Current Time in Gaozhou, China

Gaozhou is a city in the southwest of Guangdong Province in southern China, administered as a county level city under the prefecture of Maoming. It lies inland from the coast of the South China Sea, in a landscape of low hills, terraced orchards and river valleys, with the Jian River flowing through the urban area. The climate is subtropical and monsoonal, hot and very humid in summer, mild in winter, and generous with rainfall, conditions that suit fruit growing exceptionally well.

The municipality has a population of well over a million, though the built up urban core is much smaller. Gaozhou is best known throughout China as a centre of lychee cultivation, and it is often called the home of the fruit. The orchards around the town produce enormous quantities each summer, and at Genzi, a short distance away, there is an ancient grove containing trees said to be more than a thousand years old, from which fruit was once sent as tribute to the imperial court. The area is also a major producer of longan, bananas and vegetables, and agriculture remains the foundation of the local economy alongside food processing and light manufacturing.

Human settlement here is very old, and the district was an administrative centre in southern China as early as the period of division that followed the Han dynasty. The most celebrated historical figure associated with the area is Lady Xian, a sixth century leader of the Yue people who kept the peace in the far south during a turbulent age and who was honoured by successive dynasties. Temples dedicated to her memory stand in Gaozhou and the surrounding countryside, and the annual ceremonies at these shrines are among the most distinctive cultural events in western Guangdong.

Historic buildings in the city include the Confucian temple with its ceremonial halls and courtyards, the Baoguang Pagoda rising above the riverside, and old streets of arcaded shophouses in the traditional southern Chinese style. Bijia Mountain and the reservoirs and hot springs of the district provide countryside excursions, and the Xianquan and Fangji scenic areas are popular with local visitors.

Local culture belongs firmly to the Cantonese world. A distinctive local dialect is spoken, Cantonese opera and lion dancing appear at festivals, and the food is southern in character, built around fresh vegetables, seafood brought inland from Maoming, and steamed and clear cooked dishes.

Roads and expressways connect Gaozhou to Maoming, Zhanjiang and the provincial capital Guangzhou, and the high speed railway that runs along the western Guangdong coast has brought the region much closer to the Pearl River Delta. Local buses and long distance coaches serve the surrounding towns.

Education is provided chiefly by secondary schools with strong regional reputations and by vocational colleges, while university students generally travel to Maoming or Guangzhou.

Gaozhou matters as an agricultural heartland, as the guardian of a thousand year lychee tradition and as a place where the history of southern China is preserved in living memory.