qingxi Town
Qingxi is an industrial town located in the western part of Dongguan prefecture-level city, Guangdong province, China. The town is situated in a somewhat mountainous region close to the Pearl River Delta. It is west of Shenzhen, and approximately 60 kilometers from the border with Hong Kong...
(清溪镇)
- Changping Town
Changping is a town within the prefecture-level city of Dongguan, in Guangdong Province, southern China...
(常平镇)
- Qiaotou Town (桥头镇)
- Hengli Town (横沥镇)
- Dongkeng Town (东坑镇)
- Qishi Town (企石镇)
- Shipai Town (石排镇)
- Chashan Town
Chashan is a town in Dongguan prefecture-level city, Guangdong Province of southern China...
(茶山镇)
- Chang'an Town
Chang'an Town is an industrial town within the Dongguan prefecture-level city in the Pearl River Delta, in the Guangdong Province of southern China...
(长安镇)
- Gaobu Town (高埗镇)
- Shatian Town (沙田镇)
- Wangniudun Town
Wangniudun is a county within the Dongguan prefecture-level city in the Pearl River Delta, in the Guangdong Province of southern China....
(望牛墩镇)
- Xiegang Town (谢岗镇)
- Zhongtang Town (中堂镇)
- Houjie Town (厚街镇)
Geography
The
urban centerThe Urban Center is a gallery on Madison Avenue in New York City , which is run by the Municipal Art Society . The gallery serves to champion the fields of urban planning and design in New York, and is also the site of MAS' community development workshops, seminars, lectures, and other educational...
of Dongguan is 50 km away from that of
GuangzhouGuangzhou , in English formerly known as Canton and also known as Kwangchow, is a sub-provincial city and the capital of Guangdong Province in the southern part of the People's Republic of China.It is a port on the Pearl River,...
to its north, 90 km away from
ShenzhenShenzhen is a city of sub-provincial administrative status in southern China's Guangdong province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong...
to its south, 47 sea miles away from
Hong KongHong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
and 48 nautical miles from
MacauThe Macau Special Administrative Region , commonly known as Macau or Macao , is one of the two special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Hong Kong...
by waterway. Dongguan is a must-pass-by locality from Guangzhou to Hong Kong by road or waterway.
Of the total area of Dongguan, 27% is water, 25% forest land, and 13% plow land, while 35% of its land area has been fully developed.
Climate
The climate of Dongguan is subtropical. It lies south of the
Tropic of CancerThe Tropic of Cancer, or the Northern tropic, is one of five major degree measures or major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the northmost latitude at which the sun can appear directly overhead at noon...
. The average temperature is 22.8°C throughout the year. The average rainfall is 1,756.8 millimeters.
Demographics
Dongguan had 6,949,800 inhabitants at the end of 2008, among which there are 1,748,700 local residents and 5,201,100 permanent immigrants from other parts of the country.
Dongguan is also a known hometown for many
overseas ChineseOverseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the territories administered by the rival governments of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
, the root for over 700,000 people in Hong Kong,
TaiwanTaiwan , also known as Formosa , is the largest island of the Republic of China in East Asia. Taiwan is located east of the Taiwan Strait, off the southeastern coast of mainland China...
and Macau and over 200,000 nationals living abroad.
Transport
Many foreign travelers to Dongguan fly into Hong Kong, which allows
visaVisa or VISA may refer to:* Visa , US-American band* Visa , a document issued by a country's government allowing the holder to enter or to leave that country...
-free entry to holders of US, Canadian and most European passports. After landing, visitors must apply for a visa to enter
mainland ChinaMainland China, Continental China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China , excluding Hong Kong and Macau, which are under the jurisdiction of the PRC but run on different economic and...
.
One can travel from Hong Kong to Dongguan by bus, ferry, or
train. Passengers travelling overland must disembark from their transport at the Hong Kong/China border to go through customs and immigration, except for those traveling on the Mass Transit Railway
intercityIntercity or Inter-city means "between cities". It can refer to inter-city transportation by rail, bus, truck or airline. There are many transport companies with Intercity or Inter-city as their brand.* Inter-city rail services...
services (former
Kowloon-Canton RailwayThe Kowloon-Canton Railway refers to a railway network in Hong Kong which is now combined with the MTR railway system, comprising rapid transit services, a light rail system and feeder bus routes within Hong Kong, and intercity passenger and freight train services to the rest of China...
) from Hung Hom Station to Dongguan, Guangzhou and beyond.
Depending on the time of day, using the ferry may be the most convenient way to travel from Hong Kong, as it allows one to avoid long queues at the land border checkpoint between Hong Kong and mainland China.
Dongguan serves as one of the regional railway hub in
GuangdongGuangdong is a province on the southern coast of People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
, where Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway, Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou Railway and Beijing-Kowloon converge.
Rail services in and out of the city call at
Dongguan railway stationDongguan Railway Station serves the city of Dongguan in Guangdong province, China. It is located in Changping Town of Dongguan.The station is configured in a northwest-southeast alignment. Trains departing to the northwest continue along the Guangshen railway towards Guangzhou...
where there are direct train services to
Guangzhou East railway stationGuangzhou East Railway Station serves the city of Guangzhou, China. It is located at Tianhe District, Guangzhou.There is a passport checking area accommodated within the station for passengers travelling between Guangzhou and Hong Kong....
in Guangzhou; and
Hung Hom Railway stationHung Hom Station , formerly known as Kowloon Station is a station on the and in Hong Kong. It is located in Hung Hom, Kowloon....
in Hong Kong.
The
Humen Pearl River BridgeThe Humen Pearl River Bridge is a suspension bridge over the Pearl River in Guangdong Province, southern China. It connects the Nansha District of Guangzhou to Humen Town of Dongguan...
is a
suspension bridgeA suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. While modern bridges of this type date from the early 19th century, earlier bridges without vertical suspenders date from the 7th Century in Central America.This type of bridge has...
over the
Pearl RiverThe Pearl River or less commonly, the "Guangdong River" , is China's third longest river , and second largest by volume . Located in the south, it flows into the South China Sea between Hong Kong and Macau...
. Completed in 1997, it has a main span of 888 m.
Economy
City administration is considered especially progressive in seeking
foreign direct investmentForeign direct investment in its classic form is defined as a company from one country making a physical investment into building a factory in another country. It is the establishment of an enterprise by a foreigner. Its definition can be extended to include investments made to acquire lasting...
. In 2005, the city hosted the first-ever Sino-American Forum of
Intellectual PropertyIntellectual property is a number of distinct types of legal monopolies over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law...
Rights, co-organized by the Patent Protection Association of China -
PPAC and the International Association for Technology Trade (IATT) as well as what has been identified as the world's largest educational technology conference and expo, co-organized by IATT and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), attracting nearly 40,000 attendees in its first year.
The Dongguan Science & Technology Museum (opened in December 2005), the high tech commerce park in the SongShan Lake district (which debuted in 2003) and a partnership with the
Global IT Academy of the
Brea Olinda Unified School DistrictBrea Olinda Unified School District is the school district serving the City of Brea in Orange County, California, United States. It also serves portions of the nearby cities of Fullerton, Yorba Linda and La Habra.The school district consists of:...
in
Southern CaliforniaSouthern California, or SoCal, is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population centers around three major metropolitan areas, each of which have over 3 million people; the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area with over 12 million inhabitants, the San Bernardino-Riverside...
have demonstrated the city's emphasis on attracting technology business. The city also announced in 2005 a planned investment of US$500-Million over five years for technology
infrastructureInfrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function....
improvements.
The city and province have been the recent focus of press and journalist attention with coverage of the arrival of teenaged Chinese workers, principally females (so-called
factory girls), from agricultural areas to work in the area's factories and manufacturing/assembly facilities, where many are housed in large domitories, usually several to a room.
An article in the
High Tech Misery in China series reports research conducted, over 2008 - 2009, on working conditions at one of the city's major keyboard makers (Dongguan Meitai Plastics & Electronics Factory); in it, Meitai factory won some unwanted attention, due to the disappointing conditions for its young, mostly female workers. The PDF article includes details of those conditions, photos, translations of employer's rules and evidence that well-known computer brands use this keyboard supplier's products.
While the city is the third largest
exportIn economics, an export is any good or commodity, transported from one country to another country in a legitimate fashion, typically for use in trade. Export goods or services are provided to foreign consumers by domestic producers. Export is an important part of international trade...
ing region in China, behind
ShanghaiShanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...
and
ShenzhenShenzhen is a city of sub-provincial administrative status in southern China's Guangdong province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong...
(and a major center for Taiwanese investment), outside of China, Dongguan has yet to gain the kind of name recognition realized by Shenzhen (just an hour away, and down-river from Dongguan). This may be because the city has placed an emphasis on investing in
infrastructureInfrastructure can be defined as the basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function....
, rather than directly targeting major corporations with financial incentives for
economic developmentEconomic development is the increase in the standard of living of a nation's population associated with sustained growth from a simple, low-income economy to a modern, high-income economy...
. Still, Dongguan has been identified by high level representatives of the
National Development and Reform CommissionThe National Development and Reform Commission , formerly State Planning Commission and State Development Planning Commission, is a macroeconomic management agency under the Chinese State Council, which has broad administrative and planning control over the Chinese economy...
of the central government as being one of the most significant growth regions for technology in the coming years.
To cope with the strike of financial crisis, Dongguan city has developed the solutions to step out of the difficulties in order to push forward the city’s industrial restructuring, transformation and upgrade. The city starts a series of study and discussion activities on applying scientific concept on development of the four-pillar platforms - governmental service, supporting measures, technology upgrade and market expansion - to give strong support for transformation of processing trade enterprises in Guangdong province. Through a series of effective measures, Dongguan industrial restructuring has achieved preliminary results. Its industrial restructuring has already enhanced the city’s capability of independent innovation and the quantity of patent applications in 2008. Such intention were further confirmed by the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Dongguan back in July 2008 at some high technology enterprises where Wen gave strong encouragement and compliments on their innovative technologies, such as Dongguan Anwell Digital Machinery Co., Ltd. (a subsidiary of a Singapore listed company), Dongguan Konka Electronic Co., Ltd., and Hua Bao Shoes Co.,Ltd.
Sister cities
Hartford, ConnecticutHartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located in Hartford County on the Connecticut River, north of the center of the state, south of Springfield, Massachusetts. Its 2006 population of 124,512 ranks Hartford as the state's second-largest city, after Bridgeport. New...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
since (March 5, 2001)
ThessalonikiThessaloniki , Thessalonica, or Salonica is the second-largest city in Greece and the capital of the Greek region of Macedonia. It is honorarily called the Συμπρωτεύουσα Symprotevousa of Greece, as it was once called the συμβασιλεύουσα symvasilevousa of the Byzantine Empire...
,
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
since (October 24, 2008)
See also
- Guangdong Southern Tigers
Guangdong Winnerway Southern Tigers or Guangdong Southern Tigers or Guangdong Winnerway are the basketball team owned by the Guangdong Winnerway Group playing in the Chinese Basketball Association, based in Dongguan, Guangdong...
- Lanwa FC plays in the Hong Kong
Hong Kong , officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, is a highly autonomous territory of the People's Republic of China, facing Guangdong to the north and the South China Sea to the east, west and south...
, not Chinese, footballAssociation football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players using a spherical ball...
pyramid
- Dongguan New Century
Dongguan New Century Leopards or Dongguan Leopards or Dongguan New Century are a basketball team in the South Division of the Chinese Basketball Association, who take their name from Dongguan, Guangdong and play home games at Dalang ....
External links