| 5th | People's_Republic_of_China">Top railway stations: People's Republic of China |
| 3rd | Top cities in the People's Republic of China |
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Dongguan 东莞 Dung Gun |
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| — Prefecture-level city — | |
| City of Dongguan · 东莞市 | |
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Dongguan
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| Coordinates: 23°2′N 113°43′E / 23.033°N 113.717°E | |
| Country | China |
| Province | Guangdong |
| Founded | 331 CE[1] |
| Government | |
| - CPC Committee Secretary | Liu Zhigeng (刘志庚) |
| - Mayor | Li Yuquan (李毓全) |
| Area | |
| - Total | 2,465 km2 (951.7 sq mi) |
| Population | |
| - Total | 6,445,700 |
| - Density | 2,614.9/km2 (6,772.5/sq mi) |
| Time zone | China Standard Time (UTC+8) |
| Postal code | 523000 |
| Area code(s) | 769 |
| License plate prefixes | 粤S |
| GDP | |
| - Total | ¥ 370.25 billion (2008) |
| - Per capita | ¥ 53,285 (2008) |
| City flower | Yulan magnolia Magnolia denudata |
| Website | http://www.dongguan.gov.cn/ |
Dongguan (simplified Chinese: 东莞; traditional Chinese: 東莞; pinyin: Dōngguǎn, Cantonese: Dung1 gun2; old spelling Tung-kuan) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong province, People's Republic of China.
An important industrial city located in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the south, and the Pearl River to the west.
It is also home to the world's largest shopping mall, South China Mall. City administration is considered especially progressive in seeking foreign direct investment. The three neighboring municipalities of Guangzhou, Dongguan, and Shenzhen are home to over 25 million residents, accounting for a large proportion of the Pearl River Delta Region's population.[2]
Dongguan ranks behind only Shenzhen, Shanghai and Suzhou in exports among Chinese cities, with $65.54bn in shipment.
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Dongguan has no intermediate County level instead it is divided into:
3 township level divisions, all of which are Subdistricts.
Following 28 towns.
The urban center of Dongguan is 50 km away from that of Guangzhou to its north, 90 km away from Shenzhen to its south, 47 sea miles away from Hong Kong and 48 nautical miles from Macau by waterway. Dongguan is a must-pass-by locality from Guangzhou to Hong Kong by road or waterway.
Of the total area of Dongguan, 27% is water, 25% forest land, and 13% plow land, while 35% of its land area has been fully developed.
The climate of Dongguan is subtropical. It lies south of the Tropic of Cancer. The average temperature is 22.8°C throughout the year. The average rainfall is 1,756.8 millimeters.[3]
Dongguan had 6,949,800 inhabitants at the end of 2008, among which there are 1,748,700 local residents and 5,201,100 permanent immigrants from other parts of the country.
Dongguan is also a known hometown for many overseas Chinese, the root for over 700,000 people in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau and over 200,000 nationals living abroad.
Many foreign travelers to Dongguan fly into Hong Kong, which allows visa-free entry to holders of US, Canadian and most European passports. After landing, visitors must apply for a visa to enter mainland China.
One can travel from Hong Kong to Dongguan by bus, ferry, or 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 intercity services (former Kowloon-Canton Railway) from Hung Hom Station to Dongguan, Guangzhou and beyond.
Depending on the time of day, using the ferry may be the most convenient way to travel from Hong Kong, as it allows one to avoid long queues at the land border checkpoint between Hong Kong and mainland China.
Dongguan serves as one of the regional railway hub in Guangdong, where Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway, Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou Railway and Beijing-Kowloon 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 in Guangzhou; and Hung Hom Railway station in Hong Kong.
The Humen Pearl River Bridge is a suspension bridge over the Pearl River. Completed in 1997, it has a main span of 888 m.
City administration is considered especially progressive in seeking foreign direct investment. In 2005, the city hosted the first-ever Sino-American Forum of Intellectual Property Rights, co-organized by the Patent Protection Association of China - PPAC and the International Association for Technology Trade (IATT) as well as what has been identified as the world's largest educational technology conference and expo, co-organized by IATT and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), attracting nearly 40,000 attendees in its first year.
The Dongguan Science & Technology Museum (opened in December 2005), the high tech commerce park in the SongShan Lake district (which debuted in 2003) and a partnership with the Global IT Academy of the Brea Olinda Unified School District in Southern California have demonstrated the city's emphasis on attracting technology business. The city also announced in 2005 a planned investment of US$500-Million over five years for technology infrastructure improvements.
The city and province have been the recent focus of press and journalist attention with coverage of the arrival of teenaged Chinese workers, principally females (so-called factory girls), from agricultural areas to work in the area's factories and manufacturing/assembly facilities, where many are housed in large domitories, usually several to a room.[4]
An article in the High Tech Misery in China series reports research conducted, over 2008 - 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 disappointing conditions for its young, mostly female workers. The PDF article[5] includes details of those conditions, photos, translations of employer's rules and evidence that well-known computer brands use this keyboard supplier's products.
While the city is the third largest exporting region in China, behind Shanghai and Shenzhen (and a major center for Taiwanese investment), outside of China, Dongguan has yet to gain the kind of name recognition realized by Shenzhen (just an hour away, and down-river from Dongguan). This may be because the city has placed an emphasis on investing in infrastructure, rather than directly targeting major corporations with financial incentives for economic development. Still, Dongguan has been identified by high level representatives of the National Development and Reform Commission of the central government as being one of the most significant growth regions for technology in the coming years.
To cope with the strike of financial crisis, Dongguan city has developed the solutions to step out of the difficulties in order to push forward the city’s industrial restructuring, transformation and upgrade. The city starts a series of study and discussion activities on applying scientific concept on development of the four-pillar platforms - governmental service, supporting measures, technology upgrade and market expansion - to give strong support for transformation of processing trade enterprises in Guangdong province. Through a series of effective measures, Dongguan industrial restructuring has achieved preliminary results. Its industrial restructuring has already enhanced the city’s capability of independent innovation and the quantity of patent applications in 2008. Such intention were further confirmed by the visit of Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Dongguan back in July 2008 at some high technology enterprises where Wen gave strong encouragement and compliments on their innovative technologies, such as Dongguan Anwell Digital Machinery Co., Ltd. (a subsidiary of a Singapore listed company), Dongguan Konka Electronic Co., Ltd., and Hua Bao Shoes Co.,Ltd.[6][7]
Dongguan is twinned with:
Hartford, Connecticut, United States since
(March 5, 2001) [8]
Thessaloniki, Greece since (October 24, 2008)
[9]
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Dongguan (东莞 Dōngguān) is in Guangdong Province in China, about 100km from Hong Kong.
The city is about one hours drive away from Shenzhen and Guangzhou's Baiyun airports. You can catch a train or bus from these cities.
Hong Kong's Mass Transit Railway offers service (the former Kowloon-Canton Railway service) from Hung Hom Station in Hong Kong to Guangzhou with a stop in Dongguan. As of April 2008, the one-way fare is HK$145. The fare is payable in either RMB or HKD. The schedule is at [1].
There is also a frequent rail shuttle service from Dongguan Station to both Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
The most popular method for Hong Kong locals to travel to Dongguan is by bus. There are several companies that offer bus travel to Dongguan from Hong Kong. A good place to find a bus, would be at the bus stands inside the arrival terminal at Hong Kong Airport. Prices are usually $80-100 for a one-way ticket or $150 for a two-way ticket. Travel times usually are 1.5-2.5 hours depending on traffic conditions. If you are traveling from another part of China, you can also travel to Dongguan by bus, most major cities in China will have bus routes to the Dongguan Main Bus Station in Nancheng.
One of the less used ways to get to Dongguan from Hong Kong is by ferry. This allows you to avoid the queues at the busy customs checkpoints on the border between Hong Kong and mainland China.
The best method for visitors to get around, is taxi. Taxi's are cheap, and a 30 minute ride should not cost more then yen;80. Beware however, some taxis are used for kidnapping. Be sure to only use the green, licensed Dongguan taxis. Buses cost ¥1 per ride, beware of the aggresive driving however.
Dongguan has an exhibition center in Dongguan city houses many exhibitions and conferences. There is also a sports center for locals, and Dongguan library in Dongguan city. Pick up a copy of Here Dongguan, an English-language magazine with a nice guide to the city. If you only have a day and want to stay in one area, you might start at Jin'aozhou Pagoda, go east and see Keyuan Garden, and then walk along Dongcheng Avenue (東城大道) for shopping and food. It is not too far to bar street, where you can check out some pretty hopping clubs.
Most 4 Star hotels will have various "foot" massages and sauna services for upwards of 150RMB. NOTE : Nearly all sauna's are brothels! Foot massage parlors might be brothels
Dongguan is well known for its Huanghe Fashion Town located in the Humen District along Renming Road, Renyi Road, Jinglong Road and Yinglong Road. The district houses one of China's largest clothing and textile wholesale markets, which extends over an area of about one square kilometre. Many of the products sold there are exported to Hong Kong and the rest of the world. Everybody can enjoy low wholesale prices, even when buying in small quantities.
Most 5-star hotels offer buffets, these are around ¥30-60 for breakfast, ¥100-200+ for lunch, and ¥100-300+ for dinner.
The most popular bars are on or around "Bar Street" (Jiubajie) in Dongcheng. However, like many parts of China, various kinds of services are popular, including prostitution. One should be careful with local girls if they seem to be getting too friendly if you are not looking for such services. Beware of your drink, it is not unheard of foreigners being drugged and robbed. Beer at supermarkets should not cost more then ¥4 a bottle for Tsingtao. Red wine costs from ¥10 upwards a bottle.
Dongguan has more then 30 government-rated 5-star hotels.
As in all of China, be careful. You can be robbed, especially in less populated areas. Prostitution is widespread in Dongguan, and many men from Guangzhou and Shenzhen flock here on the weekends. Karaoke bars are basically another word for brothel. The law on prostitution is not enforced here as of 2008. However, do not gamble! You will end up in jail for possibly, a long time if you are caught gambling, save it for Macau. Lastly, a lot of the police force is corrupted, but since the government is still watching over them, they are discrete. So if a policeman tries to get money from you, calmly reply to him to see a superior.
| Routes through Dongguan |
| Beijing ← Ganzhou ← | N  S |
→ Shenzhen |
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Category: Outline articles
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Singular |
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Dongguan
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   | Satellite Image of Dongguan - Dongguan, china - Google Maps |
| | Dongguan Bureau of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation - DongGuan Bureau of Foreign Trade & Economic Cooperation |
| | National Development and Reform Commission - National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) People's Republic of China |
| | train - MTR Intercity Through Train e-Ticketing Services |
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