Tianhe District

Tianhe 天河 Tin Ho
—  District  —
天河区
Zhujiang New Town
Tianhe District in Guangzhou
Country	China
Region	Guangzhou
Area
• Total	141 km2 (54 sq mi)
Population (2006)
• Total	645,453
• Density	Bad rounding here4,600/km2 (Bad rounding here12,000/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	510630
Area code(s)	020
Website	http://www.thnet.gov.cn/

Tianhe District
Simplified Chinese	天河区
Traditional Chinese	天河區
Guangdong Romanization	tin6 ho4 kêu1
Hanyu Pinyin	Tīanhé Qū
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Tīanhé Qū Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping tin1 ho4 keoi1 - Yale Romanization Tīnhòh Kēui - Guangdong Romanization tin6 ho4 kêu1
Alternative Chinese name
Chinese	天河
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Tīanhé Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping tin1 ho4 - Yale Romanization Tīnhòh - Guangdong Romanization tin6 ho4

Tianhe District is one of the ten districts in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. In Chinese, the name Tianhe means a river in the sky or simply "sky river". It is bordered by Yuexiu District on the west, Baiyun District on the north and Huangpu District on the east. Haizhu District is on its south, though they are separated by the Zhujiang River.

Tianhe became a district in the 1980s as the city expanded its size. Back then, it was east of another district called Dongshan (which was merged into Yuexiu in 2005) and it was more suburban like if not rural like. Even though a majority of colleges and universities in the city were located in the district, the rest of the district was mostly composed of rice fields.^{[citation needed]}

Administrative divisions

Name	Chinese (S)	Hanyu Pinyin	Guangdong Romanization
Tianyuan Subdistrict	天园街道	Tiānyuán Jiēdào	tin1 yun4 gai1 dou6
Wushan Subdistrict	五山街道	Wǔshān Jiēdào	ng5 san1 gai1 dou6
Yuancun Subdistrict	员村街道	Yuáncūn Jiēdào	yun4 qun1 gai1 dou6
Chebei Subdistrict	车陂街道	Chēbēi Jiēdào	cé1 béi1 gai1 dou6
Shahe Subdistrict	沙河街道	Shāhé Jiēdào	sa1 ho4 gai1 dou6
Shipai Subdistrict	石牌街道	Shípái Jiēdào	ség6 pai4 gai1 dou6
Xinghua Subdistrict	兴华街道	Xìnghuá Jiēdào	hing1 wai4 gai1 dou6
Shadong Subdistrict	沙东街道	Shādōng Jiēdào	sa1 dung1 gai1 dou6
Linhe Subdistrict	林和街道	Línhé Jiēdào	lem4 wo4 gai1 dou6
Tangxia Subdistrict	棠下街道	Tángxià Jiēdào	tong4 ha6 gai1 dou6
Liede Subdistrict	猎德街道	Lièdé Jiēdào	lib6 deg1 gai1 dou6
Xiancun Subdistrict	冼村街道	Xiǎncūn Jiēdào	xin2 qun1 gai1 dou6
Yuangang Subdistrict	元岗街道	Yuángǎng Jiēdào	yun4 gong1 gai1 dou6
Tianhenan Subdistrict	天河南街道	Tiānhénán Jiēdào	tin6 ho4 gai1 dou6
Huangcun Subdistrict	黄村街道	Huángcūn Jiēdào	wong4 qun1 gai1 dou6
Longdong Subdistrict	龙洞街道	Lóngdòng Jiēdào	lung4 dung6 gai1 dou6
Changxing Subdistrict	长兴街道	Zhǎngxìng Jiēdào	cêng4 hing1 gai1 dou6
Fenghuang Subdistrict	凤凰街道	Fènghuáng Jiēdào	fung6 wong4 gai1 dou6
Qianjin Subdistrict	前进街道	Qiánjìn Jiēdào	qin4 zên3 gai1 dou6
Zhuji Subdistrict	珠吉街道	Zhūjí Jiēdào	ju1 ged1 gai1 dou6
Xīntang Subdistrict	新塘街道	Xīntáng Jiēdào	sen1 tong4 gai1 dou6

Developments

The first big project built in the district during the 1980s was the Tianhe Sports Center when the city was selected to host the Sixth National Games in 1986. The complex includes a stadium of 65,000 seats, a gymnasium and an indoor swimming pool. Its construction had a lasting impact on the development of the district. Soon other projects followed and rice fields gave away to residential complexes called "xiaoqu" (meaning "little districts"). The construction of xiaoqu began in the mid and late eighties and most of them had residential buildings of no more than 10 stories. Each floor was kept to no more than four units due to the lack of elevators since they would increase the construction cost. Also, due to the sheer number of residential buildings — some xiaoqu had more than 20 residential buildings — a lot of land was needed and thus converted.

The building of Guangzhou East Railway Station in 1990 further contributed to the growth of the district. The old Guangzhou Railway Station is 10 km to the west and was the terminus for trains to and from Beijing and Hong Kong. To relieve the traffic, the East Railroad Station was built and is now the terminus for trains to and from Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

As the district developed, the size of xiaoqu became smaller since land became more valuable and expensive. Most of the new xiaoqu now only consist of four to six residential buildings but each can contain 30 floors or more since the growth of district attracted big developers where the cost of construction (such as elevators) was no longer an issue. Also, taller residential buildings gave rise to taller office buildings.

South of the Sports Center and north of the Zhujiang River is Zhujiang New Town, an area desolate a decade ago but which is now one of the fastest-developing areas of Guangzhou. Many of Guangzhou's newest and most iconic buildings are found in this part of the district.

Several venues used for the 2010 Asian Games are located in Tianhe District.

Economy

• Guangzhou Science City
• Google has an office in Tianhe District.
• All Nippon Airways operates its Guangzhou Office in the district. Since May 3, 2011 it has been located in Tower A of Victory Plaza. On May 2, 2011 and prior, it was located in the 2605 CITIC Plaza.
• Renren.com has its Guangzhou office in the China Shine Plaza (S: 耀中广场, T: 耀中廣場, P: Yàozhōng Guǎngchǎng) in Tianhe.
• When 56.com was an independent company, it was headquartered in Huajingyuan (S: 华景园, T: 華景園, P: Huájǐngyuán) in the Tianhe Software Park (S: 天河软件园, T: 天河軟件園, P: Tiānhé Ruǎnjiànyuán), Tianhe District.

Education

Many of the city's colleges and universities are located in the district. They include:

• Guangzhou Sports College
• Guangzhou Military Sports Academy
• Jinan University
• Guangdong Industrial University
• South China Agricultural University
• South China University of Technology
• South China Normal University

Transportation

Besides the Guangzhou East Railway Station (referred to by locals as simply "East Station"), Tianhe is also the terminus for several Guangzhou Metro lines, and one line goes through it:

Metro

Tianhe is currently service by five metro lines operated by Guangzhou Metro:

• Line 1 - Tiyu Xilu (3 North & South), Tianhe Sports Center, Guangzhou East Station (3)
• Line 3 (North Line) - Yantang (6), Guangzhou East Station (1), Linhexi (APM), Tiyu Xilu (13 South)
• Line 3 (South Line) - Tianhe Coach Terminal (6), Wushan, South China Normal University, Gangding, Shipaiqiao, Tiyu Xilu (13 North), Zhujiang New Town (5)
• Line 4 - Huangcun, Chebei, Chebeinan (5)
• Line 5 - Zhujiang New Town (3), Liede, Tancun, Yuancun, Keyun Lu, Chebeinan (4), Dongpu, Sanxi
• APM - Linhexi (3), Tianhe Sports Center South, Tianhenan, Huangpu Dadao, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Huacheng Dadao, Guangzhou Opera House, Haixinsha

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• Line 6 (u/c) - Shaheding, Shahe, Tianpingjia, Yantang (3), Tianhe Coach Terminal (3), Changban, Botanical Garden, Longdong, Kemulang, Gaotangshi

Notable buildings

The CITIC Plaza and Tianhe Sports Center

• CITIC Plaza, is a complex completed in 1997 between Tianhe Sports Center and Guangzhou East Railroad Station, that has a 80-story, 391 m (1,291 ft) skyscraper of the same name. It was briefly the tallest building in China and now the third tallest in the country and seventh in the world.

• Pearl River Tower, a skyscraper under construction at the junction of Jinsui Road/Zhujiang Avenue West. It is due for completion Autumn 2009 and will be occupied by the China National Tobacco Corporation.

• Guangzhou International Finance Center, is a tall skyscraper 435m high. It was built between 2005 and 2010.

• The famous shopping mall, TeeMall, a very big shopping centre, the Chinese from Guangzhou even call it the biggest shopping mall in Asia (although the biggest mall in Asia is actually the Golden Resources Mall in Beijing).

• Shipai Village is a large urban village located in Tianhe District.

External links

• Official Site (Chinese (PRC))