Pearl River Delta

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Waterway in the Pearl (Zhu) River Delta region, China

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Pearl River Delta

delta, China

Also known as: Canton Delta, Chu Chiang San-chiao-chou, Zhu Jiang Sanjiaozhou

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 26, 2025 • Article History

Chinese (Pinyin):: Zhu Jiang Sanjiaozhou or

(Wade-Giles romanization):: Chu Chiang San-chiao-chou

Also called:: Canton Delta

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Thundery showers approaching Hong Kong in next few hours: Observatory • Apr. 24, 2025, 11:11 PM ET (South China Morning Post)

Pearl River Delta, extensive low-lying area formed by the junction of the Xi, Bei, Dong, and Pearl (Zhu) rivers in southern Guangdong province, China. It covers an area of 2,900 square miles (7,500 square km) and stretches from the city of Guangzhou (Canton) in the north to the Macau Special Administrative Region in the south. The delta is a maze of streams and canals between small rice paddies that, because of the 12-month growing season, commonly support three rice crops annually. It is one of the most crowded areas of China, where modern industry and agriculture have been rapidly developed since the 1980s.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica