Sporting chance to shine with the Games
Two decades of swashbuckling economic endeavour may have brought fortune to the capital of Guangdong, but fame has been more elusive. In a previous era, the city - then called Canton - was well known to politicians and businessmen throughout the world. But in New York, London or Paris today, few will admit to having heard of Guangzhou.
At home, too, the city has seldom been given its due. Despite a long history as China's richest, most open metropolis (until Shenzhen came along), it has always played third fiddle to Beijing and Shanghai.
In the 1980s and early 1990s, Guangzhou was the envy of all, but once the country's open-door policy swung northward, its bigger brethren reclaimed the international spotlight. This despite the fact that Guangzhou is richer than both, with a per capita gross domestic product of US$5,793, and continues to grow at a faster pace - 16.5 per cent in the first quarter of this year.
The city's commercial advantage is obvious. Its hinterland, Guangdong province, is the best place in the world to site a manufacturing business. Its myriad factories crank out most of the world's bras, shoes and toys, and keep moving up the value chain. Located in the centre of the Pearl River Delta, geographically and officially, Guangzhou has profited like no other.
But despite its wealth, the city displays few of the attributes usually associated with the hub of an economically vibrant region. Air and noise pollution pervade the walkways and highways; prostitutes, beggars and vagabonds wander the downtown sidewalks after dusk, and the nightlife offers little by way of razzmatazz, consisting mostly of second-rate bars and karaoke joints that have undergone several name changes and refits under the same owners.