Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong Province, a national central city, a mega city, and the headquarters of the Southern Theater Command. It is an international metropolis, international commercial center, international comprehensive transportation hub, national comprehensive gateway city, and national historical and cultural city positioned by the State Council. Since the Qin Dynasty, Guangzhou has been the political, military, economic, cultural, and educational center of southern China. Guangzhou became the main port of the Maritime Silk Road in the 1930s, the largest port in China during the Tang and Song dynasties, and the only major port for foreign trade in China during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Guangzhou has been rated as a first tier city in the world by GaWC, one of the most authoritative global urban research institutions; Forbes has ranked the first among the best commercial cities in Chinese Mainland for five times. The development capacity of Guangzhou's headquarters economy ranks among the top three in China, with 27000 foreign-funded enterprises investing in Guangzhou; There are 288 Fortune 500 companies, of which 120 have their headquarters or regional headquarters located in Guangzhou. There are more than 3000 Internet enterprises in Guangzhou, including WeChat, Vipshop, YY Voice, Kugou Music, NetEase, UC Browser, etc. The proportion of the tertiary industry in Guangzhou's GDP has reached 68.56%.
According to the State Council's plan, the permanent population of Guangzhou will be controlled at 18 million in 2020. The United Nations report points out that Guangzhou's Human Development Index ranks first in China. The total retail sales of consumer goods in Guangzhou ranks third in the country, and the per capita consumption ranks first in the country; The per capita disposable income, total household deposits (resident savings deposits), and per capita household deposits of residents all rank first in the province.
Guangzhou has 82 universities with a total of 1.1396 million students, ranking first in China in terms of quantity; Gathering 97% of national key disciplines, 70% of scientific and technological personnel, and 95% of doctoral students in the province; The number of key laboratories at all levels ranks first in the province.