Guangdong is all of the following:

* The province that has enjoyed the highest degree of opening in Chinese history;
* The cradle of the Chinese modern revolution;
* The first experimental unit of reform since China implemented its open policy in the 1980s;
* A paradigm of innovation; and
* A gateway that connects China to the rest of the world.

TO many Chinese, Guangdong Province was in the past a peculiar, mysterious place due to its close proximity to Hong Kong and Macao. In 1949, when the Chinese Communist Party assumed power in China, Hong Kong maintained a completely different political system and ideology, despite being geographically a part of the mainland. Guangdong, therefore, became the window through which Chinese and foreigners kept an eye on one another.

By staff reporter LI XIA