Guangzhou, also Canton, Kuang-chou, or Kwangchow, city, southern China, capital of Guangdong Province. It is a busy port and a commercial and industrial center on the Zhu Jiang (Pearl River). Manufactures include processed food (especially sugar), textiles, steel, paper, cement, fertilizer, chemicals, motor vehicles, and machinery. The city, which is served by an outer deepwater port at Whampoa (Huangpu), is linked by rail with Hong Kong and Beijing. About 15 percent of China's foreign trade is conducted here, and the city is the site of a twice-yearly major international trade fair (established 1957). A leading educational center of China, Guangzhou is the site of Zhongshan (Chung-shan or Sun Yat-sen) University (1924), a school of medicine, a technical university, and an agricultural institute.
Landmarks in the city include Sha-mien (Shameen) Island, where foreign traders formerly lived; a Ming dynasty (1368-1644) temple, now the Peasant Movement Institute; a pagoda in the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees; a 14th-century watchtower (now Guangzhou Museum) in Yue Xiu (Yue Hsiu) park; the blue-roofed Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall; and a mosque said to be the oldest in China.
