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History The city was originally a county renamed in honour of Dr. Sun Zhongshan, who is also known as Sun Yat-sen and considered by many to be the "Father of modern China". Dr. Sun was born in Cuiheng village (now part of Nanlang Town) just outside of downtown Zhongshan. Prior to the name change, the city was called Xiangshan County (香山縣; lit. "Fragrant Mountain") and was part of Yuehai Circuit (粵海道). Geography Zhongshan is bordered by Guangzhou in the northeast, Foshan in the northwest, Jiangmen in the west and the Pearl River in the east. Shenzhen lies in the east across the river, while Zhuhai and Macau lie to the south. Cityscape
Administration Zhongshan is a prefecture-level city of the Guangdong province. An uncommon administrative feature is that it has no county-level division. The city government directly administers 19 towns, four district offices (corresponding to the urban area of Zhongshan proper) and a development zone: Primary Industries Primary productions are agricultural, such as rice, lychee, banana, and sugar cane. Added to this, horticulture in Xiaolan Town is famous throughout southern China for its blooming chrysanthemum. Manufacturing Industries Zhongshan, together with Dongguan, Nanhai and Shunde, are dubbed as Four Little Tigers in Guangdong. The proximity of Zhongshan to Hong Kong and Macao is an advantage to its economic development, especially on the manufacturing industries. In the 1980s, Zhongshan had a relatively developed State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) sector that was used to stimulate the town and village enterprises(TVE) development in the countryside. Currently, the SOE sector is much weaker and the economy is dominated by foreign investment and TVEs, and also by various specialized manufacturing towns. Each of these towns is specialized in making a particular product. Most of the towns are so successful that they earn a reputation as a leading manufacturer in their own pillar industries. Indeed, "One Industry in One Town" has become a unique economic feature in Zhongshan. Pillar industries in various specialized manufacturing towns in Zhongshan include: The government of Zhongshan encourages "Research and Design" in the region by setting up national level research centre and specialized industrial regions. For example, the Zhongshan National Torch High-Tech Industrial Development Zone (中山國家級火炬高技術產業開發區) was established in 1990 in the east of the city by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the governments of Guangdong province and Zhongshan. Since 2001, it has contained Zhongshan Electronic Base of China (中国电子中山基地) for its reputation on the electronic acoustics industries. Following the possible development in Nansha, the city considers its eastern part, of which 400km² of land is available, as a focus of development. Currently, the city is trying to re-organize the fragmented industrialization. Meanwhile, the light and labour intensive industry characteristic of Zhongshan's economy imposes problem on shortage of land in Zhongshan. Tourism Several hot spring resorts are located in Sanxiang Town. Colleges and universities Transportation | ||||||||||||
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