Chaozhou

Lying in the middle and lower reaches of the Hanjiang River of Guangdong Province, Chaozhou is a famous national historical and cultural city in South China. It is higher in the north and lower in the south with hills and mountains covering 65% of the whole city, mostly in the north of Raoping and Chao'an counties. North of the city are mainly mountains, while the middle are hills and the Hanjiang alluvial plain. Starting from Fengshun County, the Hanjiang River runs to the sea via Chao'an County. The Huanggang River runs through the whole county of Raoping from north to south.

Hills here are not tall but marvelous; rivers are not surging, but with beautiful scenery. With Jinshan Mountain in the north, the Penholder Mountain in the east, the Calabash Mountain in the west and the Hanjiang River in the south, Chaozhou is a city surrounded by three mountains and a river. The well known historic sites are the Xiangzi Bridge, which is a key cultural relics site under the state protection and one of the top four ancient bridges, the other three are the Zhaozhou Bridge, the Luoyang Bridge and the Lugou Bridge; the Xu's mansion of the princess's husband, which is a rarely seen mansion architecture of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and one of the Three Treasures of the ancient architecture of Chaozhou; the Kaiyuan Temple in Chaozhou, which is one of the only four extant Kaiyuan temples in China and one of the big four temples of Chaozhou; the Hanwengong Memorial Temple which is the oldest and best preserved one in China; the Thai-style Buddhist temple with the largest land area of the like in China; the Beige Buddhist Lantern which originated in the Song Dynasty and being one of the eight major scenic spots of Chaozhou; The relics of the imperial kiln of the Song Dynasty, which is called the Village with Hundreds of Kilns; the Huanggong Memorial Temple, which is famous for its wooden carvings; the Jinsha Congxi Memorial Temple, which is claimed as the Number One in the south of the Qingling Mountain area; the Guangji city tower, which is as famous as the Yuexiushan Building of the Five Ram City; the Ganlu Temple with a stone carving the Smiling Buddhist carved 16 meters deep the granite rock; the group of stones eroded by the ancient sea with a lot of stones like eagles, dogs, dragons and phoenixes; others like the Phoenix Pagoda, the Confucius Temple, the Wangda Tomb and the Lindaqin Tomb, etc.

With a coastal line of 136 kilometers, Chaozhou is located in the subtropical zone with a subtropical oceanic climate. With an average annual temperature of 21.4oC, Chaozhou has a long summer and a short winter. No snow can be found here throughout the whole year. Chaozhou is a city with mild climate and abundant rain.