Kaiping

Kaiping (Chinese开平市/开平市, pinyin Kāipíngshì ) is a county -level city in Guangdong province with about 680,000 inhabitants and an area of 1,659 km ². It is primarily an industrial city, is within China but because of hundreds of strange fortified houses known and for this reason a tourist attraction.

Geography

Kaiping is located about 110 kilometers southwest of the provincial capital Guangzhou at the transition from the level of the Pearl River in a hilly country. West and south are spreading thus wide plains, north and east hills and plateaus. The city is located on the banks of the Tan River (潭江), which flows through the city in west-east direction and has formed in this area a flood plain.

The climate is subtropical to tropical. The average temperature in January is 13 to 14 ° C, the average July temperature of 28 ° C. The annual rainfall amounts to 1822 mm. In the summer there are often typhoons and heavy rain, the dry seasons are fall and winter.

History

Kaiping was levied to the small town (县/县) in 1649. In 1993, the three places Changsha, Xinchang and Dihai were merged and turned it into the city (市) Kaiping. This has been dubbed Small Wuhan introduced the city.

In the last two centuries, there has been massive migration from Kaiping, which has led to the fact that about 750,000 people worldwide, more than the population of the district today, Kaipinger are descent.

Management

The independent city of Kaiping is part of the prefecture-level city of Jiangmen. Adjacent are Xinxing and Heshan in the north, the west Enping, Taishan and Xinhui in the south and east in the far east.

The city of Kaiping consists of three road districts and 13 large municipalities:

Road district Changsha (长沙街道/长沙街道);
Road district Sanbu (三埠街道);
Road district Shagang (沙冈街道/沙冈街道);
Greater community Yueshan (月山镇/月山镇);
Greater community Shuikou (水口镇/水口镇);
Greater community Chishui (赤水镇/赤水镇);
Greater community Jinji (金鸡镇/金鸡镇);
Greater community Xiangang (蚬冈镇/蚬冈镇);
Greater community Baihe (百合镇/百合镇);
Greater community Chikan (赤崁镇/赤坎镇);
Greater community tangkou (塘口镇/塘口镇);
Greater community Dasha (大沙镇/大沙镇);
Greater community Magang (马冈镇/马冈镇);
Greater community Longsheng (龙胜镇/龙胜镇);
Greater community Cangcheng (苍城镇/苍城镇);
Greater community Shatang (沙塘镇/沙塘镇).

Economy

Kaiping is one of the richer cities of the region. The GDP per capita was 16 600 RMB in 2002.

Economic importance on the one hand, the extraction of natural resources such as coal, potash feldspar, kaolin, quartz and silica sand, granite, limestone, clay and shale gold. In addition, significant plants such as ephedra, camphor, lilies and honeysuckle are won in the woods for the traditional Chinese medicine.

In agriculture, the cultivation of rice is the most important activity. In addition, peanuts, sugar cane, soybeans, vegetables and fruit are grown.

In terms of industry Kaiping is known for its high construction companies beyond its borders. In addition to the construction industry, the textile industry, food industry, electronics and chemical industry, mechanical engineering, the production of medicines and shoe manufacturing are also significant.

Culture

Kaiping is known within China for the architecturally unique Diaolou (碉楼, Diaolou ). Diaolou are fastened, usually five-storey houses, which were used in the rural areas of both houses as well as defenses. The oldest Diaolou were built from the late 19th century in response to the chaos of war around the Taiping Rebellion.

These houses, of which 1,833 copies are yet to receive combine, in a rather bizarre way Western and Chinese architecture. This is due to the fact that Chinese who had temporarily left their home and later built houses with the earned money abroad in and around Kaiping, brought style elements from their host countries. So, in many of the Diaolou Baroque or even Art Nouveau elements or topics from the Arab culture. The Diaolou since 2001 are listed and available since 2007 on the UNESCO list of world cultural heritage.

Traffic

To the north of Kaiping runs the Guangzhou highway - Foshan - Kaiping - Yangjiang. Parallel to it the National Road 325, which crosses the city itself. There are no rail connections. The Sanbu Harbour (三埠港) allows regular cargo to Hong Kong and Macao. For travelers, the bus is the most important means of transport; Long-distance buses to neighboring provinces. A bus ride to the provincial capital Guangzhou takes about 2.5 hours.

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