Guangzhou (UK: , US: ; simplified Chinese: 广州; traditional Chinese: 廣州; pinyin: Guǎngzhōu; Cantonese pronunciation: [kʷɔ̌ːŋ.tsɐ̂u] or [kʷɔ̌ːŋ.tsɐ́u] (listen); Mandarin pronunciation: [kwàŋ tʂóu] (listen)), also known as Canton  and alternately romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and the largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about 120 km (75 mi) north-northwest of Hong Kong and 145 km (90 mi) north of Macau, Guangzhou has a history of over 2,200 years and was a major terminus of the maritime Silk Road, and continues to serve as a major port and transportation hub, as well as one of China's three largest cities. Long the only Chinese port accessible to  most foreign traders, Guangzhou was captured by the British during the First Opium War. No longer enjoying a monopoly after the war, it lost trade to other ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai, but continued to serve as a major transshipment port. Due to a high urban population and large volumes of port traffic, Guangzhou is classified as a Large-Port Megacity, the largest type of port-city in the world.Guangzhou is at the heart of the most-populous built-up metropolitan area in mainland China, which extends into the neighboring cities of Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Shenzhen and part of Jiangmen, Huizhou, Zhuhai and Macao, forming the largest urban agglomeration on Earth with approximately 47.6 million inhabitants and part of the Pearl River Delta Economic Zone. Administratively, the city holds subprovincial status and is one of China's nine National Central Cities. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, nationals of sub-Saharan Africa who had initially settled in the Middle East and Southeast Asia moved in unprecedented numbers to Guangzhou in response to the 1997/98 Asian financial crisis. The domestic migrant population from other provinces of China in Guangzhou was 40% of the city's total population in 2008. Together with Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen, Guangzhou has one of the most expensive real estate markets in China. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city's expansive administrative area was 18,676,605 inhabitants (up to 47% from the previous census in 2010) whom 16,492,590 lived in 9 urban districts (all but Conghua and Zengcheng).In modern commerce, Guangzhou is best known for its annual Canton Fair, the oldest and largest trade fair in China. For three consecutive years (2013–2015), Forbes ranked Guangzhou as the best commercial city in mainland China. Guangzhou is highly ranked as an Alpha- (global first-tier) city together with San Francisco and Stockholm. As an important international city, Guangzhou hosts 65 foreign representatives, and ranks 10th in the world and 5th in China (after Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen) in terms of the number of billionaire residents according to the Hurun Global Rich List 2020.The city has a high level of scientific research output, ranking 14th globally and 4th in China (after Beijing, Shanghai and Nanjing), and is home to many of China's most prestigious universities, including Sun Yat-sen University, South China University of Technology, Jinan University, South China Normal University, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou University, Southern Medical University, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine.

 Guangzhou is also a major hub of China's high-tech industry. The city has the highest number of patent applications in the country (the total number being almost twice that of Shanghai and Beijing). It was ranked third in Innovation Cities Top 10 Index for 2015, which was released by INSEAD, and second globally according to Forbes. As an emerging metropolis, Guangzhou is one of the top destinations for foreign direct investment projects; it received $14 billion USD from abroad during 2013–14.

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