- published: 27 Oct 2008
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Guangdong (Chinese: 广东; Jyutping: Gwong2-dung1) is a Chinese province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. Formerly known as Canton or Kwangtung in English, Guangdong surpassed Henan and Sichuan to become the most populous province in China in January 2005, registering 79.1 million permanent residents and 31 million migrants who lived in the province for at least six months of the year; the total population was 104,303,132 in the 2010 census, accounting for 7.79 percent of Mainland China's population. The provincial capital Guangzhou and economic hub Shenzhen are among the most populous and important cities in China. The population increase since the census has been modest, the province at 2013 end had 106,440,000 people.
Since 1989, Guangdong has topped the total GDP rankings among all provincial-level divisions, with Jiangsu and Shandong second and third in rank. According to state statistics, Guangdong's GDP in 2011 reached RMB 5,267 billion, or US$815.53 billion, making its economy roughly the same size as the Netherlands. Guangdong has the fourth-highest GDP per capita among all provinces of Mainland China, after Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Liaoning. The province contributes approximately 12% of the PRC's national economic output, and is home to the production facilities and offices of a wide-ranging set of multinational and Chinese corporations. Guangdong also hosts the largest import and export fair in China called the Canton Fair in Guangdong's capital city Guangzhou.