Overview

Guangdong province is located in the southernmost part of the Chinese mainland. It adjoins Fujian province in the east and Jiangxi and Hunan provinces in the north. To the west, it is Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and to the south the South China Sea. China's second-largest river - the Pearl River - flows through Guangdong. To the east of the Pearl River Estuary, it is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and to the west, Macao Special Administrative Region. The southwestern Leizhou Island in Guangdong is separated from Hainan province by the Qiongzhou Strait.

Covering an area of 179,700 square kilometers, of which 1,448 sq km are islands, the province has 21 prefecture-level cities. Guangdong is the province with the most complete representation of ethnic groups in China. The population of ethnic groups accounts for 3 percent of the total in the province, and mainly consists of the Zhuang, Yao, She, Hui and Man ethnic groups.