Shantou

Shantou 汕头市 Swatow; Shantow
Prefecture-level city
From top: Zhengguo Temple, Renmin Square, Queshi Bridge, Shantou overview.
Location of Shantou City jurisdiction in Guangdong
Shantou Location in China
Coordinates (Shantou municipal government): 23°21′14″N 116°40′55″E / 23.354°N 116.682°E / 23.354; 116.682
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Guangdong
Municipal seat	Jinping District
Government
• CPC Committee Secretary	Fang Lixu (方利旭)
• Mayor	Zheng Jiange (郑剑戈)
Area
• Prefecture-level city	2,248.39 km2 (868.11 sq mi)
• Metro	9,297.1 km2 (3,589.6 sq mi)
Elevation	51 m (167 ft)
Population  (2020 census)[1]
• Prefecture-level city	5,502,031
• Density	2,400/km2 (6,300/sq mi)
• Urban	4,312,192
• Metro [2]	12,543,024
• Metro density	1,300/km2 (3,500/sq mi)
• Major Nationalities	Han
GDP
• Prefecture-level city	CN¥ 293 billion US$ 45.4 billion
• Per capita	CN¥ 53,106 US$ 8,232
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal Code	515000, 515041
Area code	754
ISO 3166 code	CN-GD-05
Language	Min
Local dialect	Swatow dialect
Website	shantou.gov.cn

Shantou
"Shàntóu", as written in Chinese
Simplified Chinese	汕头
Traditional Chinese	汕頭
Postal	Swatow
Literal meaning	Fish-basket Point
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shàntóu IPA [ʂân.tʰǒʊ] Wu Romanization Sae去deu平 Hakka Romanization Sân-thèu Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Saantàuh Jyutping Saan3 tau4 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Sòaⁿ-thâu Teochew Peng'im Suan1tao5

Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow^[3][4] and sometimes known as Santow,^[5] is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2020 census (5,391,028 in 2010) and an administrative area of 2,248.39 square kilometres (868.11 sq mi). However, its built-up (or metro) area is much bigger with 12,543,024 inhabitants including Rongcheng and Jiedong districts, Jiexi county and Puning city in Jieyang plus all of Chaozhou city largely conurbated. This is de facto the 5th built-up area in mainland China between Hangzhou-Shaoxing (13,035,026 inhabitants), Xi'an-Xianyang (12,283,922 inhabitants) and Tianjin (11,165,706 inhabitants).

Shantou, a city significant in 19th-century Chinese history as one of the treaty ports established for Western trade and contact, was one of the original special economic zones of China established in the 1980s, but did not blossom in the manner that cities such as Shenzhen, Xiamen and Zhuhai did. However, it remains eastern Guangdong's economic centre, and is home to Shantou University, which is under the provincial Project 211 program in Guangdong.