Heshan () , formerly

romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...

as Hokshan, is a

county-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

Jiangmen Jiangmen (), alternately romanized in Cantonese as Kongmoon, is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province in southern China. As of the 2020 census, its three urban districts, plus Heshan City being conurbated, with 2,657,662 inhabitant ...

City in the southern part of Guangdong Province, China with a total land area of and a population of 530,684 inhabitants as of 2020 census and some 200,000 internal migrants. The city is now being conurbated with Jiangmen and so included in the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Pearl River conurbation with more than 65,57 million inhabitants. There are approximately 360,000 people of Heshan origin or descent living in other parts of the world, particularly in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America, North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. ...

such as

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Situated about south west of the provincial capital,

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

, Heshan occupies a strategic location on 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-Ma ...

, commanding the northern gateway to Jiangmen's five prefectures. Along the opposite bank of the same river, lie the two municipalities of Nanhai and Shunde. Heshan is around one hour 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 List of cities in China, city and Special administrative regions of China, special ...

and

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 road. The city's harbour can accommodate vessels of up to . Ships ply from here to Hong Kong directly.

Name

Heshan—one of several places in China whose name means "Mount Crane"—takes its name from a nearby mountain thought to resemble the shape of the bird. The spelling Heshan derives from the

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

romanization of the name's Mandarin pronunciation. The Postal Map spelling Hokshan was a combination of the local

Cantonese Cantonese ( zh, t=廣東話, s=广东话, first=t, cy=Gwóngdūng wá) is a language within the Chinese (Sinitic) branch of the Sino-Tibetan languages originating from the city of Guangzhou (historically known as Canton) and its surrounding a ...

pronunciation of the first character and the Mandarin pronunciation of the second. Heshan has also been romanized as Ho Shan and Ho-shan.

History

Heshan was made a prefecture in 1732 during the reign of the

Yongzheng Emperor The Yongzheng Emperor (13 December 1678 – 8 October 1735), also known by his temple name Emperor Shizong of Qing, born Yinzhen, was the fourth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the third Qing emperor to rule over China proper. He reigned from ...

of the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

. By the 19th century, made up part of the

commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and ...

Zhaoqing Zhaoqing (), alternately romanized as Shiuhing, is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province, China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 4,113,594, with 1,553,109 living in the built-up (or metro) area made of Duanzhou, Dinghu ...

. In 1993, it was promoted to a

Administrative divisions

Heshan Municipality administers ten

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 or ...

Industry

Heshan is located at the center of one of China's largest furniture producing areas, with approximately 10% of the world's furniture produced on its outskirts.

Culture

Heshan is the birthplace of the Southern lion dance style known as the Hok San lion dance.

Notable individuals

Heshan is the birthplace of NBA player

Yi Jianlian Yi Jianlian ( ; born October 27, 1987) is a Chinese professional basketball player for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He has also played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwau ...

. Singaporean community leader and businessman, Yam Kok Yuen (), was born in Ha Lok Village () in Heshan. He was a founding member of the Malayan Chinese Association in Singapore and was Chairman of the Nanyang Hok San Association and Siew Heng Association in the 1950s. His grandson,

Alex Yam Alex Yam Ziming ( zh, c=任梓铭, p=Rèn Zǐmíng; born 1981) is a Singaporean politician who has been serving as Mayor of North West District since 2020. A member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP), he has been the Member of Parliam ...

, is a current Member of Parliament and Mayor of North West District in Singapore.

Climate

References

Citations

Bibliography

* , reprinted 2000. {{Authority control County-level cities in Guangdong Jiangmen