DONGGUAN

'东莞市
Dōngguǎn Shì'

'Administration Type'	Prefecture-level city
'City Seat'	Dongcheng District ()
'Area'	2,465 km²
'Population'	6,445,700 (2000 Census)
'GDP' '- Total' '- Per Capita'	¥115.53 billion (2004) ¥131,750 (2005)
'Major Nationalities'	Han
'County-level divisions'	3
'Township-level divisions'	25
'CPC Committee Secretary'	Tong Xing (佟星)
'Mayor'	Liu Zhigeng (刘志庚)
'Area code'	769
'Postal Code'	523000
'License Plate Prefix'	粤S
'City Flower'	Yulan magnolia ''Magnolia denudata''

'Dongguan' () is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong province, People's Republic of China. An important industrial city located in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the south, and Foshan to the west. It is also home to the world's largest shopping mall, South China Mall. City administration is considered especially progressive in seeking foreign direct investment (see below). The three neighboring muncipalities of Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen are home to over 25 million residents, accounting for a large proportion of the Pearl River Delta's population.

Contents

Administration

Geography and climate

Demographics

Travel and Transport

Foreign Direct Investment

See also

External links

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Dongguan administers 3 county-level divisions, all of which are districts.

★ Dongcheng District (东城区)

★ Wanjiang District (万江区)

★ Nancheng District (南城区)
The city government also directly administers the following 25 towns.

★ Mayong Town (麻涌镇)

★ Shilong Town (石龙镇)

★ Humen Town (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 (清溪镇)

★ Changping Town (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 (茶山镇)

★ Chang'an Town (长安镇)

★ Gaobu Town (高埗镇)

★ Shatian Town (沙田镇)

★ Wangniudun Town (望牛墩镇)

★ Xiegang Town (谢岗镇)

★ Zhongtang Town (中堂镇)

★ Houjie Town (厚街镇)

Geography and climate

The urban center of Dongguan is 50 km away from that of Guangzhou to its north, 90 km away from Shenzhen to its south, 47 sea miles away from Hong Kong and 48 sea miles from Macao by waterway. Dongguan is a must-pass-by locality from Guangzhou to Hong Kong by road or waterway.

Demographics

Dongguan has around 7 million inhabitants, although many are not official city residents. Many of the manufacturing facilities of the Dongguan area attract workers from far away towns and provinces, but these workers often cannot obtain official city residency. Such workers typically live in company supplied apartment buildings and visit their hometowns once or twice a year.
Dongguan is also a known hometown for many overseas Chinese, the root for over 700,000 people in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao and over 200,000 nationals living abroad.

Travel and Transport

Many foreign travelers to Dongguan fly into Hong Kong, which allows visa-free entry to holders of US and most European passports. After landing, visitors may apply for a visa to enter the rest of China.
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.
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.
Rail services in and out of the city call at Dongguan railway station where there are direct train services to Guangzhou East railway station in Guangzhou; and Hung Hom KCR station in Hong Kong.
The Humen Pearl River Bridge is a suspension bridge over the Pearl River. Completed in 1997, it has a main span of 888 m.

Foreign Direct Investment

City administration is considered especially progressive in seeking foreign direct investment. In 2005, the city hosted the first-ever Sino-American Forum of Intellectual Property 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 District in Southern California 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 infrastructure improvements.
While the city is the third largest exporting region in China, behind Shanghai and Shenzhen (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 infrastructure, rather than directly targeting major corporations with financial incentives for economic development. Still, Dongguan has been identified by high level representatives of the National Development and Reform Commission - NDRC of the central government as being one of the most significant growth regions for technology in the coming years.

See also

★ Guangdong Southern Tigers

★ Lanwa FC plays in the Hong Kong, not Chinese, football pyramid

★ Dongguan New Century

★ Tourist Information on WikiTravel

External links

★ Government website of Dongguan (available in Chinese and English)

★ Dongguan Bureau of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation (Chinese and English)

★ IATT - International Association for Technology Trade

★ Satellite Image of Dongguan

★ Dongguan Expat - Web site dealing with life in Dongguan. Provides general informatiom about the Dongguan area, designed for expats but open to all