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Dongguan (; ) is a
prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China' ...
in central
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
Province, China. An important industrial city in the
Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Mac ...
, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
to the north,
Huizhou Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in central-east Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Heyua ...
to the northeast,
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
to the south, and the
Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-all ...
to the west. It is part of the
Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region (PRD; ; pt, Delta do Rio das Pérolas (DRP)) is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Mac ...
built-up (or metro) area with more than 65.57 million inhabitants as of the 2020 census spread over nine municipalities across an area of . Dongguan's city administration is considered especially progressive in seeking
foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct co ...
. Dongguan ranks behind only
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
,
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
and
Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
in
exports An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...
among
Chinese cities According to the administrative divisions of the People's Republic of China there are three levels of cities, namely provincial-level (consists of municipalities ), prefecture-level cities, and county-level cities. As of June 2020 the PRC has ...
, with $65.54 billion in shipments. It is also home to one of the world's largest shopping malls, the
New South China Mall South China Mall () in Dongguan, China (formerly New South China Mall) is the largest shopping mall in the world when measured in terms of gross leasable area, and third in terms of total area to after Iran Mall (which has extensive non-shopping s ...
,Utopia, Part 3: The World’s Largest Shopping Mall
, August 18, 2009, Retrieved February 9, 2010
which is seeing increased activity. Although the city is geographically and thus culturally Cantonese in the Weitou form and as well as culturally
Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...
in the prefectures of Fenggang and Qingxi, the majority of the modern-day population speaks Mandarin due to the large influx of economic migrants from other parts of China. The city is home to several universities, including
Guangdong University of Science and Technology Guangdong University of Science and Technology is a private university in Dongguan, Guangdong, China; it is on the south side of the city. It was established in 2003 by Nanbo Tech. Academics The university applies international education concep ...
,
Guangdong Medical University Guangdong Medical University () is a medical school in Guangdong province, China. History Guangdong Medical College, the former Zhanjiang Branch of the Sun Yatsen Medical College, was established on May23, 1958. In February 1964, the college wa ...
and
Dongguan University of Technology Dongguan University of Technology (DGUT; 东莞理工学院) is a college in Dongguan, Guangdong, China. History * Planned 1990 * Formed 1992 * First undergraduates 2002 * First graduates 2006 Academic It has two campuses: Songshan Lake ...
.


History

Although the earliest traces of human habitation in the area stretch back 5,000 years, Dongguan's emergence as a true city is a recent phenomenon. In 1839, at the outset of the
First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
, large quantities of seized opium were destroyed in
Humen The Humen, also Bocca Tigris or Bogue, is a narrow strait in the Pearl River Delta that separates Shiziyang in the north and Lingdingyang in the south near Humen Town in China's Guangdong Province. It is the site of the Pearl River's discharge in ...
, a town that now belongs to Dongguan. Several of the major battles of the war were fought in this area. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the city served as the base for guerrilla resistance against the Japanese occupation. Being a district of the Huiyang prefecture before, as its economy overshadowed the prefectural capital of
Huizhou Huizhou ( zh, c= ) is a city in central-east Guangdong Province, China, forty-three miles north of Hong Kong. Huizhou borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the west, Shenzhen and Dongguan to the southwest, Shaoguan to the north, Heyua ...
itself, Dongguan earned city status in 1985, and was upgraded to prefecture city status three years later. During this period the city changed its focus from an agricultural town into a manufacturing hub, with an average annual growth of up to 18%. The city ranked 13th in Forbes China's listing of the most innovative mainland cities, as well as 18th in ''
Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
's'' listing of the most dynamic cities in the world.


Geography

Geographically, the city is mostly hilly to the east and flat in the west, with of shoreline. The urban centre of Dongguan is from that of
Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...
to its north, from
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
to its south, from
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
and from
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
by waterway. It is positioned in the middle of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen economic corridor, a hub for both land and sea transport. Of Dongguan's total area, 27% is water, 25% forest land, and 13% arable land, while 35% of its land area has been fully developed.


Climate

Dongguan has a dry-winter
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(
Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...
: Cwa), with abundant sunshine and rainfall over the year. It lies just south of the
Tropic of Cancer The Tropic of Cancer, which is also referred to as the Northern Tropic, is the most northerly circle of latitude on Earth at which the Sun can be directly overhead. This occurs on the June solstice, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted toward ...
. The average temperature is throughout the year with average rainfall of .


Demographics

Dongguan had an estimated 6,949,800 inhabitants at the end of 2008, among whom 1,748,700 were local residents and 5,201,100 permanent migrants from other parts of the country. At the 2010 Census the population had expanded to 8,220,237. The number reached 10.5 million by 2020. Dongguan is the hometown for many
overseas Chinese Overseas Chinese () refers to people of Chinese birth or ethnicity who reside outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. As of 2011, there were over 40.3 million overseas Chinese. Terminology () or ''Hoan-kheh'' () in Hokkien, refe ...
, the family origin of over 700,000 people in Hong Kong,
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
and Macau and over 200,000 Chinese nationals living abroad.


Administration

Dongguan is a
prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China' ...
of the
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...
. An uncommon administrative feature is that it has no county-level division, but the municipal government does group the 32 township-level divisions into six district areas. The city government directly administers four
Subdistricts A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, Indon ...
and 28
towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...
:


Transport


Air

Dongguan is served by
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is the major airport of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in Southern China. Both airport codes were inherited from the former Baiyun Airport, and the IATA code is derived from Guangzhou's historical romani ...
,
Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport (formerly Shenzhen Huangtian Airport) is the airport serving Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. It is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River near Huangtian and Fuyong villages in Bao'a ...
, but primarily by
Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong International Airport is Hong Kong's main airport, built on reclaimed land on the island of Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong. The airport is also referred to as Chek Lap Kok International Airport or ''Chek Lap Kok Airport'', to distinguish ...
; ticketed passengers to HKIA can take ferries from the
Humen Ferry Terminal Humen Ferry Terminal (虎门港澳码头) is a ferry terminal in the Humen (town), Humen Town of Dongguan, in the South Central China, Southern China's Guangdong province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. It includes a passenger termina ...
in
Humen The Humen, also Bocca Tigris or Bogue, is a narrow strait in the Pearl River Delta that separates Shiziyang in the north and Lingdingyang in the south near Humen Town in China's Guangdong Province. It is the site of the Pearl River's discharge in ...
to the HKIA
Skypier Skypier () is a cross-border ferry pier integrated within Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok, New Territories, Hong Kong. It is operated by Hong Kong International Airport Ferry Terminal Services Limited, a joint-venture company betwe ...
. There are also coach bus services connecting Dongguan with HKIA.


Road

Many foreign travellers to Dongguan fly into Hong Kong, which give
visa on arrival
to citizens of over 170 countries. After landing, visitors must apply for a visa to enter
mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...
. One can travel from Hong Kong to Dongguan b
bus
ferry, o
train
Passengers travelling overland must disembark from their transport at the Hong Kong/China border to go through customs and immigration, except for those traveling on the
Mass Transit Railway The Mass Transit Railway (MTR) is a major public transport network serving :Hong Kong. Operated by the MTR Corporation Limited (MTRCL), it consists of heavy rail, light rail, and feeder bus service centred on a 10-line rapid transit network ...
intercity services (former
Kowloon–Canton Railway The Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR; ) was a railway network in Hong Kong.Legislative Council information paper CB(1)357/07-08(0 THB(T) CR 8/986/00, CB(1)1749/07-08(0/ref> It was owned and operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC ...
) from
Hung Hom station Hung Hom () is a railway station in Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is an interchange station between the and the domestic services of the MTR network, as well as the southern terminus of cross-border through-trains to mainland China whic ...
to Dongguan, Guangzhou and beyond. People can also choose to drive between Hong Kong and Dongguan. With the permitted business license plate and driver license, people can drive through the customs located at Shenzhen so that to get to Hong Kong. Normally, it takes three hours for driving. In 2018, G4 Expressway (Beijing - Hong Kong and Macau Expressway) was opened, and Dongguan is one of the cities that G4 Expressway approaches. This benefits people from Dongguan to travel to those cities on G4 Expressway. The
Humen Pearl River Bridge The Humen Pearl River Bridge () is a bridge over the Humen, Pearl River in Guangdong Province, southern China. It consists of two main spans - a suspension bridge section and a segmental concrete section. It connects the Nansha District of Guang ...
is a suspension bridge over the
Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-all ...
. Completed in 1997, it has a main span of . Construction work on the Second Humen Pearl River Bridge will start in early 2014.


Rail

Dongguan serves as one of the regional railway hubs in
Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...
, where the Guangzhou–Kowloon railway,
Guangzhou–Meizhou–Shantou railway The Guangzhou–Meizhou–Shantou railway () is a railway in Guangdong Province, China. The electrified railway, also known as the Guangmeishan railway, is named after the three primary cities along route Guangzhou, Meizhou and Shantou, and has a ...
and the
Beijing–Kowloon railway The Beijing–Kowloon railway, also known as the Jingjiu railway () is a railway connecting Beijing West railway station in Beijing to Shenzhen railway station in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. It is connected with Hong Kong's East Rail across th ...
converge. Rail services in and out of the city call at Dongguan railway station where there are direct train services to
Guangzhou East railway station Guangzhoudong (Guangzhou East) railway station (), formerly known as Tianhe railway station () serves the city of Guangzhou, located in the city's Tianhe District. The railway, metro, and bus terminal stations is interconnected as a single stat ...
in Guangzhou; and Hung Hom railway station in Hong Kong. High-speed rail services are also available at
Humen railway station Humen railway station () is a station in Baisha Village (), Humen, Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China. It is one of the stations on the Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link between Guangzhou South railway station in the Panyu ...
. Among the four metro lines (Line 1-Line 4) planned for the
Dongguan Rail Transit Dongguan Rail Transit or Dongguan Metro is the rapid transit system of the city of Dongguan in Guangdong Province of China. It is operated by the state-owned Dongguan Rail Transit Corporation, Limited. The construction of the first section of Li ...
, Line 2 is presently under construction and was scheduled to open for operations in early 2015. This was delayed and opened in May 2016. Line 2 will link towns in Western Dongguan, thereby promoting the connection of the entire downtown area with Houjie, Humen and Chang'an. It will also support Dongguan's regional transportation with other cities such as Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong by joining with the rail transit junctions of the Pearl River Delta.


Economy

Dongguan is a major manufacturing hub, although it suffered significant loss of economic activity from the impact of the 2008 financial crisis. The largest industrial sector is manufacturing of electronics and communications equipment; international companies with facilities in Dongguan include
DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...
,
Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of ...
,
Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...
,
Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...
,
Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...
and
Maersk (), also known simply as Maersk (), is a Danish shipping company, active in ocean and inland freight transportation and associated services, such as supply chain management and port operation. Maersk was the largest container shipping line a ...
. The
Dongguan Science and Technology Museum Dongguan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the so ...
(opened in December 2005), the high tech commerce park in the Songshan Lake district (opened in 2003) and a partnership with th
Global IT Academy
of the
Brea Olinda Unified School District Brea Olinda Unified School District is the school district serving the City of Brea in Orange County, California, United States. It also serves portions of the nearby cities of Fullerton, Yorba Linda and La Habra. The school district consis ...
in
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
have demonstrated the city's emphasis on attracting technology business. The city announced in 2005 a planned investment of US$500 million over five years for technology infrastructure improvements. The city administration is considered especially progressive in seeking
foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in the form of a controlling ownership in a business in one country by an entity based in another country. It is thus distinguished from a foreign portfolio investment by a notion of direct co ...
. Among the investors were Brazilian shoe manufacturers. Brazil excelled in manufacturing cheap footwear in the 1970s and 80s. The Brazilian community in Dongguan numbered 4,000 people in 2013. While the city is the fourth largest export region in China, behind
Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...
,
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
, and
Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
, Dongguan has yet to gain the kind of name recognition realized by Shenzhen outside of China. This may be because the city has focused on infrastructure investment rather than the direct targeting of major corporations with financial incentives for economic development. Nevertheless, Dongguan has been identified by high level representatives of the
National Development and Reform Commission The National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China (NDRC), formerly State Planning Commission and State Development Planning Commission, is a macroeconomic management agency under the State Council, which has br ...
of the central government as one of the most significant growth regions for technology in the coming years. As part of this plan, the Dongguan local government announced a plan to create and support a 100-billion-yuan photovoltaic manufacturing industry by 2015. To cope with the impact of the financial crisis, Dongguan city is looking to industrial restructuring, focusing on four pillar platforms — governmental services, supporting measures, technology upgrade, and market expansion. The city government claims that this process has already enhanced its capability for independent innovation and the quantity of patent applications in 2008. In Dongguan, manufacturing is prosperous and with a strong tertiary industry and had a total GDP of 501 billion RMB with the scale proportion of the three major industrial sectors standing at 0.4:46.9:52.7 in 2012. On 9 February 2014,
China Central Television China Central Television (CCTV) is a Chinese state- and political party-owned broadcaster controlled by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Its 50 different channels broadcast a variety of programing to more than one billion viewers in six lan ...
aired a special on the sex industry in Dongguan. The same day Guangdong Provincial Police raided and closed all saunas, bars, foot massages, karaokes, and other businesses associated with the sex industry. The economic impact of this crackdown is believed to be 50 billion yuan, or just over $8 billion US dollars. The residual effects of the crackdown affected the livelihood of taxi drivers and restaurants who, while not directly involved in the sex industry, benefited from the increased clientele.


Sports and culture

Dongguan is dubbed as a "National Basketball City" and is the only prefecture-level city with three professional basketball clubs in China. Established in 1993, the
Guangdong Southern Tigers Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers () or Guangdong Southern Tigers, also known as Guangdong Dongguan Bank () for sponsorship reasons, are a Chinese professional basketball team owned by the Guangdong Winnerway (Hongyuan) Group. The team is one o ...
are the first professional basketball club in China, and won eleven
Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...
(CBA) championships. The city hosted
Weightlifting Weightlifting generally refers to activities in which people lift Weight training#Equipment, weights, often in the form of dumbbells or barbells. People lift various kinds of weights for a variety of different reasons. These may include various t ...
events during the
2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), was a regional multi-sport event celebrated from November 12 to November 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China, although several events ...
at the
Dongguan Arena Dongguan Arena is an indoor sporting arena located in Dongguan, Guangdong, China. The capacity of the arena, which opened in 1994, is 4,000 spectators. It hosts indoor sporting events such as basketball and volleyball and is home to the Guangdon ...
. The 16,000 seat
Dongguan Basketball Center The Dongguan Basketball Centre (), also referred as Bank of Dongguan Basketball Centre () for sponsorship reasons, is an indoor arena located in Dongguan, China. It is used mostly for basketball matches and concerts. Guangdong Southern Tigers of ...
was one of the venues for the
2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup was the 18th tournament of the FIBA Basketball World Cup for men's national basketball teams. The tournament was hosted in China and was rescheduled from 2018 to 2019, becoming the first since 1967 FIBA World Ch ...
. The venue has also hosted the
2015 Sudirman Cup The 2015 Sudirman Cup was the fourteenth tournament of the Sudirman Cup. It was held in Dongguan, China. Host city selection Dongguan is the only city to submit a bid for 2015 Sudirman Cup. Badminton World Federation awarded the event to Dongguan ...
badminton tournament. Dongguan Yulan Theater is one of China's newest multipurpose performing arts venues. With its multi-layered exterior suggestive of an unfolding lotus petal, it has become a landmark in Dongguan city. The new cultural hub houses two theatres presenting a full schedule of performances, including
Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetim ...
and the Chinese classic
Butterfly Lovers The Butterfly Lovers is a Chinese legend of a tragic love story of a pair of lovers, Liang Shanbo () and Zhu Yingtai (), whose names form the title of the story. The title is often abbreviated to Liang Zhu (). The story was selected as one o ...
. So far Dongguan has produced seven original musicals by its own and made a roadshow of 60 performances in over 30 cities of China.


Social issues

The city and province have been the recent focus of press and journalist attention with coverage of the many young Chinese workers, principally females (so-called '' factory girls''), from agricultural areas who work in the area's factories and manufacturing/assembly facilities, where many are housed in large dormitories, usually several to a room. An article in the ''High Tech Misery in China'' series reports research conducted, over 2008 to 2009, on working conditions at one of the city's major keyboard makers (Dongguan Meitai Plastics & Electronics Factory); in it, Meitai factory won some unwanted attention due to the poor conditions for its young, mostly female workers. The article includes details of those conditions, photos, translations of employer's rules and evidence that well-known computer brands use this keyboard supplier's products. Also, Dongguan has built a notoriety within China for its various types of brothels, massage parlours, nightclubs, sauna centres and karaoke bars. The city had more than 120 top-end luxury hotels and hundreds of other mid-range places that offer illegal sexual services or lease floors to sex operators, and many parts of the broader service sector benefit from the trade brought by visitors. Although much of the business is illegal, police operations to limit these activities were for a long time largely ineffective, in part because corrupt members of the local administration and other officials have business interests in the sector. On 9February 2014, CCTV aired a report about prostitution in Dongguan. In reaction, on the same day, Dongguan police launched a crackdown on brothels, massage parlours, nightclubs, sauna centres and karaoke bars, leading to some commentary that the city's days as China's sex capital were numbered.


Education

The city is home to 650 educational institutions: one general college, a TV University as well as technical and vocational schools, 550 primary schools and 480 kindergartens. Also, Dongguan is home to a wide range of international schools due to the large expat community. The number of professional teachers, including those at kindergartens, totals 20,268. A comparatively integrated educational system has been set up including preschool, basic, vocational, higher and lifelong adult education. Senior high school education has developed since 1995. The
Dongguan University of Technology Dongguan University of Technology (DGUT; 东莞理工学院) is a college in Dongguan, Guangdong, China. History * Planned 1990 * Formed 1992 * First undergraduates 2002 * First graduates 2006 Academic It has two campuses: Songshan Lake ...
is located in Dongguan. Tungwah Wenzel International School (TWIS) houses an Olympic-sized swimming pool and one of the first Padel courts in South China. TWIS became the first
International Baccalaureate (IB) The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educationa ...
continuum school in Dongguan in December 2021. It now offers PYP (Primary Year Programme), Middle Year Programme (MYP) and Diploma Programme (authorized on October 25, 2021) education. The school is located at: No. 17 Keyuan Road, Songshan Lake High-Tech Industrial Zone, Dongguan, Guangdong, China.


Festivals

Dongguan hosts the following annual festivals: *Dongguan Lingnan Arts Festival (January) *Dongkeng Workers Festival (Second day of the second lunar month) *Machong Guanyin Festival (Nineteenth day of the second lunar month) *Qingxi Flower Festival (April) *Tea Tea Garden Festival (April) *Qiaotou Lotus Art Festival (June) *Qishi Qiufeng Culture Festival (August) *Machong "Scent of Four Seasons" Cultural Art Festival (September) *Zhangmutou Hong Kong Tourism Festival (September) *Fenggang Hakka Art Festival (During the Lunar Mid-autumn Festival) *Xiegang Mountain Climbing Festival (Third week of September) *(Tangxia) Band Festival (October) *Shatian Water Culture Festival (October to November) *Hengli Niuxu Folk Festival (November) *Liaobu Tourism and Cultural Festival (December)


See also

*
List of twin towns and sister cities in China This is a list of places in China which have standing links to local communities in other countries known as "town twinning" (usually in Europe) or "sister cities" (usually in the rest of the world). A Anqing * Calabasas, United States * C ...
*
Lanwa FC Lanwa FC (), officially Dongguan Lanwa Football Club () was a Chinese professional association football club located in Dongguan, China. The club was founded in 1999 and played in the Chinese and Hong Kong football systems. History Lanwa was fo ...
— former
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club *
New South China Mall South China Mall () in Dongguan, China (formerly New South China Mall) is the largest shopping mall in the world when measured in terms of gross leasable area, and third in terms of total area to after Iran Mall (which has extensive non-shopping s ...
— World's second largest mall * ''
A Touch of Sin ''A Touch of Sin'' () is a 2013 Chinese anthology film written and directed by Jia Zhangke and starring Jiang Wu, Wang Baoqiang, Luo Lanshan, and Zhao Tao, Jia's wife and longtime collaborator. The film consists of four loosely interconnected ta ...
'' — a film that is partly set in Dongguan


References


Economic profile for Dongguan
at
HKTDC The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) is a statutory body established in 1966 as the international marketing dedicated to creating opportunities for Hong Kong's businesses. The organisation has 50 offices around the world, includin ...


External links


HERE! Dongguan – Your English Guide to a Bustling City

Dongguan Expats – Expatacular! – Global Expat Community

Hello! Dongguan
A general introduction to the city of DG
www.dongguantoday.com
Government funded website, giving a full range of information about Dongguan
Dongguan Live a.k.a. Don't Worry Be Happy
A series of videos about something fun to do in DG


Dongguan City Government



IATT – International Association for Technology Trade
{{Authority control Populated places with period of establishment missing Prefecture-level divisions of Guangdong