Pearl River Delta

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Pearl River Delta
Pearl River Delta (China)
Pearl River Delta
Pearl River Delta
Coordinates 22 ° 32 '  N , 113 ° 44'  E Coordinates: 22 ° 32 '  N , 113 ° 44'  E
Basic data
Country People's Republic of China

province

Guangdong
ISO 3166-2 CN-GD
surface 17,000 km²
Residents 67,000,000
Metropolitan area 120,000,000Template: Infobox location / maintenance / number
density 3,941.2  Ew. / km²
economy
GDP € 742,181  million €
11,077 per capita
(2014)
Satellite image of the Pearl River Delta from 2014
Satellite image of the Pearl River Delta from 2014

The metropolitan region of the Pearl River Delta (English abbreviation: PRD) is located at the mouth of the Pearl River in the Zhujiang Kou Bay ( South China Sea ) and includes parts of the Chinese province of Guangdong as well as the Hong Kong and Macau special administrative areas .

In just a few decades, the Pearl River Delta developed from a rather rural area to the economically strongest region in China and, with Guangzhou, currently includes the largest conurbation in the world.

Other important cities in the Pearl River Delta are, sorted by population in descending order, Shenzhen , Dongguan , Foshan , Hong Kong , Huizhou , Zhaoqing , Jiangmen , Zhongshan , Zhuhai and Macau .

History of the region

An important chapter in the history of the Delta was the colonization by European sea powers . While Portugal had captured the city of Macau as early as 1557, Hong Kong became a British colony in 1842. This also increased the influence of western countries in neighboring coastal cities such as Guangzhou, then known as Canton . Initially, European settlements were separated from Chinese cities, a good example of which is Shamian Island in Guangzhou. Places like this were later often focal points for the formation of modern Chinese cities, so form a basis for their current structure.

Industrialization and urbanization

Infrastructure and traffic development

For a long time, Guangdong was considered to be a backward and rural province, but the infrastructure here has improved significantly in recent years. Numerous projects are intended to modernize airports and seaports, the road network and, in particular, rail transport, thereby opening up the remote areas of the province in particular. However, since the local governments have been responsible for the expansion of the rail lines since 2013, they are sometimes faced with major financing problems. However, the expansion of the infrastructure is of considerable importance in order to remain competitive with other locations in the region. Therefore, despite increasing criticism of the high expenditure, new construction projects are still being implemented.

With the Hong Kong International Airport , which is located on a specially leveled and enlarged island, the Pearl River Delta is the largest cargo airport in the world. The Guangzhou airport is on the list the world's No. 19, the Shenzhen Airport is ranked 24th In addition, located in the Delta with Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Shenzhen three of the eight largest container ports in the world.

The course of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge in Zhujiang Kou Bay

A well-known major project in the Pearl River Delta is the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge , which connects the cities located at the opposite ends of the delta. The connection, which is around 50 kilometers long, was completed in September 2016 and is intended to reduce the travel time from Hong Kong to Zhuhai by car from over three hours to under thirty minutes.

Reasons for the strong economic growth

By investing in infrastructure, the cities in the Pearl River Delta managed to turn the area into the fastest growing region in China and the “workbench of the world”. The latter, however, is also a consequence of the regional wage level , which is particularly low for migrant workers . The primary reason for migration is a lack of domestic jobs, which is why more than half a million new immigrants come to cities every year. In Shenzhen, one of the fastest growing cities in the world, only about two and a half million of a little more than ten million inhabitants were registered in 2012. By 2016, the population had even risen to an estimated 13 million, which also accelerated economic growth in the region even further.

The fact that a turning point in the current development could be imminent is shown by a phenomenon in the region in which companies are increasingly relocating their production from the delta to Chinese regions with lower wages or to other Southeast Asian countries. However, that would not have to mean a slump in growth, rather the Quaternary economic sector (information sector ) would expand in the cities. This could result in a higher average income in the Pearl River region, as this sector mainly contains jobs with high educational requirements.

All these factors, together with the improved infrastructure, make the Pearl River Delta a uniquely strong region and place it at the "spearhead of modern development in China."

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Vidal: UN report: World's biggest cities merging into 'mega-regions'. March 22, 2010, accessed February 24, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Guangdong soon to be a model province for "modern China"? In: gtai.de. Germany Trade & Invest, March 20, 2015, accessed on March 1, 2018 .
  3. ↑ China - Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by provinces 2014 | Statistics. Retrieved March 1, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Pearl River Delta - Economic Power . Diercke World Atlas, accessed on February 24, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Stefan Ohm: Hyper urbanization in the Pearl River Delta . In: Spektrum.de . November 27, 2008 ( online [accessed February 22, 2018]).
  6. ^ Thomas Brinkhoff: Major Agglomerations of the World. In: CITY POPULATION. January 8, 2017. Retrieved February 22, 2018 (American English).
  7. ↑ China - Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by provinces 2014 | Statistics. Retrieved March 1, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Dieter Griesshaber: European Colonialism and Imperialism ( 1520-1914 ). Geschichts- und Kulturverein Köngen eV, July 14, 2016, accessed on February 22, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Hans Heinrich Blotevogel: Urban geography: chap. 14: Urban structure and urban development in an intercultural comparison III: East Asia. (PDF; 32 kB) University of Duisburg-Essen, 2001, accessed on February 22, 2018 .
  10. ↑ China: Guangdong is investing in transport infrastructure. (No longer available online.) CHINA OBSERVER, November 11, 2013, formerly in the original ; accessed on February 24, 2018 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.china-observer.de  
  11. ↑ Airport Traffic Report. The Port Authority of NY & NJ, 2013, accessed February 24, 2018 .
  12. ↑ The 20 largest container ports worldwide . In: Containerbasis.de . October 7, 2014 ( online [accessed March 3, 2018]).
  13. ↑ Min Rui: World's longest cross-sea bridge completed. CRIENGLISH.com, September 27, 2016, accessed February 24, 2018 .
  14. ↑ Marc Eiermann: The Pearl River Delta - China's boom region . In: Diercke 360 ​​° . tape 2 , 2012, p. 12 .
  15. ↑ Marc Eiermann: The Pearl River Delta - China's boom region . In: Diercke 360 ​​° . tape 2 , 2012, p. 12-13 .
  16. ↑ Germany Trade and Invest GmbH: Guangdong soon to be a model province for 'modern China'? Retrieved March 3, 2018 .