Chen Pingyuan

Cultural bonds and vitalityunderpin the sustainability ofthe Greater Bay Area

Guangdong Province,which quietly sat atthe southern edge ofChina before the Tang (618-907) and Song(960-1279) dynasties,developed faster afterthe Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Its rise has been interpretedas symbolic of the gradualexpansion of China’s cultural center southward.

For a long time, Lingnan,a geographic area coveringthe modern Chinese areas ofGuangdong, Guangxi, Hainan,Hong Kong, and Macao, laggedfar behind China’s CentralPlains in terms of economy and culture in antiquity. Since thelate Qing Dynasty (1644-1911),however, the Chinese people,especially the Cantonese, havemade remarkable contributions to the regional development.

“Lingnan Culture” Area

In 1905, renowned modern Chinese thinker and scholarLiang Qichao (1873-1929)analyzed the position ofGuangdong in world historyin an article. He noted thatthroughout the Chinesehistory, Guangdong, locatedin the remote Lingnan area,had been considered as aplace of little value. However,he stressed that in terms ofworld history, Guangdong wasvery important because of itsconvenient location for seatravel. Cantonese people havedeveloped a vigorous, active,and adventurous character.

Ten years ago, I wrote anarticle on competition anddialogue between the culturesof Guangzhou, Shenzhen, andHong Kong. The three placesare all major metropolises withpopulations of 12.7 million,10.35 million, and 7.1 million,respectively. Hong Kong leadsin terms of financial strengthand per capita output value, butgaps among the three placeshave been narrowing. Aftercompletion of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong ExpressRail Link, traveling fromGuangzhou to Hong Kong viaShenzhen, a total distance of142 kilometers, takes only 48minutes.

The same dialects, customs, and cultural memories of people in these places evidence that they all belong to the “Lingnan culture” area in the traditional sense. But what is Lingnan culture? I tend to describe it in a perceptual way. It’s more focused on practicality than pomp and promotes a rational, modest, flexible, and motivated character. This culture dislikes unreasonable stubbornness and doesn’t advocate the notion of never giving up an ambition until there is no way out.

Guangzhou people are confident in the positive energy Cantonese transmits. Many dialects are in decline and fail to follow the fast-changing academic, ideological, and cultural development. However, because of Hong Kong, Macao as well as the strong economic development of the Pearl RiverDelta, Cantonese is still widelyused and remains vigorous.In the long term, the vitalityof a dialect can be interpretedas a huge cultural wealth andan important indicator of acity’s cultural maturity. An erathat moves so many to opentheir eyes to the world begs thequestion of whether people willremember being back home.And “back home” includesthe cultural traditions, localcostume, food, architecture,transportation, dialect, andspirituality.

Evolution of Culture

Lingnan culture is not afossil, but a living organismundergoing constanttransformation. Since thereform and opening-up inthe late 1970s, many Chinesehave relocated to GuangdongProvince for the fast economicdevelopment of the Pearl RiverDelta. According to statistics, bythe end of 2015, the permanentpopulation of GuangdongProvince had reached 104million, making it the onlyprovincial-level region in thecountry with a permanentpopulation greater than 100million at that time.

Guangdong also has thelargest migrant populationof 31.28 million, 12 percentof China’s total migrantpopulation. Such a largepopulation flow helpedMandarin become amainstream language in theprovince. And the local food has become more diverse, affectedby the lifestyles of people fromother regions of China. Now,people in Guangdong also eatchili peppers and drink Moutailiquor. Famous Cantonesecuisine and Chaozhoucuisine are also advancingwith the development of the times. Lingnan culture hasnot only retained its genesduring transformation anddevelopment, but has grown with impressive vitality.

The times have changed, and it is now impossible for anyregional culture to remain what it has been. Introduction ofother cultures and the influx of larger numbers of immigrantshave caused Lingnan culture to evolve.

Education Alliance

In my opinion, food,costume, handicrafts,architecture, dialects, andCantonese Opera are allimportant parts of Lingnanculture. However, education,especially higher education,demands the greatest attention and development guidance,so that the local culture willdevelop a greater academicvision and a louder voice.Education is a project of vitaland lasting importance thatdeeply influences politics,economics, and technology.Education in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao has strengthsand weaknesses. If these places can learn from each other,the region has the potentialto become a leader in basiceducation and higher education in China.

If a Greater Bay Areaeducation alliance can beestablished to unite the high-quality educational resourcesin the three places to focus oncommunication and dialogueand advocate cooperation andhealthy competition, education throughout the region willimprove.

Construction of theGuangdong-Hong Kong-MacaoGreater Bay Area is a far-sighted big-picture strategy focusing on economic integration, politicaland systematic dialogue, andcultural integration of thethree places. Contrasting thecoordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regionand the Yangtze River Delta,development of the Greater Bay Area will be more difficult tomanage due to different socialsystems, complex politicalconditions, and diversecultures. The blueprints aremore ambitious, which iswhat is needed for the greatrejuvenation of the Chinesenation.