A brief introduction of Shaoguan
Shaoguan, formerly known as Shaozhou, has more than 2100 years of urban history, used to be honored as the “Celebrated Prefecture” and known as Chinese outstanding tourist city, national sanitary city and national garden city in nowadays. It is the birthplace of “Shixia” Culture and “Maba Man”. The Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng inaugurated Southern Sect Zen Method of “to attain Buddhahood in the way of sudden enlightenment” in Shaoguan and make Southern Sect Zen Buddhism a mainstream of Buddhism in China. Thus, Shaoguan is also called the birthplace of Southern Sect Zen Buddhism and “Home of Southern Sect Zen Buddhism”. Known as “Station of Chinese Culture” and “The Homeland of Cantonese all over the World”, Shaoguan is one of the three places for people to seek their roots. Zhuji Lane of Nanxiong is the birthplace of residents of the Pearl River Delta and millions of overseas Chinese. The city has an area of 18,400 square kilometers and a population of 3.23 millions. And the downtown area is of 2,856 square kilometers and the population is of 900,000.
Situated in northern Guangdong, Shaoguan is the junction sector of Guangdong Province, Hunan Province, and Jiangxi Province as well as the overlapped and penetration zone of South Jiangxi Economic Circle and the Pearl River Delta Economic Circle, commonly known as the North Gate of Guangdong Province, the “golden tunnel” and “bridge tower” of Guangdong- Hong Kong-Marco Region that radiating the mainland China.
Shaoguan has a long history and splendid culture. The famous "Maba Man" used to prospered here. Central Plains Culture and Cantonese Culture merge in this intersection. A great number of historical celebrities were bred here: Hou Andu, a prominent official in Chen Dynasty; Zhang Jiuling, a famous prime minister in Tang Dynasty; Yu Jing, a name-phased minister in Song Dynasty, and Chen Lin, a remarkable general in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Pirate's Invasions in Ming Dynasty. The Sixth Patriarch Hui Neng, had promoted Buddhism in Shaozhou for 37 years and brought about the birth of Chinese Buddhist scripture, Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch. Sun Yat-sen used to take the oath-taking of the Northern Expedition twice in Shaoguan, and numbers of proletarian revolutionists, such as Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping and Chen Yi, left their glorious marks on the land. More than five kinds of traditional non-material culture heritages have been placed in the list of State-level Intangible Cultural Heritage, including Worshiping Pangu, Embroidery Craft of Yao Nationality, Incense Burning Dragon, Northern Guangdong Tea-picking Opera and Folk Songs of Yao Nationality. In addition, 24 non-material culture heritages have been placed in the list of Province-level Intangible Cultural Heritage, and 60 non-material culture heritages are listed in Municipal-level Intangible Cultural Heritage.
