Concept

Shantou

Summary

Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2020 census (5,391,028 in 2010) and an administrative area of . However, its built-up (or metro) area is much bigger with 12,543,024 inhabitants including Rongcheng and Jiedong districts, Jiexi county and Puning city in Jieyang plus all of Chaozhou city largely conurbated. This is de facto the 5th built-up area in mainland China between Hangzhou-Shaoxing (13,035,026 inhabitants), Xian-Xianyang (12,283,922 inhabitants) and Tianjin (11,165,706 inhabitants). Shantou, a city significant in 19th-century Chinese history as one of the treaty ports established for Western trade and contact, was one of the original special economic zones of China established in the 1980s, but did not blossom in the manner that cities such as Shenzhen, Xiamen and Zhuhai did. However, it remains eastern Guangdong's economic centre, and is home to Shantou University, which is under the provincial Project 211 program in Guangdong. Shantou was a fishing village part of Tuojiang Du (), Jieyang County during the Song dynasty. It came to be known as Xialing () during the Yuan dynasty. In 1563, Shantou became a part of Chenghai County in Chao Prefecture (Chaozhou). As early as 1574, Shantou had been called Shashanping (). In the seventeenth century, a cannon platform called Shashantou Cannon () was made here, and the place name later was shortened to "Shantou". Locally it has been referred to as Kialat. Connecting to Shantou across the Queshi Bridge is Queshi () which had been known by the local people through the 19th century as Kakchio. It was the main site for the American and British consulates. Today the area is a scenic park but some of the structures from its earlier history are somewhat preserved. In 1860, Shantou was opened for foreigners and became a trading port according to Treaty of Tientsin. It became a city in 1919, and was separated from Chenghai in 1921.

Official source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shantou

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