Dongguan, a large city located between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, is known for its massive manufacturing sector. Despite its industrial reputation, Dongguan actually has a rich history and culture (unlike its more famous, mega-modern neighbor, Shenzhen). It's easy to get to Dongguan by taking the high speed rail from Shenzhen. The ride is only 45 minutes, and you enter another world.
We came during Chinese New Year and it was crazy crowded. The huge Covid wave had just finished blazing through China, and now everybody was ready to go out and travel! Dongguan has its share of gems, and we visited several of them during our weekend in Dongguan.
Song Shan Park
Song Shan Park is a huge park that is a wonderful place to spend the day on bike.
Renting bikes, we explored the park's expansive trails. This sprawling green oasis in the heart of Dongguan provided a lovely retreat from the city's hustle.
SongShan Park is adjacent to a company's campus that is built to look like a European city. From the park we could just get a glimpse of some of those European style buildings.
Urban Villages
Dongguan still preserves a lot of "urban villages". A stroll through one of these villages feels like you are walking back in time.
Dongguan's food scene is a testament to the rich culinary heritage of the Guangdong province. Cantonese cuisine, known for its subtle flavors and emphasis on fresh ingredients, is ubiquitous here. We indulged in classic dishes like congee, a comforting rice porridge; tofu pudding, silky and delicate; and chicken feet.
Our next meal was at a restaurant called "xiang ge li la" “湘阁里辣”, a clever play on the Chinese wordplay that echoes 'Shangri-La' but stands for Hunan cuisine (湘) and spiciness (辣). This restaurant highlighted Hunan's bold and fiery flavors, a stark contrast to the more subdued Cantonese palate.
We tried the signature dish, a whole fish head simmering in a broth of aromatic spices and chilies.
However, my favorite dish was their hand-smashed eggplant, with longhorn peppers and century egg, which was prepared table-side using a mortar and pestle.
The peashoots in a light, savory broth was lovely. While I passed on the duck blood dish, Bryan really enjoyed it.
The place is known for their rice (and I agree, the texture is fantastic), and they sell it separately. It's a lot more expensive than normal restaurants (a bowl of rice is like US$3, which is A LOT in China!).
If you want to get a sense of old Guangdong (Cantonese) culture, Dongguan is a great place to visit. It's much better than neighboring Shenzhen, which is a sprawling metropolis that was built up in a very short amount of time. The prices here are also cheaper than in Shenzhen, so people from Shenzhen will sometimes come here to get massages, pedicures, treatments, etc. I seldom get manicures (I think this was my third time?), but they did a fantastic job (spent over an hour on an intricate design!), and it only cost like $15 USD.
Dongguan is a huge city, and a lot if it is very industrial (it is a manufacturing center, after all). However there are many pockets of culture, nature, and beauty.
If you want to get a sense of old Guangdong (Cantonese) culture, Dongguan is a great place to visit. It's much better than neighboring Shenzhen, which is a sprawling metropolis that was built up in a very short amount of time.
Dongguan is world‑famous as a manufacturing base, as well as being one of China's most important export centres. Machinery, electrical products and high‑tech items are its primary exports.
Although the city is geographically and thus culturally Cantonese in the Weitou form and as well as culturally Hakka in the prefectures of Fenggang and Qingxi, the majority of the modern-day population speaks Mandarin due to the large influx of economic migrants from other parts of China.
In China, there is a five-day Monday–Friday working week, prior to which work on Saturday was standard. China began the two-day Saturday–Sunday weekend on May 1, 1995. Most government employees work 5 days a week (including officials and industrial management).
Dongguan had a gender ratio of 130.06 last year, up from 117.81 in the sixth national census in 2010. The number of males among permanent residents was 5.9171 million last year, accounting for 56.53 percent of the city's population, while there were 4.5495 million females, accounting for 43.47 percent, the data showed.
Wan Chai is all things to all people... depending on the time of day. Sure, it is Hong Kong's red light district, but that light does not turn on before dark. During the day, you will encounter nothing offensive there (the focal point of Wan Chai being Lockhart Road).
The current metro area population of Dongguan in 2024 is 7,675,000, a 1.16% increase from 2023. The metro area population of Dongguan in 2023 was 7,587,000, a 1% increase from 2022. The metro area population of Dongguan in 2022 was 7,512,000, a 0.81% increase from 2021.
Zhōngguó (中國) is the most common Chinese name for China in modern times. The earliest appearance of this two-character term is on the bronze vessel He zun (dating to 1038– c.
The 996 working hour system (Chinese: 996工作制) is a work schedule practiced illegally by many companies in China. It derives its name from its requirement that employees work from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm, 6 days per week; i.e. 72 hours per week, 12 hours per day.
What is the minimum wage in China? Minimum wages in China continue to rise. As of February 19, 2024, Shanghai has the highest monthly minimum wage among 31 provinces (RMB 2,690/US$370 per month), and Beijing has the highest hourly minimum wage (RMB 26.4/US$3.7 per hour).
How many hours can you work per week in China? In China the standard amount of hours in a week is 40 hours a week. The maximum amount of overtime hours is no more than 3 hours per workday.
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Most visited places in China are the Forbidden City, the Great Wall of China, the Summer Palace, the Bund, the Leshan Giant Buddha, the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, the Potala Palace, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the Terracotta Army, and the Li River.
Introduction: My name is Clemencia Bogisich Ret, I am a super, outstanding, graceful, friendly, vast, comfortable, agreeable person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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