With a population of Guangdong's economy is currently the largest of any provincial-level division in China, with a GDP of It has a diversified economy, and was known as the starting point of the Maritime Silk Road of ancient China. Guangdong has benefited from its proximity to the financial hub of Hong Kong , which it borders to the south. Guangdong also hosts the largest import and export fair in China, the Canton Fair , hosted in the provincial capital of Guangzhou. The Pearl River Delta Economic Zone , a Chinese megalopolis , is a core for high technology , manufacturing and foreign trade.
Located in this zone are two of the four top Chinese cities and the top two Chinese prefecture-level cities by GDP ; Guangzhou, and Shenzhen , the first special economic zone in the country. These two are among the most populous and important cities in China, and have now become two of the world's most populous megacities and leading financial centres in the Asia-Pacific region.
The province of Guangdong surpassed Henan and Shandong to become the most populous province in China in January , registering After the unification of Lingnan region in the Qin dynasty , the immigrants from the Central Plains moved in and formed the local culture with a unique style. With the outward movement of the Guangdong people , the Hakka and Cantonese languages , music , cuisine , opera and tea ceremony have been spread throughout the nation, Southeast Asia and other countries.
Guangdong was also the birthplace of the father of modern China and the founder of the Republic of China, Sun Yat-sen where he later declared a military government in the Warlord Era. The two special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau fall within the scope of Guangdong cultural influence, and Guangdong culture still has profound influences on the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia , with the vast majority of the Chinese diaspora in the two countries claiming ancestry from Guangdong Province.
Guangdong is also one of the leading provinces in research and education in China. Because of the prestige of Canton and its accent, Cantonese can also be used, in a wider sense, for the phylogenetically related residents and Chinese dialects outside the provincial capital.
