Pearl River Delta, China
Agriculture
Cities
Coasts
In 1978, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region in southern China had a population of just under 10 million. The population was scattered between several medium-sized cities on an interlacing network of rivers and streams.
Some of those cites have become megacities, and the entire region has merged into one continuous, if scattered, megalopolis with a combined population greater than the six U.S. New England states plus New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
The PRD now has a population higher than Tokyo, making it the world’s largest urban area.
In 1978, China began new economic policies that loosened regulation for migrating within the country, and people either moved permanently to cities to find work in industry or moved there temporarily for seasonal work. In-migration has been the largest contributor to the rapid population rise. The new model also opened up the country to foreign investment and less government control on private businesses.
Landsat’s long record and spatial resolution make it ideal for mapping change in areas that are urbanizing rapidly, such as the Pearl River Delta. Urban area growth dominates the later images in this Landsat time series.
Municipalities and Special Administrative Regions of the Pearl River Delta
2019 estimated population
| Shenzhen | 13,195,000 |
| Dongguan | 8,410,000 |
| Zhongshan | 3,005,000 |
| Jiangmen | 1,445,000 |
| Huizhou | 1,635,000 |
| Zhuhai | 1,645,000 |
| Guangzhou and Foshan | 20,130,000 |
| Zhaoqing | 630,000 |
| Hong Kong | 7,435,000 |
| Macau | 685,000 |
| Total for the PRD cities | 58,215,000* |
* For comparison, the population of Tokyo is 38,505,000
Location
Dec. 25, 1973, Landsat 1 (path/row 131/44) — Pearl River Delta, China
Nov. 3, 1986, Landsat 5 (path/row 122/44) — Pearl River Delta, China
Nov. 9, 1994, Landsat 5 (path/row 122/44) — Pearl River Delta, China
Sep. 14, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 122/44) — Pearl River Delta, China
Oct. 22, 2005, Landsat 5 (path/row 122/44) — Pearl River Delta, China
Nov. 2, 2009, Landsat 5 (path/row 122/44) — Pearl River Delta, China
Oct. 23, 2017, Landsat 8 (path/row 122/44) — Pearl River Delta, China
Nov. 14, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 122/44) — Pearl River Delta, China
Nov. 14, 2019, Landsat 8 (path/row 122/44) — Pearl River Delta, China
Pearl River Delta, China Additional Imagery & Stories
Bridge
Cities that are growing this rapidly must also show accompanying infrastructure changes. The additions of bridges, highways, railroads, and airports a...
Dongguan
The urban growth in the PRD is vast. There are no longer any clear urban centers—a different growth trajectory from other large cities in China such a...
Guangzhou and Foshan
As an example of how the cities of the region have merged after the 1978 reforms, these images are a closer look at Guangzhou and Foshan. Even in 2000...
Industry
The PRD was mostly rural before the 1978 reforms began. The major industries were farming and aquaculture. The major crops were rice, sugar cane, pean...
References
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