Background

Pearl River Delta (PRD)

Located in the central-southern part of Guangdong Province, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) was formed by the sediments brought down by the tributaries of the Pearl River, including Xijiang (新疆), Beijiang (北江), Dongjiang (東江), Tanjiang (潭江), Suijiang (綏江), Liuxihe (流溪河) and Zengjiang (鎮江) rivers. In its broadest case, the PRD stretches from Gaoyao (高要) in the west to Huizhou (惠州) in the east, and from Qingyuan (清遠) in the north to South China Sea in the south. However, the PRD is generally known as within the boundaries of Xinhui (新會), Gaoming (高明), Sanshui (三水), Zengcheng (增城), Dongguan (東莞) and Shenzhen (深圳). The economic region of the PRD comprises of the following prefectures:

Guangzhou City (廣州市), Shenzhen City (深圳市), Zhuhai City (珠海市), Foshan City (佛山市), Jiangmen City (江門市), Dongguan City (東莞市), Zhongshan City (中山市) (7 cities)
Huizhou Urban District (惠州市), Huiyang County (惠陽區), Huidong County (惠東區), Boluo County (博羅區)
Zhaoqing Urban District (肇慶市), Gaoyao City (高要區), and Sihui City (四會市)

According to the official statistics in 2004, the total area of the PRD economic region was approximately 40,000 sq km (or 0.4% of the national total), with a population of over 20 millions (or 1.9% of the national total).

Yangtze River Delta (YRD)

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) lies at the central part alongside the coastline of China. This triangular-shaped low-lying area was formed by the continuous deposition of sediment at the estuary of Yangtze River (揚子江). Being one of the six largest city clusters in the world, the YRD consists of 16 cities. It becomes an emerging economic region with Ningbo (寧波) and Hangzhou (杭州) as its main cities and Shanghai (上海) as its centre. It also includes Yangzhou (揚州), Taizhou (泰州), Nantong (南通) in the north; Nanjing (南京), Zhenjiang (浙江), Changzhou (常州), Wuxi (無錫), Suzhou (蘇州), Shanghai (上海), Huzhou (湖州), Jiaxing (嘉興), Hangzhou (杭州) in the south; and Shaoxing (紹興), Ningbo (寧波), Zhoushan (舟山) and Taizhou (台州) to the south of Hangzhou Bay (杭州灣).

City Administration Level	City
Provincial-level municipality	Shanghai (上海)
Sub-provincial-level city	Nanjing (南京) , Hangzhou (杭州), Ningbo (寧波)
Prefecture-level city	Jiangsu Province (江蘇省): Yangzhou (揚州), Taizhou (泰州), Nantong (南通)), Zhenjiang (浙江), Changzhou (常州), Wuxi (無錫), Suzhou (蘇州) Zhejiang Province (浙江省): Huzhou (杭州), Jiaxing (嘉興), Shaoxing (紹興), Zhoushan (舟山), Taizhou (台州)

According to the official statistics in 2004, YRD spanned approximately a total area of 100,000 sq km (1% of the national total), and its population stood at around 80 millions (6% of the national total).

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