Dongguan

ABOUT DONGGUAN AND MY EXPERIENCES

Dongguan is a large industrial city with 8.2 million inhabitants, situated between Shenzhen and Guangzhou and is part of Pearl River Delta Mega City. Several smaller cities have been merged with Dongguan. The building in the middle is the city's 2nd tallest, Huanghe River Center Building (230m, 62 floors, built 2009). Rural area near the border to Shenzhen, Dongguan. Highway construction near the border to Shenzhen, Dongguan. Dongguan_ 03 Dongguan Central Station is very large, but dull. Our train passed right through it. Dongguan_ 05 Pearl River, Dongguan. Dongguan_ 07 Dongguan_ 08 Dongguan_ 09 Town in the outskirts of Dongguan. Dongguan_ 10 Dongguan_ 11 Dongguan_ 12 Residential highrise area, Dongguan. Pearl River, Dongguan Pearl River, Dongguan Pearl River, Dongguan skyline The outskirts of Dongguan are industrial, grey and depressing. Dongguan_ 17 Dongguan skyline Skyline with abandoned postmodern highrise construction, Dongguan. Dongguan_ 20 Dongguan_ 21 Dongguan skyline with lonely skyscraper Dongguan_ 24 Huanghe River Center Building (230m, 62 floors, built 2009) Dongguan_ 26 Dongguan skyline and Pearl River. Dongguan_ 28 Dongguan_ 29 Dongguan_ 30 Rural Dongguan Bridge towards Shenzhen, Dongguan.

ABOUT DONGGUAN:

Population: 8 220 000
Part of Pearl River Delta Mega City (44.7 millions)
Country: China
Tallest building: Dongguan TBA Building (289m, 68 floors).
2019: Dongguan International Trade Center (88 floors, 427m)
Region: Guangdong Province
Founded (city rights): 1985
Area: 2 465 km² (urban)
Year visited: 2015

Dongguan is a very large industrial city with 8.2 million inhabitants, situated between Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and bordering Huizhou. It is part of Pearl River Delta Mega City with 45 million inhabitants. Several smaller cities have been merged with Dongguan, to make it even larger then before. Even if traces of humanity was found 5000 years ago, the current city of Dongguan was founded as late as in 1985.
The city hasn't many tourist attractions, except for a few temples, gardens and malls; it is mainly an industrial an residential city, consisting of several suburban like areas. It hasn't got any impressive skyline, only a few not so tall skyscrapers are popping up here and there. Taller ones are being constructed the latest years though, like the 68-storey TBA Building.

It has been listed as one of the most innovative mainland cities in China, with many large companies and factories. Dongguan has been much talked about in media, as a "failed wonder city" of China. For example, the world's largest mall, New South China Mall, was built in 2005 to house over 2350 stores and several attractions, including a mini Venice. Today only about 3 stores are open!
Dongguan was also known for crime and prostitution before large police raids were held recently. box gallery zoomby VisualLightBox.com v6.1700 000 Dongguan inhabitants have moved to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. Pearl River Humen Bridge connects Dongguan with Guangzhou. Dongguan is an important railway hub with a large central station and several smaller ones.

MY EXPERIENCE:

We only passed by train on the way from Shenzhen to Guangzhou, and by bus on the way from Guangzhou to Hong Kong, taking just a few pictures of the grey skyline. Since we didn't have the opportunity to visit the city itself we can't actually say anything about the city, but it looked depressing from afar, especially with the hazy weather caused by the large number of factories. The outskirts were really rough and gritty and you can see several abandoned construction sites and abandoned fields.