Shantou

History

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. 1922 saw the devastating Swatow Typhoon, which killed 5,000 out of the 65,000 people then inhabiting the city. Some nearby villages were totally destroyed. Several ships near the coast were totally wrecked. Other ones were blown as far as two miles inland. The area around the city had around another 50,000 casualties. and may have been higher than 100,000.

In the 1930s, as a transport hub and merchandise distribution centre in Southeast China, Shantou Port's cargo throughput ranked third in the country. A brief account of a visit to the city in English during this period is the English accountant Max Relton's A Man in the East: A Journey through French Indo-China (Michael Joseph Ltd., London, 1939). On 21 June 1939, Japanese troops invaded Shantou. Japanese forces occupied Shantou until 15 August 1945. The Communist People's Liberation Army captured Shantou on 24 October 1949, 23 days after the People's Republic of China was founded.

With higher-level administrative authority, Shantou governed Chaozhou City and Jieyang City from 1983 to 1989.

Geography

Shantou is located in eastern Guangdong with latitude spanning 23°02′33″ – 23°38′50″ N and longitude 116°14′40″ – 117°19′35″ E; the Tropic of Cancer passes through the northern part of the city, and along it there is a monument, in fact the easternmost in mainland China, at . The highest peak in the city's administration is Mount Dajian (大尖山) on Nan'ao Island, at 587 m; the highest peak on the geographic mainland is Mount Lianhua (莲花山), at 562 m in Chenghai District. The city is located at the mouths of the Han, Rong (榕江), and Lian Rivers.

Shantou is 301 km northeast of Hong Kong.

Climate

Shantou has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), with short, mild to warm winters, and long, hot, humid summers. Winter begins sunny and dry but becomes progressively wetter and cloudier. Spring is generally overcast, while summer brings the heaviest rains of the year though is much sunnier; there are 8.2 days annually with 50 mm of rainfall. Autumn is sunny and dry. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from 14.7 °C in January to 29.1 °C in July, and the annual mean is 22.58 °C. The annual rainfall is around 1618 mm, about 60% of which occurs from May to August. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 28% in March to 58% in July and October, the city receives 1,979 hours of bright sunshine annually. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from 0.3 °C (unofficial record of -0.6 °C was set on 18 January 1893) to 38.8 °C.

| Jan record high C = 29.0 | Jan record low C = 0.4 | Feb record high C = 29.7 | Feb record low C = 1.1 | Mar record high C = 31.6 | Mar record low C = 3.0 | Apr record high C = 35.0 | Apr record low C = 8.3 | May record high C = 36.7 | May record low C = 14.2 | Jun record high C = 37.5 | Jun record low C = 17.1 | Jul record high C = 38.8 | Jul record low C = 20.8 | Aug record high C = 38.5 | Aug record low C = 21.6 | Sep record high C = 37.3 | Sep record low C = 16.4 | Oct record high C = 36.0 | Oct record low C = 8.2 | Nov record high C = 33.1 | Nov record low C = 4.6 | Dec record high C = 30.0 | Dec record low C = 0.3 NOAA{{cite web extremes{{cite web |access-date=7 October 2025 | script-title=zh:汕头 - 气象数据 -中国天气网 | access-date = 27 November 2022}}

Administration

Shantou is a prefecture-level city. It has direct jurisdiction over six districts and one county.

As of 2003, the district of Haojiang was established out of Hepu and Dahao which had been merged, and the district of Jinping Shengping and Jinyuan; Waisha and Xinxi Town, part of former Chenghai City, was merged into Longhu District; Chenghai City became Chenghai District; Chaoyang City was divided and became Chaoyang and Chaonan District respectively.

Economy

Shantou's economy is medium by Guangdong standards. Manufacturing accounts for a large and increasing share of employment. Canning, garments, lithography, plastic, and toys are some of the principal products. Toy manufacturing is the city's leading export industry, with 400 million U.S. dollars' worth of exports each year. Canaton Calculator Co. is a multinational electronic devices manufacturing company.

Guiyu, a populous town in Chaoyang District, is the biggest electronic waste site on earth. Health-environmental issues incurred have concerned international organizations such as Greenpeace.

In 2000, the biggest tax fraud in the history of the People's Republic of China was uncovered, estimated worthy of 32.3 billion yuan. In 2017, the analyzed data of Shantou GDP is approximately 230 billion yuan(US$35.4 billion).

Development zone

With an area of 2.34 km², Shantou Free Trade Zone lies at the south part of Shantou city. It was ratified by the State Council of the People's Republic of China and founded in January 1993, and it formally came into use on December of the same year after its supervision installations were checked and accepted by the General Administration of Customs. It has been comprehensively developing export processing, storage, international trade, finance and information industry. Its goal is to establish a modernized international zone that is open to overseas by drawing experience from international free trade zones.

Demographics

Shantou is one of the most densely populated regions in China. Former Chaoyang City was China's most populous county-level administrative region, with 2.4 million inhabitants. Shantou has direct jurisdiction over six districts and one county, and the six urban districts of Shantou have a population of 5,330,764.

Metro area

With it and the surrounding cities of Jieyang and Chaozhou, the administrative metropolitan area known as Chaoshan covers an area of 10404 km2, and had a permanent population of 13,648,232 as of the 2020 census. Nevertheless, its built-up area spread on 11 districts, Puning city and Raoping county was home to 12,543,024 inhabitants as of 2020 census. This is de facto the fifth built-up area of China after Guangzhou-Shenzhen Pearl River Delta megacity, Shanghai-Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou conurbation, Beijing and Hangzhou-Shaoxing agglomeration.

Languages

Most residents are linguistically Teochew people. Teochew is a variant of Southern Min (Hokkien-Taiwanese) spoken in the neighbouring Southern Fujian and Taiwan. There are also Hakka, popularly known as Half-Hakka (半山客), living mainly in Chaoyang District and Chaonan District, although they speak Teochew on a daily basis and practise Teochew culture. The Mandarin-medium education system, widely promoted throughout China, has made most people, especially younger generations, speak Mandarin fluently. Cantonese language TV and labor migrations to the Pearl River Delta has also made Cantonese widely spoken as a third language by the younger generations.

Governmental statistics show that 2.16 million overseas Chinese have roots in Shantou, with significant populations of Teochew people residing in Thailand and Cambodia, which constitute a majority of Thai Chinese and a majority of Chinese Cambodians. This is demonstrated by the unusually high number of international direct flights between Bangkok and Shantou. In addition, there are at least two Teochew-speaking air hostesses on board each China Southern flight between Shantou and Bangkok. The Teochew presence, furthermore, is evident in Singapore and Malaysia; Johor Bahru, a coastal city situated at the latter's southernmost tip, is known as 'Little Swatow', due to the majority local Chinese populace is dominantly Teochew and as well as the second largest group of the local Chinese population in Singapore.

Culture and lifestyle

Main article: Teochew people#Culture

Shantou people share the same culture with other Teochew. The tea-drinking tradition widely practised in town is a classic instance. According to China Daily, Shantou people "drink more tea than anyone else in China, in total 700 million yuan (US$87.5 million) each year".

Religions

Most of the population in Shantou is non-religious or practices traditional folk religions, Buddhism, Taoism, or worship of Chinese deities and ancestors. About 2% of the population belongs to an organised religion, with 40,000 Protestants, 20,000 Catholics and 500 Muslims. St. Joseph's Cathedral of Shantou is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Shantou.

Infrastructure

Health

The public hospitals in the Shantou metropolitan area are operated by the Government of Shantou. Management of these hospitals and other specialist health facilities are coordinated by Shantou Board of Health.

Utilities

Shantou's electricity is provided entirely by China Southern Power Grid, postal service operated by China Post.

Telecommunications

Shantou is one of the most important international telecommunications ports in China. Four international submarine communications cables land at Shantou submarine cable landing station, including APCN 2, China-US Cable Network, SMW3 and South-East Asia Japan Cable System (SJC).

China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile provide fixed lines, broadband internet access and mobile telecommunications services there.

Transport

Urban transport

Public transportation is provided by bus, ferry, bike sharing system and taxi. Residents also travel by private car and motorbikes. There are two bridges throughout the city that cross the Shantou Harbor: the Queshi Bridge and Shantou Bay Bridge. A metro system is planned with construction of three lines (Lines 1, 2, and 3) commencing in 2018 and opening of the system planned in 2020.

Air

Shantou previously had its own civil airport, Shantou Waisha Airport. It was formerly the main airport serving the Shantou until nearby Jieyang Chaoshan Airport was opened on 15 December 2011. Shantou Waisha Airport became a military airbase since then and all civilian flights were transferred to the newly built airport in Jieyang. Taxi is the usual way to travel between the airport and the city proper. The taxi fare is around 60 RMB. Airport-Downtown Shantou shuttle charter is also suggested. Based in Shantou, Shantou Airlines Co. operated by China Southern Airlines has a 15 aircraft fleet in service.

Railways

There are three railway stations which serve Shantou: Chaoshan Railway Station and Chaoyang railway station which lie on the Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway line, and Shantou Railway Station which lies on the Guangzhou–Meizhou–Shantou Railway and is under construction for the Guangzhou-Shanwei-Shantou 350 km/h high speed railway.

Tourism attractions

• Shantou Times Square light show (19:00-21:00 on Friday and weekend)
• Shipaotai Park ()
• Chen Cihong's Former Residence ()
• Nan'ao Island, rated as Guangdong's most beautiful island by China's National Geographic magazine
• Palace-Temple of Old Mother (): dedicated to Mazu, Goddess of Sea
• Temple of Emperor Guan (): dedicated to Lord Guan
• Tropic of Cancer Symbol Tower (): The Tropic of Cancer slips through Centipede Mountain, which is 20 kilometers away from the city properly.
• Shantou Museum (): An art museum.
• Shantou Founding Museum (): This history museum is devoted to the establishment of Swatow (Shantou) as a treaty port in the 19th century, not to be confused with Shantou Museum.
• Old town of Swatow and Dr. Sun Yat-sen memorial pavilion ()
• Chaoshan Historical and Cultural Exhibition Center 潮汕历史文化博览中心 is a museum includes four major exhibition areas: Chaoshan cultural relics exhibition area, Chaoshan folk customs exhibition area, overseas Chinese cultural exhibition area, and calligraphy and painting art exhibition area.
• East Coast Avenue () The new urban area of Shantou, a long seaside promenade
• Golden Coast (中海黄金海岸; Zhong hai huang jin hai an)

The Shantou Cultural Revolution Museum () was the country's only museum dedicated to the Cultural Revolution. It closed in 2016.

Media

In 1912 Swatow had four newspapers, all in Chinese. They were Han Chao Pao, Ming Chuan (People's Rights), Ta Fung Pao (The Typhoon), and Ta Tung Pao (Eastern Times). In 2018, Shantou Metropolis Daily Post and Shantou Special Economic Zone Evening News both stopped their traditional newspaper business and transform into e-newspaper newspapers. Meanwhile, the Shantou Daily (Municipal) keep providing both newspaper service and e-newspaper service for Shantou citizens and other readers.

Education

Education is overseen provincewide by the Guangdong Education Bureau.

Primary and secondary

Shantou has a host of well-known schools:

• Shantou Jinshan Middle School
• Shantou Number One Middle School
• Shantou Experimental School

Colleges and universities

• Shantou University (STU)
• Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT)
• South China University of Technology Shantou College
• Shantou Polytechnic
• Shantou Radio and TV University

Sports

• Haibin Stadium (Jinping District)
• Zhengda Stadium (Longhu District)
• Shantou Natatorium and Diving Stadium (Haojiang District)
• Youngsters Soccer Court of Shantou Times Square (Downtown)
• Fitness square and tennis courts of Xinghu Park (Longhu District)
• Shantou Citic Golf Club(27Holes) (Haojiang District)
• Shantou Jinfeng Sports Park(Including golf course, basketball fields and soccer courts)(Longhu District)

Twin towns – sister cities

Shantou is twinned with:

• VIE Cần Thơ, Vietnam (2005)
• ISR Haifa, Israel (2015)
• JPN Kishiwada, Japan (1990)
• CAN Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada (1997)

Friendly cities

Shantou has friendly relations with:

• THA Bangkok, Thailand (2000)
• ALB Durrës, Albania (2015)
• AUS Fairfield, Australia (2005)
• USA Federal Way, United States (2013)
• MYS Johor Bahru, Malaysia (2011)
• RUS Khabarovsk, Russia (2019)
• POR Leiria, Portugal (2018)
• GAB Libreville, Gabon (2015)
• CRI Puntarenas, Costa Rica (2014)
• KOR Pyeongtaek, South Korea (2003)
• KHM Phnom Penh, Cambodia (2024)

Notable people

Many notable Chinese come from Shantou or their ancestral home is Shantou.

Entrepreneurs

• Mainland China
  • Huang Guangyu (1969–), Chairman of Gome Group and once the richest persons in Mainland China
  • Ma Huateng (1971–), Founder of Tencent Computer System Co., Ltd and creator of QQ
  • Ji Haipeng, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Logan Property Holdings Co, Ltd.
  • Yao Zhenhua, the chairman of Baoneng Group, China's fourth-richest man as of January 2017
  • Xie Jian, the chairman of Leyu Bricks
• Thailand
  • Low Kiok Chiang (1843–1911), founder of Khiam Hoa Heng entreprises (1872-1950s)
  • Dhanin Chearavanont (1939-), Senior Chairman of CP Group, Thailand's largest private company and Forbes ranked.
• Hong Kong
  • Sir Li Ka-shing GBM KBE JP (1928–; Chaozhou), tycoon, the chairman of the board for CK Hutchison Holdings.
  • Lim Por-yen (1914–2005), media tycoon, banker and charitarian
• Singapore
  • Tang Choon Keng (1901–2000), founder of Tangs

Entertainment

• Hong Kong born
  • Emil Chau (1960–) actor and singer
  • Kwong Wah (1962–), actor and singer
  • Canti Lau (1964–) actor and singer
  • Sammi Cheng (1972–) actress and singer
  • Kent Cheng (1951-), actor
• Mainland China
  • Cai Chusheng (1906–1968), director, and his film Song of the Fisherman (渔光曲) received the first international film prize in China's history

Other

• King Taksin (Zheng Xin) (1734–1782), Thailand King from 1767 to 1782
• Hsu Shu-hsi (1892–1982), Chinese diplomat
• Nuon Chea (1926–2018), Cambodian politician
• Wu Nansheng (1922-2018), former Secretary of Guangdong Provincial Party Committee
• Adele M. Fielde (1839–1916), missionary and author
• Qin Mu (1919–1992), writer
• Watchman Nee (1903–1972), theologian, and opponent of prosperity theology
• Tan Howe Liang (1933–), Singaporean weightlifting Olympian
• Chua Soi Lek (1947–), Malaysian politician and former President of MCA
• Xu Shilin (1998–), Chinese tennis player, Junior Olympic gold medallist
• Shing-Tung Yau (1949–), American mathematician, winner of the 1982 Fields Medal, the William Caspar Graustein Professor of Mathematics at Harvard University
• Hao Huang , Chinese mathematician, solver of Sensitivity Conjecture and Assistant Professor at Emory University

References

Sources

• Miscellaneous series, Issues 7–11. United States Department of Commerce, Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce, 1912.

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