The Pearl River Delta in southern China's Guangdong province has long been a hugely productive place. Naturally fertile, it attracted early settlement and agriculture, then became a regional and international manufacturing and trade hub that has powered the development of some of the world's most dynamic cities.
Today the metropolises of Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Macau (also spelt Macao) are testament to that history, while around and between them new urban centres, just a few short decades ago mere villages, have risen at incredible speed. (These are Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Huizhou, Dongguan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing.) Together they form an almost unbroken megalopolis, one of the most densely populated and urbanised environments on the planet. In 2015, the World Bank Group said the Pearl River Delta had surpassed Tokyo to become the largest urban area in the world in terms of size and population.
Now, that area is the focus of an enormous new growth spurt, badged as the Guangdong-Hong KongMacau Greater Bay Area (GBA) and endorsed by Xi Jinping, China's president. This aims to bind
