Meizhou is located in the northeast of Guangdong Province, bordering Fujian and Jiangxi Provinces. The municipality is named after its rich resources of plum blossoms (in Chinese, Mei means plum blossoms). It has under its jurisdiction Meijiang District, Xingning City (county-level), and 6 counties, namely, Meixian, Dapu, Fengshun, Wuhua, Pingyuan and Jiaoling Counties. The whole Municipality covers a total area of 15, 800 square kilometers. All residents in Meizhou are Hakkaese of the Hans except some 2000 ethnic She people in Fengshun County. Meizhou is one of the regions mostly inhabited by Hakka people.

Located in the hilly land, Meizhou's terrain stands higher in North and lower in South. There are three main mountain ranges; namely, Phoenix, Xiangshan and Yinna, among them Mount Yinna is called the backbone of Eastern Guangdong. Its Peak Tongguzhang, which is 1,560 meters above sea level and the highest in Eastern Guangdong. Meizhou has a large number of basins of different sizes, totaling an area of 2,000 square kilometers, among which, Xingning Basin, the largest one, extends about 302 square kilometers. There are 53 rivers with catchment area above 100 square kilometers in the Municipality, mainly, Meijiang and Tingjiang and Hanjiang Rivers.

Meizhou is subject to subtropical monsoon climate with short winter and long summer, annual average temperature around 21¡æ, long sunshine hours and plenty of rainfall. The climate is good for developing agriculture, such as eco-agriculture and various farm produce.

Meizhou has a long history. During the Qin and Han Dynasties (221BC--220AD), the ancestors of Hakkaese gradually migrated from Central China to South China and settled down in Lingnan region (Guangdong). Hence the name Hakka (meaning, "guest"). The region was under jurisdiction of Nanhai Prefecture at that time, established as Jingzhou Region in the Southern Song Dynasty (1127--1279). It was named Meizhou in 971, the 4th year of the Reign of Kaibao in the Song Dynasty (960--1279). Meizhou Prefecture was then set up in the Yuan Dynasty (1271--1368) and merged into Chaozhou Prefecture in the Ming Dynasty (1368--1644). It was put under the jurisdiction of Jiaying Region in 1734, the 11th year of the Reign of Yongzheng in the Qing Dynasty (1619--1911).

During the years under the Republic of China (1912-1949), Meihzou was jurisdictional to Chaoxun Dao and the 6th Administrative Region (supportive authority to provincial government). After the founding of People's Republic of China (1949), Xingmei Prefecture was established in 1949, reset as Meixian Prefecture in 1965, renamed as Meixian Region in 1970, and reestablished as Meizhou Municipality in 1988 upon the approval of the State Council. The Municipal Government is located in Meijiang District.

Meizhou proper is a national historical and cultural municipality, with a time-honored history of well-developed culture and education. Football (soccer) game is popular in both urban and rural area. About 2.9 million Chinese nationals and ethnic Chinese of Meizhou origin reside over 80 countries and regions throughout the world. Meizhou is known as the "homeland of culture, native land of overseas Chinese and hometown of football."

Quite a few cultural celebrities established their fame in Meizhou, including Huang Zunxian (1848--1905), Qiu Fengjia (1864--1912), Lo Hsing-lin (1906--1978), and Lin Fengmian (1900--1991). Some legendary figures like Song Xiang (1756--1826), Ye Bihua (1841--), and Li Huitang (1905--1979) were much told and popular among Hakka community at home and abroad. In 1964, Guo Moruo (1892--1978, historian and writer) wrote a poem in compliment of Meizhou, to the effect that Meizhou takes the first place In terms of culture.

Meizhou Municipality boasts of rich tourist attractions, like the thousand-year-old Temple of Buddhist Glory, originally built in the Tang Dynasty (618--907), Dajue Temple with thousand-year history, Yuankui Pagoda of Songkou in Meixian County, and Shixiong Pagoda in Wuhua county. Some other places of tourists interests are Peak Wushi of Mount Yinna, a Break of Rock Changtan in Jiaoling County, Fengxi Nature Reserve in Dapu County, Mount Nanta in Pingyuan County, Five-fingure Rock, Yitang Reservoir in Wuhua County, Jieling Waterfall in Fengshun County, Mount Heshuihu in Xingling City and Mt. Shenguang.

Its featured scenic spots are Yearning Tea Plantation Holiday Resort, Lake Yanming Tourist Center, Rafting on Lake Longjing in Fengshun County, Tangkeng Hot Springs, Hot Sludge Villa in Wuhua County, and Weilong House of Hakkaese, one of the Grand Five Chinese Residences; former residences of celebrities like Marshal Ye Jianying (1897--1986), Huang Zunxian (1848--1905), and Qiu Fengjia (1864--1912); and unique Hakka customs, culture, and art and local delicacy.

Meizhou, the vital traffic hub of the three provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Jiangxi, serves as the bridge and transition section connecting the coastal area and the hinterland, which is the intersection of National Highways 205 and 206, Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou Railway, and Meizhou-Kan City (a city in Fujian Province) Railway. Its highway density is in the front rank among mountainous municipalities in the Province. It has flights to Guangzhou and Hong Kong, as well as waterways straight to Chaozhou and Shantou through Meijiang River and Hanjiang River. A multi-level traffic network with combination of highway, railway, aviation and waterway has been developed.

Meizhou has 48 kinds of mineral resources, including coal, iron, copper, manganese, rare earth, porcelain clay, limestone, marble, and granite, among which, the reserve of manganese ranks the first in the province, that of limestone and iron rank fourth, while the reserve of coal accounts for one third of the total in the province. Hydropower resource is abundant, with large reserve of hot springs and high-quality mineral water, which are of high value for exploitation. Meizhou is the largest pomelo growing area in China and one of the homelands of Dancong Tea.

Editor: Catherine