Heyuan

Heyuan is a prefecture-level city situated in the northeastern region of Guangdong, China. The municipality functions as a regional hub connecting the interior countryside to the coastal areas of Guangdong.

Positioned in the upper reaches of the Dong River at its confluence with the Xinfeng River, the city spans latitudes 23° 10'–24° 47' N and longitudes 114° 14'–115° 36' E. Its administrative territory shares borders with Ganzhou in Jiangxi to the north, Meizhou to the east, Huizhou to the south, and Shaoguan to the west. Across its 15,800 square kilometres of total area, the landscape encompasses 1,000 square kilometres of cultivated land, 13,600 square kilometres of hilly terrain, and 640 square kilometres of water area, alongside the largest lake in Guangdong, the Xinfengjiang Reservoir.

Cultural exchange and linguistic diversity define the local populace, where the majority of residents are Hakka. Communication across the administrative divisions—which include Yuancheng District, Dongyuan County, Heping County, Longchuan County, Zijin County, and Lianping County—involves multiple linguistic classifications. While much of the city uses forms belonging to the Yuezhong dialect group, areas such as Zijin County and parts of Longchuan County utilize the Yuetai dialect group. Additionally, Dongjiang Bendihua is in general use on the banks of the Dongjiang, reflecting a complex linguistic heritage with classifications disputed between the Yuezhong division of Hakka and the Huihe division of Yue.

Economic life and connectivity are anchored by major transportation arteries, including the Beijing-Kowloon Railway and the Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou Railway, which feature a significant marshalling station at Longchuan. State Highways 105 and 205 cross the municipality, while the Dong River serves as a strategic waterway facilitating cargo transport toward Huizhou, Dongguan, and Guangzhou. Agricultural and manufactured production yields items such as Chinese kiwi fruit, dried mushrooms of Jiulian, garlic, Hakka brewed liquor, green tea, bamboo mats, sweet tangerines, and mineral water from Xinfengjiang.

Beneath its modern infrastructure, the city preserves deep prehistoric connections, earning official recognition as the Hometown of the Dinosaur in China due to thousands of unearthed dinosaur egg fossils. The Heyuan Dinosaur Museum houses a collection that includes 10,008 individual samples as of 2004. Ongoing discoveries, such as a Late Cretaceous site found near the Dong River by a primary school student in July 2019, continue to surface fossils approximately 66 million years old.