Shantou
Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow[3][4] and sometimes known as Santow,[5] 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 2,248.39 square kilometres (868.11 sq mi). 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).
This article is about the city. For other uses, see Shantou (disambiguation).
Shantou
汕头市Swatow; Shantow
Fang Lixu (方利旭)
Zheng Jiange (郑剑戈)
2,248.39 km2 (868.11 sq mi)
9,297.1 km2 (3,589.6 sq mi)
51 m (167 ft)
5,502,031
2,400/km2 (6,300/sq mi)
4,312,192
12,543,024
1,300/km2 (3,500/sq mi)
CN¥ 53,106
US$ 8,232
754
Swatow
Fish-basket Point
Shàntóu
Shàntóu
Sae去deu平
Sân-thèu
Saantàuh
Saan3 tau4
Sòaⁿ-thâu
Suan1tao5
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.
History[edit]
Shantou was a fishing village part of Tuojiang Du (鮀江都), Jieyang County during the Song dynasty. It came to be known as Xialing (廈嶺) 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 (沙汕坪). In the seventeenth century, a cannon platform called Shashantou Cannon (沙汕頭炮臺) 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 (礐石) 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.[6]
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.[7] Some nearby villages were totally destroyed.[8] Several ships near the coast were totally wrecked.[9] Other ones were blown as far as two miles inland.[8] The area around the city had around another 50,000 casualties.[9] The total death toll was above 60,000,[10] and may have been higher than 100,000.[9]
In the 1930s, as a transport hub and a 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.[11] Japanese forces occupied Shantou until 15 August 1945.[12] The Communist People's Liberation Army captured Shantou on 24 October 1949, 23 days after the People's Republic of China was founded.[13]
With higher-level administrative authority, Shantou governed Chaozhou City and Jieyang City from 1983 to 1989.[14]
Geography[edit]
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 23°26′33″N 116°35′20″E / 23.44240°N 116.58885°E.[15] The highest peak in the city's administration is Mount Dajian (大尖山) on Nan'ao Island, at 587 m (1,926 ft); the highest peak on the geographic mainland is Mount Lianhua (莲花山), at 562 m (1,844 ft) in Chenghai District. The city is located at the mouths of the Han, Rong (榕江), and Lian Rivers.
Shantou is 301 km (187 mi) northeast of Hong Kong.[16]
Infrastructure[edit]
Health[edit]
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[edit]
Shantou's electricity is provided entirely by China Southern Power Grid, postal service operated by China Post.
Telecommunications[edit]
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).[29]
China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile provide fixed lines, broadband internet access and mobile telecommunications services there.
The Shantou Cultural Revolution Museum (文革博物馆; Wéngé bówùguǎn) was the country's only museum dedicated to the Cultural Revolution. It closed in 2016.
