Shantou is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province, China, one of China's special economic zones. It is located in east Guangdong, bordering South China Sea in the southeast, and separated with Taiwan across the sea. Hanjiang injects into South China Sea here. Shantou covers a total area of 2,064 square kilometers, population of 4.8464 million, more than 3 million overseas Chinese, and is a famous hometown of overseas Chinese in China.
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Shantou has subtropical monsoon climate. There is typhoon in summer and autumn with an average annual rainfall of 2,420 mm. The annual average temperature is 21.3 ℃, the monthly average temperature is 13.1 ℃ in January and 28.3 ℃ in July.
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1. Tropic of Cancer Mark Tower
Shantou Tropic of Cancer Mark Tower is at longitude 116 degrees, 35 minutes 8.78 seconds, north latitude 23 degrees 26 minutes 32.49 seconds, 13.6 m high, 30 meters in bottom width. The Mark Tower base is a circular platform with ground granite bricks, and the main building is a globe supported with a bracket. The bracket is shaped "North", inlaid with white marble stones as a symbol of the Tropic of Cancer. The globe is 5 m in diameter, and the shaft is a stainless steel pipe 45 cm in diameter, which points the center of a circle with granite of the observation platform. At the summer solstice each year, when the sun is directly above the Tropic of Cancer, the shadow of the sun cast through the stainless steel may be seen at the centre of the observation platform. The east-west direction of the observation platform has a black slate belt, which is the entity of the Tropic of Cancer and indicates the dividing line between tropical and north temperate. In addition, the peak of the Mark Tower has Kua Fu Pavilion and Deng Lin Pavilion named after "the Classics of Mountains and Rivers"
2. Qing'ao Bay
Qing'ao Bay is known as "Oriental Hawaii". The bay is crescent-shaped and the sea surface is plain. The soft and golden sand bay stretches more than 2,400 meters, with a gentle slope, the sands are clean and extended to over 100m on the sea, with no rock or silt; the sea water is pollution-free, and will not change the clear blue color with ebb and flow;
Qing'ao Bay relies on steep mountains with rugged rocks; the bay is surrounded by windbreaks with depth of 100, with luxuriant greenness in four seasons, which forms a distinct three-dimensional level with glittering golden sandy bay and blue translucent seawater. It is one of the A level bathing beaches in Guangdong Province and also known as White Horse Turned Belly.
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Railway
Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou Railway covers a total length of 480 km, started construction in January 1991, was paved in July 1995 and put into for freight transport on September 27, 1995, and for passenger transport on December 28, 1995. Shantou is the terminus of Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou Railway Station.
Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway was completed and put into use in 2011. Although the Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway has a site in the Gurao Town of Chaoyang District instead of in Shantou city, the city area of Shantou and Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway have established a two-way contact line.
Roads
There is Shenzhen-Shantou Expressway, Shantou-Fenshuiguan Expressway, and Shantou-Kunming Expressway and Shantou-Zhanjiang Expressway etc. Roads including Guangzhou-Shantou Highway (State Road 324), Jieyang-Shantou (State Road 206), Guandu- Shantou, Chaozhou- Shantou and other lines reach Guangzhou, Meizhou and Xiamen.
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Shantou Waisha Airport boasts 4D flight zone grade. The runway is 2,500 meters long, 45 meters wide, the taxiway is 2,500 meters long and 18 meters wide for the Boeing 757, MD 82 and the other medium and large-sized aircraft to take off and land. The terminal building covers 22,900 square meters with four boarding bridges; the apron covers 72,000 square meters, and can park 5 Boeing 757 and 7 Boeing 737 aircraft. The airport can handle 3 million passengers each year. It is open to navigation to over 20 Chinese cities, and has 14 china routes and 2 international regional routes.
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