Get to know Haizhu District
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- Administrative area
- District · 市辖区
- Part of
- Guangzhou
- Chinese name
- 海珠区
- Local areas
- District guide
Area & population
- Area in the source
- 90.40 km²
- Population · 2020
- 1,819,037
Source: cited geographic source, as of the dates shown.
History
Guangzhou people call the land south of the river's front channel "Henan", literally "south of the river". Legend ties the name to Yang Fu (杨孚), an Eastern Han scholar from Xiadu (下渡), then an island in the Pearl River: he planted a pine brought from Luoyang, and when frost coated it people said he had carried home the snow of Henan. From 214 BC the area belonged to Panyu County (番禺县) of Nanhai Commandery (南海郡). The Henan urban area came under Guangzhou city in 1921, and after more villages joined in 1937 the area was known as the "73 villages of Henan". Henan District was formed in 1950, renamed South District in 1956 and Haizhu District in August 1960. Most of the island was farmland and villages until factories spread in the late Republic; from the 1990s many moved out and their sites became housing.
What to see
Canton Tower (广州塔), nicknamed the "slim waist" (小蛮腰), stands in Chigang subdistrict (赤岗街道) 125 metres from the south bank of the Pearl River, facing Haixinsha (海心沙) island and Zhujiang New Town (珠江新城). Mainly a sightseeing tower that also transmits radio and television, it provided broadcasting for the 2010 Asian Games; it was completed in 2009 and opened to the public on 1 October 2010. The tower body is 454 metres high and a mast carries it to 600 metres.
Taikoo Cang (太古仓), at 124 Gexin Road (革新路), is a wharf and group of British-style warehouses that Butterfield & Swire (太古洋行) built in 1904–1908 for its shipping line, with T-shaped piers along a 321-metre quay. It has been converted to creative, exhibition, leisure and sightseeing uses.
Haizhu National Wetland Park (海珠国家湿地公园), in the south-east of the district, is a semi-natural wetland of fruit orchards known locally as the "ten-thousand-mu orchard". It covers 1,100 hectares, 380 of them water, between the Pazhou (琶洲) exhibition district to the north and Guangzhou University Town (广州大学城) to the south, and became a national 4A scenic area in 2023.
Other sights include the former headquarters of Sun Yat-sen's Generalissimo government (孙中山大元帅府旧址), Pazhou Pagoda (琶洲塔) and Chigang Pagoda (赤岗塔), the former home of Deng Shichang (邓世昌), Shixiang Garden (十香园) and the Guangzhou International Convention and Exhibition Center (广州国际会议展览中心).
Highlights
- Canton Tower 广州塔: 600-metre tower on the south bank of the Pearl River, opened on 1 October 2010.
- Taikoo Cang 太古仓: Butterfield & Swire wharf and warehouses of 1904–1908, now used for culture and leisure.
- Haizhu National Wetland Park 海珠国家湿地公园: 1,100 hectares of orchard wetland in the south-east of the district.
Sources for this guide
基本概况 广州市海珠区人民政府门户网站 · Haizhu District People's Government, Guangzhou
海珠区 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
广州塔 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
太古仓 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
海珠湿地公园 - 维基百科，自由的百科全书 · Wikipedia (Chinese) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Original English written from the listed sources and checked sentence by sentence against quoted extracts by a separate reviewer. Updated 2026-09-25.
Explore Haizhu District
Core places to explore, with English and Chinese names.
Places to explore around Haizhu District
Canton Tower · 广州塔Canton Tower广州塔
Canton Tower rises from the Haizhu bank of the Pearl River with a lattice structure that narrows into a twisted waist. The building was designed around rotated ellipses, so its outer columns appear to tighten and then open out…
Read the place guide →
Row of restored brick warehouse buildings and a water tower at Taigucang Wharf, Haizhu District, Guangzhou · 广东省广州市海珠区太古仓码头红砖仓库建筑群及水塔 Source-recorded photograph date: 2024-02-04.Taikoo Cang Wharf太古仓
Butterfield & Swire's 1904-1908 wharf and godowns on the Pearl River in Haizhu, Guangzhou, used for cargo until 2007 and now converted.
Read the place guide →
Wetland pond with lily pads at Haizhu National Wetland Park, Haizhu District · 海珠区海珠国家湿地公园，荷叶点缀的湿地水面 Source-recorded photograph date: 2015-02-21 12:20:38.Haizhu National Wetland Park海珠国家湿地公园
A 1,100-ha tidal orchard wetland in central Guangzhou, with Haizhu Lake, Lingnan-style buildings, bird habitat and old fruit orchards.
Read the place guide →Plan your visit
Getting there
Haizhu District is about 10 km in a straight line from central Guangzhou. Search for 海珠区 in a map app to find stations and your accommodation.
Where to stay →Build your route
Canton Tower and Taikoo Cang Wharf are both listed here. The linked place guides have entrance and visit details.
Continue with Guangzhou →More in Guangzhou
Sources & geographic information
Administrative names and parent areas: Official geographic directory · Reference date 2026-09-06.
Some facts checked against 海珠区 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 广州塔 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 太古仓 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Some facts checked against 海珠湿地公园 — Wikipedia contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo: Canton Tower · Tim Wu · CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia thumbnail; fitted to the ranking-card frame.
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Photo: Taikoo Cang Wharf · Lhzss8 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Photo: Haizhu National Wetland Park · CRCHF · CC BY-SA 4.0. Full frame retained; proportionally resized and converted to WebP. No retouching or changes to the photographed subject. Card displays may crop the view.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Pins mark approximate centres, not entrances or boundaries.