Shantou City, [139] referred to as "Shan", also known as "Qiucheng" and "Qiudao",
is one of the four cities in Chaoshan. [190-191] It belongs to Guangdong Province,
China. [137] It is located in the eastern part of Guangdong Province, bordering
Chaozhou City and Jieyang City to the north, Puning City to the west, and the South
China Sea to the southeast. [53] The city has 6 districts and 1 county under its
jurisdiction, [33] with a total area of 2,199 square kilometers. As of 2023, the
city's total registered population is 5.7934 million and its permanent population
is 5.5575 million. [138] The local dialect of the city is Chaoshan dialect. [119]
The main landform types include low mountains, hills, alluvial plains, terraces and
coastal swamps. [53
]
The Shantou area began in Jieyang County of Nanhai County during the Qin, Han and
Jin Dynasties, and has long been part of Chaozhou Prefecture. [27] [192] [197] In
the tenth year of Emperor Xianfeng’s reign (1860), “Shashantou” in Chenghai County,
Chaozhou was designated as a trading port. [28] In the sixth year of Emperor
Tongzhi’s reign (1867), Huichaojia Military Preparations Department established an
administrative office in Shantou Port. [192] In 1921, Shantou City Hall was
established, becoming the second city in Guangdong. [32] After the founding of the
People’s Republic of China, it was successively affiliated to Chaoshan Special
District, Shantou Special District, and Shantou City. [192] At the end of 1991,
Shantou was divided into three prefecture-level cities: Shantou, Chaozhou, and
Jieyang. [32] [188]
Shantou is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese and an important port in China. It
is known as the “Pearl of the South China Sea”. [139] During Zheng He’s seven
voyages to the West, he passed through Nan’ao five times. [193] Shantou Port became
the “fourth trading port in China” in 1904. [119] In the 1930s, Shantou ranked
seventh in the country in terms of commercial prosperity. The annual throughput of
the port reached 6.75 million tons, ranking third in the country after Shanghai and
Guangzhou. It became the second most prosperous city in Lingnan. [195] It is one of
the five special economic zones in China. Since the division of Shantou into three
parts in 1991, the development of Chaoshan area has been lagging behind. [194] In
2023, Shantou achieved a GDP of 315.832 billion yuan, with the proportion of the
three industries being 4.5:48.2:47.3. [86]
Shantou is one of the birthplaces of Chaoshan culture, with Chaoshan dialect,
Chaoshan opera and other characteristics. [118] It has national intangible cultural
heritage projects such as Chaoyang Yingge. [119] It is an "excellent tourist city
in China", and its main attractions include Shantou CITIC Resort and Lianhua Rural
Tourism Area.
