James' World 2

Click the link below the picture

.

Guangzhou, also known as Canton (/kænˈtɒn/) and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and the largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about 120 km (75 mi) north-northwest of Hong Kong and 145 km (90 mi) north of Macau, Guangzhou has a history of over 2,200 years and was a major terminus of the maritime Silk Road, and continues to serve as a major port and transportation hub, as well as one of China’s three largest cities. For a long time the only Chinese port accessible to most foreign traders, Guangzhou was captured by the British during the First Opium War. No longer enjoying a monopoly after the war, it lost trade to other ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai but continued to serve as a major transshipment port. Due to a high urban population and large volumes of port traffic, Guangzhou is classified as a Large-Port Megacity, the largest type of port city in the world. Due to worldwide pandemic-related restrictions on traveling in 2020, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, the major airport of Guanghou, became the world’s busiest airport by passenger traffic.

Guangzhou is at the heart of the most-populous built-up metropolitan area in the world, which extends into the neighboring cities of Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen, and part of Jiangmen, Huizhou, Zhuhai, and Macao, forming the largest urban agglomeration on Earth with approximately 65,594,622 residents and part of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone. Administratively, the city holds subprovincial status and is one of China’s nine National Central Cities. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, nationals of sub-Saharan Africa who had initially settled in the Middle East and Southeast Asia moved in unprecedented numbers to Guangzhou in response to the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis. The domestic migrant population from other provinces of China in Guangzhou was 40% of the city’s total population in 2008. Together with Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen, Guangzhou has one of the most expensive real estate markets in China. As of the 2020 census, the registered population of the city’s expansive administrative area was 18,676,605 individuals (up to 47% from the previous census in 2010) whom 16,492,590 lived in 9 urban districts (all but Conghua and Zengcheng).

In modern commerce, Guangzhou is best known for its annual Canton Fair, the oldest and largest trade fair in China. For three consecutive years (2013–2015), Forbes ranked Guangzhou as the best commercial city in mainland China. Guangzhou is highly ranked as an Alpha- (global first-tier) city together with San Francisco and Stockholm. It is a leading financial center in the Asia-Pacific region and ranks 21st globally in the 2020 Global Financial Centres Index. As an important international city, Guangzhou has hosted numerous international and national sporting events, the most notable being the 2010 Asian Games, the 2010 Asian Para Games, and the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. The city hosts 65 foreign representatives, making it the third major city to host more foreign representatives than any other cities in China after Beijing and Shanghai. As of 2020, Guangzhou ranks 10th in the world and 5th in China (after Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Shenzhen) for the number of billionaire residents by the Hurun Global Rich List.

Guangzhou is a major center of research and innovation in the Asia-Pacific with a high level of scientific research output, ranking 14th globally, 6th in the Asia-Pacific, and 4th in China (after Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing), and is home to many of China’s most prestigious universities, including Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology, Jinan University, South China Normal University, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou University, Southern Medical University, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine. Wikipedia

.

An image from Guangzhou, China

.

.

Click the link below for images:

.

__________________________________________

Click the link below the picture

.

Qingdao also spelled Tsingtao; is a major city in eastern Shandong Province. The city’s name in Chinese characters literally means “azure island”. Located on China’s Yellow Sea coast, it is a major nodal city of the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) Initiative that connects Asia with Europe. It has the highest GDP of any city in the province. Administered at the sub-provincial level, Qingdao has jurisdiction over seven districts and three county-level cities (Jiaozhou, Pingdu, Laixi). As of the 2020 census, Qingdao built-up (or metro) area made of the 7 urban Districts (Shinan, Shibei, Huangdao, Laoshan, Licang, Chengyang, and Jimo) was home to 7,172,451 inhabitants. Lying across the Shandong Peninsula and looking out to the Yellow Sea, it borders the prefecture-level cities of Yantai to the northeast, Weifang to the west, and Rizhao to the southwest.

Qingdao is a major seaport and naval base, as well as a commercial and financial center. It is home to electronics multinationals such as Haier and Hisense. The Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, links the main urban area of Qingdao with Huangdao district, straddling the Jiaozhou Bay sea areas. Its historic, German-style architecture and Tsingtao Brewery, the second largest brewery in China are legacies of the German occupation (1898-1914).

In the 2020 Global Financial Centers Index, Qingdao ranked 47th; the index is published by the Z/Yen Group and China Development Institute, the other Chinese cities on the list being Shanghai, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Nanjing, Xi’an, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Dalian, and Wuhan. In 2007, Qingdao was named as one of China’s top ten cities by the Chinese Cities Brand Value Report, which was released at the 2007 Beijing Summit of China Cities Forum. In 2009, Qingdao was named China’s most livable city by the Chinese Institute of City Competitiveness. In 2018, Qingdao held the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. In 2020, Qingdao was rated as a Gamma+ level global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network.

Qingdao is also one of the world’s top 100 cities for global scientific research as tracked by the Nature Index. The city is home to several notable universities, including the Ocean University of China, China University of Petroleum, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao University, Qingdao University of Science and Technology Qingdao University of Technology, and Qingdao Agricultural University. Wikipedia

.

An image from Qingdao, Shandong, China

.

.

Click the link below for images:

.

__________________________________________