Area: 1,600 km2 (600 sq mi)
Density: 5,100/km2 (2,000 per sq mi)
2017 GDP: 0.7 trillion yuan (100 billion USD)
Per capita per month: 7,000 yuan (1,000 USD)
Dongguan is a little-known but huge manufacturing city, between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, ranked fourth in China for exports. It has also grown phenomenally in the last couple of decades. It employs huge numbers of rural factory workers, producing electronic items and other hardware, like computer peripherals.
It’s the poorest of China’s large cities, dominated by low-wage-earning migrant factory workers. Over a million overseas Chinese and residents of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan came from Dongguan. Tourism is virtually unheard-of there, apart from for those returning to their roots.
