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These reasons are why all of these cities are T1 cities.

Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2024 5:39 am
by yamim222
Similar to Washington D.C. in the United States, Beijing also earned its independence due to its role as China’s capital.

The Southern Coast
The next component of eastern China is the southern coast, which is comprised of many cities, each rated at a different tier.

The southern coast includes the province of Guangdong.

English speakers are probably most acquainted with this part of China because of the historical and commercial importance of Hong Kong in Asia. There are many Cantonese speakers (Canton is another name for Guangdong) globally, some of which were the first Chinese to arrive in North America.

One reason for the international presence of Cantonese speakers qatar whatsapp number is Guangdong’s centuries-old role as a port and gate to China. As far back as the Middle Ages, traders from Iran and India used this part of the country to make deals.

Guangdong was also the province where European missionaries built some of their first schools in China. Eventually, Europe’s role in this region would also lead to Hong Kong coming under British colonial rule.

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China opened up to the world again in the 1980s, and the city of Shenzhen became the country’s first special economic zone.

Being so near to the highly developed Hong Kong, Guangdong was seen as a perfect place to begin China’s economic reforms and, over the past four decades, a manufacturing hub for many of the world’s products.

Guangzhou, historically a port, has held a similar role.

The economic power and development Shenzhen and Guangzhou have achieved since the 1980s are why they both are T1 cities today.

Other cities near these two powerhouses have profited from foreign investment and development. Guangdong’s cities of Dongguan and Foshan are considered new T1 cities, a label often given to cities that have only recently entered the most prestigious rank.

Other cities in the province have benefited from China’s economic reforms but are not as developed or influential as Shenzhen or Guangzhou.

Huizhou, Zhongshan, and Zhuhai are examples of Guangdong’s T2 cities.



If we look at cities in Guangdong, we can see a correlation between tier and proximity to Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

All other cities that have developed to become T1 or T2 cities surround these two cities.

Cities further away from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong are still rated T3 cities, like Jiangmen.

Lower-tier cities in the province tend to border—or be close to—poorer provinces, like Zhanjiang’s (T3) and Qingyuan’s (T4) proximity to Guangxi or Shaoguan’s (T4) proximity to Jiangsu.

Other culturally important cities may still have T3 status because of their distance from economically significant zones.

Chaozhou, for example, is well known across China for its unique cuisine, but its location in a mountainous area has made it harder to connect with Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou.

The description of Guangdong (China’s southern coast) is very similar to the provinces of eastern China.

In other provinces, we see a similar trend where cities closer to the ocean have benefited from global trade and are either T1 or T2 cities.