Overview

The city of Zhaoqing lies about 85 kilometers, as the crow flies, almost due west of the capital city of Guangzhou, along the banks of the Xi ("West") River. The city spans some 15,000 square kilometers (1,500,000 hectares, or 3,706,580 acres), and is situated at the western extremity of a ring of mountains that form an abbreviated horseshoe just north of the delta area in which the city of Guangzhou lies. Below this abbreviated horseshoe lies the justly famous (famous for its aqua- and agriculture) Pearl River Delta. The Pearl River (aka Zhu River) itself is a short river that empties into the Pearl River Estuary, being formed by the confluences of the Dong River (which flows in from the east, dong meaning "east"), Bei River (which flows in from the north via a valley that cuts through the mountains, bei meaning "north") and Xi River (which flows in from the west, xi, as indicated, meaning "west") in the immediate vicinity of the city of Guangzhou.

Lying at the southern extremity of the western arc of this horseshoe of mountains, Zhaoqing is, not surprisingly, characterized by mountains and hills, which describes some 80% of the city's land mass. Given the city's position relative to this overall topographic picture, the mid- to northerly part of the city is accordingly mountainous - much of it in the form of a karst landscape - while the south-southeasterly part of the city is characterized by a plain.

There are a number of ethnic groups living in Zhaoqing alongside the majority Han Chinese ethnic group. These include the Chuang, Dong, Hui, Li, Man, Miao, Tujia and Yao ethnic minorities, as well as the Hakka, who are a sub-culture within the Han Chinese ethnic majority, but are today considered a unique ethnic minority, given the fact that they have preserved a large portion of their traditional customs, in much the same way that the 54 other Chinese ethnic minorities have maintained their cultural unqiueness.