Place:Chaozhou, Guangdong, People's Republic of China

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Chaozhou, alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, and the South China Sea to the southeast. It is administered as a prefecture-level city with a jurisdiction area of and a total population of 2,568,387. Its built-up (or metro) area encompassing most of Shantou and Jieyang cities was home to 12,543,024 inhabitants on 13 local administrative areas. Along with Shantou and Jieyang, Chaozhou is a cultural center of the Chaoshan region.

History

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

In 214 BC, Chaozhou was an undeveloped part of Nanhai Commandery of the Qin Dynasty. In 331 during the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Haiyang was established as a part of Dongguan Commandery.

The Dongguan Commandery was renamed Yi'an Commandery in 413. The commandery became a prefecture in 590 during the early Sui Dynasty, first as Xun Prefecture, then as Chao Prefecture in the following year. In 1914, the Republic of China government combined the Chao and Xun prefectures into Chaoxun Prefecture or Chaoxun Circuit.

For a short while in the Sui and early Tang Dynasties, Haiyang District was called Yi'an District. The name remained Haiyang until 1914, when it was renamed to Chao'an County to avoid ambiguity with the Haiyang County, Shandong.

Modern era

The seat of the 1951 Guangdong People's Government was in Chao'an County. Part of the county was converted into Chao'an City in 1953, and was renamed Chaozhou City (county-level) later that year. In 1955, the provincial seat moved to Shantou;the city was abolished five years later, and was reestablished in 1979. In 1983, the situation was reversed, as Chao'an was merged into Chaozhou City. Chaozhou was made a provincially-administered city in January 1989, and a vice-prefecture-level city in January 1990. In December 1991, Chaozhou was further upgraded to its current statue of prefecture-level city.

Chaozhou and the nearby cities of Shantou and Jieyang are collectively called Chaoshan. From 1958 until 1983, this name was used for the joint political-administrative area which encompassed the three cities. For the next five years, Shantou City was a higher-level city, containing Chaozhou and Jieyang within it. Currently, Chaozhou, Shantou and Jieyang are equal in status.

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