About two-fifths of the people of the province live in villages, which remain the basic functional units in the countryside. The greatest numbers of villages are in the fertile river deltas and along the waterways. To an even greater extent, towns and cities are located in the deltas and coastal areas and along major communication lines. The most highly urbanized area within the province is the Pearl River Delta, where the great majority of the population lives in urban areas. Guangdong is a relatively highly urbanized province for China, with its largest urban agglomeration centred on Guangzhou. However, Shenzhen and Shantou are major metropolises as well, and Foshan, Shaoguan, Jiangmen, Zhuhai, and Zhanjiang are important municipalities. Guangzhou and Zhanjiang (on the Leizhou Peninsula in the southwest) were designated “open” coastal cities in the early 1980s and have become central to the planning of the province’s economic future. Also at that time, Shantou (on the eastern coast) and Shenzhen and Zhuhai (situated near Hong Kong and Macau, respectively) were designated special economic zones, each becoming a major economic influence in the region.

Demographic trends

Guangdong’s population has grown dramatically since 1980, nearly doubling in size since then. This increase is largely because of the influx of millions of people who work in the factories of the coastal cities. Some two-thirds of the province’s residents are now classified as urban. In addition to the growth of Guangdong’s permanent population, there also has been a significant rise in the number of people who spend part of the year there in factory jobs before returning to their home provinces.

Agriculture

Rice is the leading crop. Since less than one-fifth of the land is under cultivation, agriculture is of necessity extremely intensive; but the limited extent of sown land available is partly offset by repeated use of it. Progress in irrigation and flood control has made water control possible for almost all of the cultivated area, producing good rice yields. Farming and irrigation have become increasingly mechanized, with more reliance placed on the use of chemical fertilizers.

Two crops of rice a year can be grown on most cultivated land, and in the Pearl River Delta three crops are not unusual. Thus, although average yields per harvest are below the national average, annual yields exceed the average. Although food-grain crops occupy almost all of the total cultivated area, the industrial and fruit crops grown on the remaining land are of national importance. Guangdong annually produces much of China’s total output of sugarcane. In tropical Guangdong a number of industrial crops are successfully raised, including rubber, sisal, palm oil, hemp, coffee, and black pepper. Other traditional agricultural products include sweet potatoes, peanuts (groundnuts), and tea. No less than 300 types of fruits are grown, among the more representative of which are citrus, litchi, pineapples, and bananas.

Guangdong, with its long coastline, produces about one-fifth of China’s fish. Fish production accounts for as much as one-third of the income of some localities. More than 400 species of saltwater fish, including yellow croaker, white herring, mackerel, golden thread, and pomfret, are caught from numerous fishing ports. Fish breeding in ponds or along riverbanks and seacoasts has flourished.

Resources and manufacturing

In the first half of the 20th century, Guangdong experienced modern growth as Guangzhou developed into an industrial, commercial, and transportation centre. But because of the paucity of its iron deposits, Guangdong received only scant attention during the First Five-Year Plan (1953–57). The discovery of other mineral deposits, however, prompted the development of some heavier industries, including metal and petrochemical processing, the manufacture of machinery, and shipbuilding and ship repairing. A large proportion of these industries is still concentrated in Guangzhou.

Coal reserves and manganese deposits are located mainly in the north and northeast near Shaoguan and Meizhou, although some lower-grade coal is found on the Leizhou Peninsula. Oil shale deposits have been discovered near Maoming, just north of the peninsula. Tungsten, which is associated with bismuth, molybdenum, and tin deposits, is mined near the Jiangxi border, where uranium is also found. The province has reserves of germanium and tellurium and produces some lead and antimony.

Light industry has always been of significance in the province. Apart from handicrafts, light industry—especially food processing and the manufacture of textiles—accounts for a large section of industrial production. After three of China’s first four special economic zones were established in the province in the early 1980s, light industrial production grew dramatically, especially the manufacture of garments, shoes, and soft drinks. However, since the turn of the 21st century, the proportion of the output value for light industry in the provincial economy has decreased dramatically compared with other quickly developing industrial sectors, notably electronics and information technology. Other major manufactures include automobiles and motorcycles, electric machinery, petrochemicals, building materials, paper, and pharmaceuticals. A large proportion of these industries are export-oriented, notably those factories established in the three special economic zones.