Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: Earth knowledge Bureau (ID:diqiuzhishiju), author: Prince Orange, revised manuscript: gu Hanying / Editor: bitter fruit

After 40 years of reform and opening up, Guangdong is obviously the biggest beneficiary. From an economic growth rate of only 1% in 1978 and a provincial ranking of only 5, to leading the country with Jiangsu and opening a huge gap with Shandong in the second echelon, earth-shaking changes have only occurred in recent decades. The prosperity of Guangdong not only benefits the people of Guangdong, but also creates huge employment opportunities for Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Guangxi and other central and southern provinces.

Guangdong, ▼, the chosen place for southerners to work

But unlike the balanced development of Jiangsu, Guangdong is strong, strong in the Pearl River Delta. In the north, west and east of this province, there are still many weak cities and counties that fail to enjoy open welfare, which has also become a worry in Guangdong.

Cities in the Dawan area around the Pearl River Estuary

Stole the limelight of Guangdong Province, ▼.

The essence of Guangdong, the dead corner of the Pearl River Delta, is concentrated in the Pearl River Delta, which is not just what it is today. Guangzhou, located in the core of the delta in the lower reaches of the Pearl River, was the economic and political focus of Guangdong as early as the Qin Dynasty. Its millennium-long dominance stems from the poor geographical conditions of Guangdong except this region.

The three counties established by Qin in Lingnan: Nanhai, Guilin and elephant

Panyu is the prefecture of Nanhai County and the earliest ▼ of Guangzhou.

Eastern Guangdong is geographically in line with Fujian, and Fujian is originally a mountainous province, and the continuation to the south is also mountainous. The cities concentrated here are mainly concentrated in the north-south lines: the south line is the Chaoshan area with the port along the coastline as the core, with a strong marine atmosphere; the north line is the source of the river along the Dongjiang River, Huizhou and other places.

It extends from Ningbo, Zhejiang to Shantou, Guangdong.

No large coastal delta and plain ▼ can be found.

These two areas with human settlement potential are forcibly separated by the Lianhua Mountains, do not have any connection with each other, cannot combine the marine advantages of Chaoshan with the products of the Dongjiang River Basin, and have always been relatively isolated. Its isolation is reflected in the residents, that is, Chaoshan is the hometown of Chaoshan people, and Meizhou is the important town of Hakkas.

The long-term integration of the Han nationality in the Central Plains and the indigenous peoples of Lingnan formed the three major ethnic groups in Guangdong.

Corresponding to the Cantonese, Chaoshan dialect, Hakka dialect three dialects ▼

He is also from Guangdong and likes to eat rice noodle roll.

Why is rice noodle roll different after crossing a mountain?

The situation in northern Guangdong is also not good, from Qingyuan to the north to Nanxiong are endless mountains. Except for some valley basins constructed by Beijiang and its tributaries Lianjiang in the mountains, there are few areas suitable for large-scale settlement.

Go deep into northern Guangdong along the Beijiang River

(base: Google map) ▼

For the people of the Central Plains who travel south from the north, it is only a temporary place to stay in the end, and their ultimate destination is the Pearl River Delta, where agricultural conditions are obviously better.

The mountain area of northern Guangdong with Shaoguan as the core is also located in the mountain center of southern China, not only the flow of people and logistics in the Pearl River Delta is not willing to go northward, but also the advantages of Hunan and Jiangxi provinces are difficult to radiate here, so that a unique and isolated culture of northern Guangdong has been formed.

"out of Shaoguan is the north" is a joke nowadays.

But in ancient times, facing the heavy mountains in northern Guangdong,

If you want to cross as far as the north, ▼

The geographical conditions of western Guangdong are slightly better. The mountains are relatively flat here, and the Xijiang valley is obviously wider than the Dongjiang and Beijiang valleys. But the real town of Xijiang is in Wuzhou, which is not part of Guangdong in the modern provincial territory. Moreover, due to cross-province, due to various considerations, the connection between Wuzhou and Guangdong is now very limited, so it becomes more difficult to develop western Guangdong with the help of the Xijiang River.

Watch across the screen-Wuzhou is the ancient governance of Guangzhou and Guangdong.

All the rivers in Guangxi flow to Guangdong through Wuzhou.

It is said that Wuzhou is also the birthplace of Cantonese, ▼.

Leizhou Peninsula should be a treasure land, flat geographical conditions in mountainous Guangdong is a valuable geographical advantage, in other provinces will also be an important place for industry and agriculture. However, because in Lingnan, the flat terrain makes Leizhou Peninsula often encounter irresistible typhoons, the loss of economic investment may be too great, hindering a lot of investment.

Leizhou Peninsula, a "small tail" stretching out in southwestern Guangdong

(base: NASA) ▼

In addition, it is far from the core of the Pearl River Delta, and the possibility of policy tilting is not high. In ancient society, it was even used in remote places like Hainan to exile criminal officials.

People who came to live here in ancient times

It's hard to avoid feeling in my heart: family members are down and out.

Whether it is eastern, northern or western Guangdong, the essence zone that runs through is the river water of the tributaries of the Pearl River. Dongjiang, Beijiang and Xijiang eventually converge into the central Pearl River Delta, which naturally makes it a resource lowland that brings together all the manpower and material resources of Guangdong.

Coupled with the fact that Hong Kong across the river has brought endless growth opportunities to Shenzhen after the reform, opening up and reunification, the suppression of the strength of the Pearl River Delta in the province is even more prominent.

In the end, they were all remitted here.

In 2022, the total GDP12.9 of Guangdong Province is 3.23 trillion yuan, that of Shenzhen is 3.23 trillion yuan, and that of Guangzhou is 2.88 trillion yuan. In addition, the three cities of Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing, as well as the old industrial rich cities of Foshan and Dongguan, have contributed a large part, and the weak cities in Guangdong outside the Pearl River Delta cannot be compared with a big city.

Among the top 10 cities, eight are ▼ cities in the Pearl River Delta.

In fact, this is nothing to be ashamed of, because the GDP of some southern provinces is not as good as that of Guangzhou, and these provinces are already among the top 15 provinces in China.

In fact, it is of little significance to compare the urban area or the whole region of Guangdong, even if it is a city, there will be an imbalance in economic development. Simply using statistics to explain, it is of little reference value. However, through the study of counties, the most basic unit of development competition in China, and their subordinate villages and towns, we can get some more detailed answers.

Guangdong Province has a strong Pearl River Delta at the same time

It is also faced with the problem that it is difficult for counties to enter the list of the top 100 counties in China.

The paper entitled "Research on the characteristics and formation Mechanism of typical underdeveloped small towns in Guangdong" (2015), written by Zhao Yintao and others of South China University of Technology, studied the level of development in various parts of Guangdong on a relatively small scale. Among them, the definition of underdeveloped small towns is that the per capita GDP is lower than the national per capita GDP75%. By comparing the impressively developed Guangdong with the relatively backward national average, we can draw a more mobile conclusion.

The division standard ▼ in the paper

The final conclusion is indeed shocking. There were 1147 small towns in Guangdong in 2015, of which 30 lacked data. Of the remaining 1117 small towns, 786 meet the definition of underdevelopment, accounting for 70.37% of the total, which is five times that of developed towns (the per capita GDP is 1.5 times higher than the national average).

It is indeed a surprising conclusion for mainlanders that Guangdong has such a large number of underdeveloped towns. But for residents living in the mountains of eastern, northern and western Guangdong and the Leizhou Peninsula, this is the truth of life. This can also be seen from the spatial distribution of these underdeveloped towns.

Minority people living in the eastern, western and northern mountains of Guangdong

It is often masked by big statistics.

However, this is also a part that cannot be ignored in the development of Guangdong.

There are 796 small towns in eastern, western and northern Guangdong, of which as many as 647 are underdeveloped towns, accounting for more than 80%. In contrast, a total of 321 towns in the Pearl River Delta region are included in the statistics, of which 139 are underdeveloped towns, less than half of them. Even these underdeveloped towns in the Pearl River Delta are mostly distributed in the west of Zhaoqing, the north of Qingyuan and the east of Huizhou, which still belong to the eastern, northern and western mountains of Guangdong in a broad sense.

Entering the Pearl River Delta, it is difficult not to send ▼.

According to the on-the-spot investigation of the author, it is found that the common problem of these underdeveloped towns is that the land utilization rate is not high. No matter in the small town in the mountain area or the small town with relatively flat land, its main development is carried out around the county road in the town. In addition to the dense shops and transport services along the main roads of the town, the remaining roads are carried out in accordance with the river and the original village roads, the planning is relatively chaotic, there are often round roads, and a lot of land has not been effectively developed and used.

A small town in Chaozhou was built along the river.

(base: Google map) ▼

Even if the land is developed, it is mainly residential, commercial housing is often two or three stories of small buildings in the back of the previous store, the land is very mixed, which is not conducive to efficient division of labor.

To make matters worse, the infrastructure of these small towns is not satisfactory. The vast majority of underdeveloped towns do not have high schools and kindergartens, there is only one junior high school on average, and only about half of the pupils choose to study locally. The medical conditions in underdeveloped towns are not good, there are not many qualified doctors and nurses, and some small town hospitals do not even have an important department of obstetrics and gynecology. As for the local nursing homes are nonexistent, the vast majority of the elderly choose to stay at home for the aged.

It is difficult for the old people in the old city to enjoy the convenience of developed cities in the same province.

Most of the field data in this survey are taken from 2015, and after more than eight years of change, these towns have certainly made a lot of progress, but it is clear that the differences between them and urban space will not be erased any time soon. Most small towns in Guangdong are still places where life is not satisfactory.

Although the life on a scooter is quite comfortable.

But when the wind and rain come, they still envy people who drive cars.

(photo: "Storm") ▼

Guangdong ≈ 1x4 Guangdong infrastructure construction is ineffective, land use planning is sparse, and the problems in the underdeveloped areas of the country will also appear in the underdeveloped small towns in Guangdong. There are many reasons for this situation, from the protection of the agricultural red line to the regional location conditions, and even the cultural heritage of the local people, will affect the vitality of a region.

But the most crucial factor is people. These small towns in Guangdong, like those in most parts of the country, are empty.

The big trees at the entrance of the village did not wait for the villagers to chat and enjoy the cool.

According to a survey conducted by Zhao Yintao and others in several selected towns, the proportion of children in these towns is obviously on the high side, and the labor force of young adults aged 20 to 40 is obviously insufficient. The next population peak occurs in the middle-aged and elderly people over the age of 50, and because of the longer life expectancy, a large number of elderly people in places like Chifeng Town can reach the age of 79.

It is conceivable that the structure of each single family that makes up this population pyramid is the left-behind elderly with the left-behind children.

Left-behind old people and children, guarding the old village

Despite the fact that Guangdong is the largest province in economy, this social phenomenon sounds like a social phenomenon in the central and western provinces, and it still appears in the east, north and west of Guangdong.

Young people don't have to ask, they all go to the Pearl River Delta. They either enter the electronics factory in Shenzhen to become factories, deliver takeout on the streets of Guangzhou, or learn to cook in Shunde, Foshan. The endless opportunities in big cities are so attractive compared with the lifeless state of lack of planning in villages and towns.

Tangxia, Shipai Village, Huanggang.

How many villages in the city carry the dreams of Guang Piao and Shen Piao?

When people are accusing several so-called "new first-tier cities" of dominating one city, few people think that Guangdong is also a province with extremely uneven regional development.

It's just that its strong cities are not just provincial capitals, but about 1x4 provinces. The remaining 4 provinces are blind spots in this hot land of development. In terms of investment and human resources, these regions are not even as close as Hunan and the Pearl River Delta.

Watch across the screen-while the Pearl River Delta is highly interconnected

However, the relationship with other cities in Guangdong Province is not close, ▼

With the gradual formation of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, Guangdong is also stepping up the development of weak cities and towns in the eastern, northern and western mountainous areas.

After all, staying at a level of development that is less than 75% of the national average is not good for the whole province of Guangdong.

Outside the Pearl River Delta, let the weak market also become strong, like Zhejiang and Jiangsu, the decentralization of the "engine" is not a bad thing for the development of Guangdong.

Welcome to subscribe "Shulou Technology Information " to get latest news, interesting things and hot topics in the IT industry, and controls the hottest and latest Internet news, technology news and IT industry trends.