Guangdong, capitalizing on its traditional role as China's gateway to the outside world and its proximity to Hong Kong and Macau, has witnessed momentous and fundamental changes since 1978. The province has raced ahead in rapid economic development and physical transformation, reaping the largest dividends in China's open policy and economic reforms. So rapidly has Guangdong developed during the last decade that it has set for itself the target of becoming another little dragon of Asia.This volume addresses the processes, outcomes and meanings of the rapidity of physical and socioeconomic transformation in Guangdong across a wide spectrum of subjects. Undertaken almost exclusively by academics in Hong Kong, this book-length study of Guangdong is a major contribution in our quest for a better understanding of China's modernization and development programmes through its multifaceted experimentation in the southerly province.