The Guangdong people are renowned for their wide-ranging cuisine. They eat almost all mammals, reptiles and rodents, including snakes, cats and mice, which strikes people from other parts of China, as well as foreigners, as rather eccentric. Like Westerners, they like to start, rather than finish, their meal with soup. These adventurous eating customs demonstrate the Guangdong people's pioneering spirit.

This propensity for exploration has its historical background. Guangdong is one of the earliest Chinese regions to open to the outside world, and is also the cradle of modern Chinese revolution. The Democratic Revolution, led by Sun Yat-sen, originated in Guangdong; and the Chinese Communist revolution was also closely linked to Guangdong. The early opening of the province provided the local people with the chance to look at the world and boldly accept new ideas that would help in China's reform.

Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925) was born into a farming family in Guangdong. At the age of 13, he went to Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii, a Pacific island and a part of the USA since the early 19th century, to seek refuge with his brother. In 1865, due to its lack of labor force, the United States began to bring in laborers from China, and Sun Yat-sen's brother was one of the many who went there as farm workers with the aim of making their fortune. With the limited funds he had savedavailable, Sun's brother ran a farm and gradually became a capitalist. With his brother's help, Sun Yat-sen stayed in Hawaii for five years, and after studying at two church schools, became a Christian. He carried on to study at a British academy in Hong Kong and later a missionary medical school.

Sun's Western education and internalization of Western ideas, and concepts of democracy were major factors in this Chinese revolutionary pioneer's desire to lead the Democratic Revolution.

Another Guangdong native who also led a revolution in China under Western influence -- the Taiping Rebellion, was Hong Xiuquan. This influence went back to 1582, when the Italian missionary Matteo Ricci first came to Guangdong, and converted some 3 million Chinese. More than 200 years later, Hong Xiuquan, after reading a number of Bible tracts, became a Catholic, and also convinced large numbers of his compatriots to adopt the faith. He regarded Issachar Jacob Roberts, a Baptist church clergyman in Guangzhou, as his teacher. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, led by Hong Xiuquan, opposed the Qing imperial government, and ruled in southern China for about a decade, amassing tens of thousands of followers. During the time his Taiping Army occupied Nanjing, Hong invited Roberts there to disseminate Catholicism. The regime was eventually overthrown by the Qing government with the aid of invading British and American armies.

The young Sun Yat-sen, a great admirer of Hong Xiuquan, paid close attention to current affairs and political developments, and founded the Revive China Society as a means to raising funds from overseas Chinese. He led the Revolution of 1911, which ended Qing rule, and founded the Republic of China. Sun thus became known as the Chinese revolution pioneer, and many of his colleagues were also Guangdong natives.

Examples of the pioneering spirit of the Guangdong people continue with Lu Ruihua, provincial governor of Guangdong, and a graduate of Zhongshan University. One of his most remarkable political achievements was his initiation, in 1999, of the practice of inviting foreign consultants to Guangdong to do research on its potential development. These foreign consultants give advice on industrial and technological development, and at the same time introduce new concepts. Their areas of consultation include education, environmental protection, social security, and most important, economic and industrial development. For example, the executive vice president of the ABB Group advised on how to develop the power industry in Guangdong, and other consultants have offered suggestions on urbanization, informatization and the tertiary industry. The most notable suggestion is one concerning construction of the Zhujiang River Delta city group, which the governor considers an important component of the province's development strategy. In seeking advice from foreign consultants, the governor has broadened his view and increased communication channels with the outside world. Moreover, the visiting foreigners, most of whom are heads of Fortune 500 enterprises, have gained the opportunity to participate in, and gain benefit from, construction within Guangdong.

"I saw a genuine masterpiece in Guangzhou, an ivory carving portraying the Guangzhou Commune Uprising," exclaimed Helen Snow (wife of Edgar Snow, author of Red Star over China) when she visited the Guangdong Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in the 1970s. "Its fluid lines vividly record live history in a live art form. Only a true artist with revolutionary passion and respect for human rights could have created such a piece. I wonder what Picasso would have thought of it if he had seen it." When Guangdong Hall was refurbished in 1991, this ivory carving was replaced by a forged copper mural of the Dragon Boat Race, giving the hall a simpler, more direct ambience. According to the commentary available on cassette tape, the decor of the hall symbolizes Guangdong people's sensitivity to the fast changing world and their willing adaptability. The mural is a perfect combination of Guangdong folk culture and current artistic trends, representing the Guangdong people's spirit of exploration.

Fok Ying Tung, the well-known Hong Kong tycoon, is also from Guangdong, and the secret of his success is being "the first one to eat the crab." He started in real estate in 1954. Fok initially followed the old pattern of buying old houses, demolishing them, rebuilding, and finally selling them, until one day when a neighbor came to him wanting to buy a house. As all the completed houses had been sold, Fok's friend asked if he could buy one that was still under construction. He agreed to a down payment, and handed over the balance of the purchase price when construction had finished. This deal inspired Fok to change his business strategy to one where he sold houses prior to their construction. This method enabled acquisition of the funds necessary for construction, and stimulated sales, bringing Fok huge profits. In the early 1960s, Fok foresaw the potential development of the construction industry in Hong Kong, and spent 1.2 million yuan on a dredge boat to gid up sand, which has brought him even greater wealth.

Tsang Hin-chi, another famous Hong Kong entrepreneur and founder of Goldlion, came to Hong Kong in 1968 as a college graduate from Guangdong's Zhongshan University. After carrying out market research and analysis, he decided to produce ties. His entire capital amounted to HK$ 6,000, with which he had also to support his mother, wife and son. So, he bought a sewing machine, scissors, and a ruler, and rented a simple room, where he worked more than 20 hours a day, meticulously making sample products based on the designs of famous foreign brands. He also personally participated in the marketing of his products. Before long, his Goldlion ties became hugely popular in Hong Kong, and soon entered the international market.

The Cantonese always like to take the lead, and the Konka Co., Ltd., is a good example. Founded in May 1980 with the original name of Guangdong Guangming Huaqiao Electronics Industry Company, it was the very first Sino-foreign electronics joint venture. In August 1991, it was reformed into a Sino-foreign share-holding company, with color TVs and mobile phones as its main products. At present, Konka has total assets of over 10 billion yuan, and its color TV export volume and foreign exchange earnings are the highest in China. When Fortune published its List of Most Appreciated Foreign-funded Enterprises in China in 1999, Konka was listed fourth place for its innovative management, standard operations and overall strength. It is the only TV producer listed among the Fortune top ten.

Electronics and telecommunication equipment manufacturing constitute the pillar industry of Guangdong, its total output value having reached 272.698 billion yuan in 1999, and being a leader in the field nationally for 9 consecutive years. Telecommunications services in Guangdong are advanced. A basic telecommunications network system with a complete structure and advanced technology was built in the province in 2000, and it now has 14.20 million telephone subscribers and 12.53 million mobile phone users.

The printing industry has also developed rapidly in Guangdong in recent years, and printing plants, filling orders from home and abroad, have increased at an annual rate of 600.

The Guangzhou Pumped Storage Power Station, jointly invested by the Guangdong Power Group, the State Development and Investment Company, and the Guangdong Nuclear Power Investment Company, is now in operation. Being the first high water head, high storage power plant in China, it has an installed capacity of 2.4 million kw at a total investment of some 3 billion yuan.

Guangdong is also China's largest flower base. Hundreds of flower and lawn production bases with a total planting area of 6,666 hectares have been set up in the province, that have an annual output value of about 2 billion yuan, earning more than US$ 90 million in foreign currency.