Located at the south-most area of Mainland China, Guangdong Province covers mainland and numerous islands. There are five mountains to the north and the South Sea to the south. The terrain here features in a higher north part and lower south part, and inclines to central areas from east to west. There are mountains, plains, hills and watercourses crisscrossing from one and another. The land area of Guangdong is 177,900 km2. The coastline (island coastline exclusive) is 3,368 km. Major rivers are Zhujiang River, Hanjiang River, Jianjiang River, etc.. By the end of 2002, the registered population in Guangdong was 76,492,900. In addition to the Han nationality, there are 42 minor nationalities (including Yao, Zhuang, Hui, Man, She, Li, Miao, etc. ) living in this province counting to 1.42% of the overall population in the province.

In Guangdong Province, there are 2 cities at the sub-provincial level, 19 cities at the local level, 23 cities at the county level, 45 counties (including 3 autonomous counties), 54 zones at the county level, 1,529 towns, 26 villages, 7 nationality villages, and 351 street offices.

Since China blew its horn of economic reform, the culture industry in Guangdong Province has witnessed vigorous development, which reflects great energy and vitality of socialistic culture. With the successful implementation of the “South Guangdong Splendor Engineering” in 1995 and the bill (about culture development in mountain areas) of Provincial People’s Congress in 1998, governments at all level have made an investment up to RMB 1.008 billion yuans on 950 construction projects, including newly building (expanding) 6 public art facilities, 6 libraries, 4 museums and 3 drama troupes at the city level; 43 culture facilities, 33 libraries, 37 museums and 32 drama troupes at the county level; and 786 culture facilities at the town/village level. By the end of 2002, the provincial government formally raised the task of constructing a province of culture for Guangdong. In September 2003, the provincial government held a special conference concerning the construction of a province of culture, which opened a new page for the culture development in Guangdong.

From 1995 to 2002, Guangdong finance made an investment of RMB 6.041 yuans to the culture industry (infrastructure engineering exclusive). During the 8 years, mangy modern culture facilities featured in a larger investment scale and more advanced equipment were built in the Zhujiang Delta area, which have attracted eyes from all over the country. In Guangdong Province, there are 2,487 culture institutions (self-support organizations exclusive, the same for following cases) with a culture crew of 22,859. There have been preliminarily established backbone networks of art composition and performance, public culture, public library, motion picture publication and cinema, cultural relic and culture market. A new culture structure based on the theory of “government guides culture and community constructs culture” has taken its shape.

In according to incomplete statistics, the general output of culture industry in 2002 was RMB 6.74 billion yuans, counting to 13.58% of overall cultural output of the country. Guangdong has many well-known troupes, such as Guangzhou Philharmonic (one of the major three philharmonics in China) and Guangdong Experimental Modern Dancing Troupe (one of the most famous troupes in the world). There are also many landmark culture facilities that have been built or are under constructing, including the new building of Guangdong Provincial Museum, Xinghai Music Odeum, Shenzhen Music Odeum, Dongguan Theatre, etc.. The construction of culture facilities in mountain and remote areas in Guangdong leaps to the top of the country. The “All Star Award” is one of the top awards in China’s social culture filed, and Guangdong Province has managed to obtain the Champion on aspect of general performance in continuous two years and the number of gold awards in continuous three years. Guangdong has established the ever first under-water archaeological base in China and even in Asia. In the year of 1997, 2000 and 2001, there were archaeological projects in the province raked among “China’s Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries”. In 2002, the annual sales of Guangdong Audio and Video Plaza was RMB 1.6 billion Yuans, counting to 70% of the total amount of audio and video product wholesale in China. Guangdong has also taken the top seat on aspect of the number of groups and visitors of international culture exchange activities in continuous 5 years.