Area:
7434.4 square km, 4.18% of the whole province
Population:
8.5258 million in the urban area and 1.4172 million in the county cities.
Language:
Mandarin and Cantonese are widely spoken
Accommodation:
There are as many as 188 star-rating hotels in the urban area of Guangzhou. Hotels with great facilities can also be found in other surrounding cities if you would like to stay in Panyu, Dongguan or Foshan, all of which are within an hour's ride.
Office Hours of Local Government Agencies
8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Mondays to Fridays
All are closed on Saturdays and Sundays.
Banking Hours:
Monday to Friday: 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.
Saturday to Sunday: 9:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m.
Currency:
Renminbi (RMB8.1to US$ 1)
Service Charge:
Restaurants and hotels 0~20%
Electricity:
220V, 50~ACThe general shape of plug bases are as follows: 
Communications:
It is very convenient to communicate with outside world. You can dial directly and communicate with more than 500 cities at home and abroad, and in the region of Hong Kong and Macao.
The bandwidth of the direct international outlet for Internet is 400M.
The country code of China is 86 and the city code of Guangzhou is 020.
Weights and Measures:
Guangzhou uses the metric system. kilogram, meter, and litre are most commonly used.
1 kilogram = 2.205 pounds
1 metre = 3.281 feet
1 litre = 0.220 gallon
Time Difference (Take monday in GZ as an example)
Guangzhou (Beijing, Hong Kong): 8:00 (0) (Monday)
New York:19:00 (-13) (Sunday)
London (Paris):0:00 (-8) (Monday)
Tokyo:9:00 (+1) (Monday)
Sydney:10:00 (+2) (Monday)
Climate:
Hot, humid & rainy in summer; cool, dry & less rainy in winter.
Average Temperature: 21.4-21.9 °C
TRANSPORTATION Aviation service:
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport provides more than 22 international airlines and regional airlines, flying to more than 70 cities at home and abroad.
Trains:
Guangzhou Railway Station is the starting station of Beijing-Guangzhou Railway
Guangzhou East Railway Station is the starting station of Guangzhou-Kowloon Through Train (KTT) and Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou Train.
Buses:
There are shuttle buses between Guangzhou and Hong KongYou can take them at China Hotel, Hotel Landmark Canton and White Swan Hotel in Guangzhou.
Urban traffic:
Bus service: You can take none-conductor buses, trolleybuses or special-lined to all districts of the city.The price of a ticket is 1 yuan(RMB) or 2-4 yuan for some long lines.
Metro service: Metro line 1 has 16 stations connecting Guangzhou East Railway Station in the east and Xilang in the west.The whole journey will take 32 minutes.Gong Yuan Qian Station is the conjunction where you can switch between Line 1 & Line 2. You can take Metro line 2 to Canton Fair (Liuhua) Complex, which is located at Yue Xiu Gong Yuan Station, and Canton Fair (Pazhou) Complex, which is located at Xin Gang Dong Station. The price is 2-6 yuan (RMB) .
Taxi service:The starting price is 7 yuan (RMB), 2.6 yuan (RMB) per kilometer.
