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Zhaoqing (c=肇庆), alternately romanized as Shiuhing, is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province, China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 4,113,594, with 1,553,109 living in the built-up (or metro) area made of Duanzhou, Dinghu District and Gaoyao District. The prefectural seat—except the Seven Star Crags—is fairly flat, but thickly forested mountains lie just outside its limits. Numerous rice paddies and aquaculture ponds are found on the outskirts of the city. Sihui and the southern districts of the prefecture are considered part of the Pearl River Delta.
Formerly one of the most important cities in South China, Zhaoqing lost its importance during the Qing dynasty dynasty and is now primarily known for tourism and as a provincial "college town". Residents from Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and the other cities of the Pearl River Delta often visit it for weekend excursions. It is also a growing manufacturing center.
The was built in Duanzhou during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song (1022–1063).
When the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century, Zhaoqing was still an important center, serving as the seat of the Viceroy of Liangguang (Guangdong and Guangxi). De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas, Book Two, Chapter 3. Pages 136 in the English translation: Louis J. Gallagher (1953). "China in the Sixteenth Century: The Journals of Matteo Ricci", Random House, New York, 1953. The original Latin text by Nicolas Trigault, De Christiana expeditione apud Sinas suscepta ab Societate Jesu, can be found on Google Books. Matteo Ricci's On the Christian Expedition among the Sinae tells of the early visits of Macao-based Europeans to Zhaoqing. The Viceroy Chen Rui () summoned Macao's mayor and bishop in the early 1580s, but the town sent its auditor Mattia Penella and the Italian Jesuit Michele Ruggieri in their place in 1582.Gallagher (trans.), p. 136. After several false starts, Ruggieri and Matteo Ricci were allowed to establish their residence in the city, the first Jesuit mission house on mainland China, after Zhaoqing's governor Wang Pan learned of Ricci's skill as a mathematician and cartographer. Ricci drew the first modern Chinese map of the world in Zhaoqing in 1584. Ruggieri left for Rome in 1588 but Ricci remained until the next year, when a new viceroy expelled him from the city and obliged the Jesuits to relocate to Shaozhou (now Shaoguan).Gallagher (trans.), pp. 205-229.
During the Fall of the Ming in the mid-17th century, Zhaoqing served as the capital of the Prince of Gui's Southern Ming resistance, with the prince styling himself the Yongli Emperor. The town fell in 1650 and the prince relocated to Guilin and then various locations in Guangxi, Yunnan, and Burma. The Jesuits Andreas Wolfgang Koffler and, later, Michał Boym stayed for some time at his court. Andreas Wolfgang Koffler in The Dictionary of the Ming Biography, pp. 722-723
The Qing viceroy of Liangguang relocated to Guangzhou but Zhaoqing remained a commandery seat, overseeing the counties of Gaoyao District, Guangning County, Deqing, Sihui, and Kaijian County and Fengchuan County (since combined into Fengkai County); Gaoming District (now part of Foshan); Xinxing County (now part of Yunfu); Heshan, Kaiping, and Enping (now part of Jiangmen); and Yangchun and Yangjiang (now part of Yangjiang's separate prefecture).
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| Duanzhou District | 端州区 | Duānzhōu Qū | 479,342 | 153.99 | 3,113 |
| Dinghu District | 鼎湖区 | Dǐnghú Qū | 164,690 | 552.39 | 298 |
| Gaoyao District | 高要区 | Gāoyào Qū | 753,120 | 2,185.62 | 345 |
| Guangning County | 广宁县 | Guǎngníng Xiàn | 423,941 | 2,455.46 | 173 |
| Huaiji County | 怀集县 | Huáijí Xiàn | 813,032 | 3,554.07 | 229 |
| Fengkai County | 封开县 | Fēngkāi Xiàn | 398,258 | 2,723.93 | 146 |
| Deqing County | 德庆县 | Déqìng Xiàn | 341,211 | 2,002.8 | 170 |
| Sihui | 四会市 | Sìhuì Shì | 542,873 | 1,262.96 | 430 |
In the agriculture sector, the fertile plains yield paddy rice, sugar cane, aquatic products, fruits, rosin and cassia bark. Horticulture and farming contribute greatly to the local economy. The industries of Poultry farming and animal husbandry are also seeking to modernize their technology and management.
The forests in the mountainous regions of the city provide a rich source for and other materials like rosin and casia bark that are harvested from various forest plants.
To facilitate industrial development in Zhaoqing, the local government has made great efforts in establishing various industrial zones / parks in the city. The largest one is the Guangdong Zhaoqing High-tech Industrial Development Zone, with an area of , that consists of two industrial parks, Sanrong Industrial Park and Dawang Industrial Park, of areas respectively. Dawang is facilitated as an export processing and trade zone.
Within the city, the primary form of public transportation is the 32 public bus routes and 2 sightseeing routes.
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