Located in the south-central part of Guangdong Province, Dongguan is an important transportation hub and foreign trade port in the province. It was upgraded to a prefecture-level city in 1988, and has been positioning itself as a centre of advanced manufacturing in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Currently, the 35-year-old Dongguan is in the prime of youth.
The hottest place in Guangdong in March is undoubtedly Dongguan. Nearly 10,000 sports fans came to the Dongguan Basketball Center on March 1 to cheer for the Guangdong Men's Basketball Team.
Thirty years ago, the 11-time CBA champion Guangdong Southern Tigers was officially established in Dongguan. A number of emerging basketball players gathered in Dongguan from all over the world. The young Du Feng, former head coach of Team China, and Zhu Fangyu, former national basketball player, found a chance to climb out of the rut during training in Dongguan. Former NBA forward Yi Jianlian set off from Dongguan and stood on the highest stage of the NBA. In fact, many basketball superstars settle in Dongguan and fight for the city.
Dongguan is a very young city. Statistics show that the average age of Dongguan's permanent resident population is 33.4. In the "China Major Power City Index 2022", Dongguan's capital productivity is second only to Shenzhen, and its land productivity is the third largest last year, behind Shenzhen and Shanghai.
The young Dongguan also has many well-known stories throughout history, such as the Destruction of Opium at Humen, Dongguan, in 1839. As an important battlefield of the First Opium War (1840-42), Dongguan witnessed the beginning of China's modern history. Nowadays, you can still visit the cannons with traces of old times installed at the fortifications of Humen during the Opium Wars.
If you stick around for food in Dongguan, take a stroll to the old part of the city, and you must not miss out on roasted goose rice noodles, steamed rice in a clay pot, and the famous Dongguan cured meat.
Dongguan has 33 townships (high-tech zones), each with its own unique features. Classic examples are Shilong township's Xinchang Drum, Dalang township's wool weaving industry, Houjie township's furniture centre, as well as Songshan Lake Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone, which is the most famous.
Songshan Lake area is home to China Spallation Neutron Source, the first spallation neutron source in a developing country. It also has Huawei and many other well-known enterprises. When the small train shuttles through Huawei Town, Huawei employees are creating more impossible things at the speed of Dongguan.
In addition, the training helmets for some events of the Chinese team in the 2022 Winter Olympics were made by enterprises in the Songshan Lake Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone. And the smartwatch on the wrist of Kenyan marathoner Eliud Kipchoge, who broke the World Record at the Berlin Marathon 2022 in September, was also made at Songshan Lake.
In 2022, Dongguan's GDP surpassed one trillion RMB, and the urban population exceeded ten million. In the past, one of every three toys, every five woollen sweaters, and every ten pairs of sports shoes were made in Dongguan. Today, one of every five smartphones in the world is produced in Dongguan. This young city is transforming from a "world factory" to an "intelligent and innovative manufacturing city" at full speed.
Presented by GDToday and Guangdong Fabu
Planning | Zhao Yang
Coordinator | Miaomiao, Olivia, Wang Yongxing
Author: Ariel
Video Editor | Zhang Zhiyi
Editor: Olivia, Monica, James
