Guangdong

Guangdong ({{zh-stpw |t=廣東 |s=广东 |p=Guǎngdōng |w=Kuang-tung}}; Postal System Pinyin: Kwangtung or Canton Province, Jyutping: gwong2 dung1; Vietnamese: Qu?ng ?ông), is a province on the south coast of the People's Republic of China. Sometimes, "Canton Province" (based on an obsolete French-derived transliteration of "Guangdong") is used to mean Guangdong. This is as opposed to "Canton (City)", which refers to the city of Guangzhou, the provincial capital.

Demographics

Even though official statistics show Guangdong as the 4th most populous province of China with about 80 million people, recently released information http://media.163.com/05/0201/11/1BGKCSFN0014183O.html suggests that there are an additional 30 million immigrants who reside in Guangdong for at least six months every year, making Guangdong the most populous province of China with a population of more than 110 million. The massive influx of migrants from other provinces, dubbed the "floating population", is due to Guangdong's booming economy and high demand for labour.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Owing to the closeness of Guangdong to the ocean, Guangdong is also the ancestral home to large numbers of overseas Chinese. Most of the railroad laborers in the Western United States in the 19th century came from the province. Emigration in recent years has slowed due to the relatively good economy in the province.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The majority of the province's population is Han Chinese. There is a small Yao population in the northern part of the province. Other smaller minority groups include Miao, Li, and Zhuang.

Related Topics:
Han Chinese - Yao - Minority groups - Miao - Li - Zhuang

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Because of the high population density and the close proximity in which humans and animals live, Guangdong has often been the source of respiratory diseases such as influenza. In late 2002, Guangdong was the initial source of SARS.

Related Topics:
Influenza - 2002 - SARS

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~