| Tianhe District 天河区 Tin Ho District |
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|---|---|
| — District — | |
| Chinese transcription(s) | |
| • Chinese | 天河区 / 天河區 |
| • Pinyin | Tiānhé Qū |
| Pearl River New City | |
| Tianhe District in Guangzhou | |
| Country | China |
| Region | Guangzhou |
| Area | |
| • Total | 141 km2 (54.4 sq mi) |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 645,453 |
| • Density | 4,577.7/km2 (11,856.1/sq mi) |
| Time zone | China Standard (UTC+8) |
| Postal code | 510630 |
| Area code(s) | 020 |
Tianhe District (simplified Chinese: 天河区; traditional Chinese: 天河區; pinyin: Tīanhé Qū) is one of the ten districts in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China. In Chinese, the name Tianhe means a river in the sky. It is bordered by Yuexiu District on the west, Baiyun District on the north and Huangpu District on the east. Haizhu District is on its south, though they are separated by the Zhujiang River.
Tianhe became a district in the 1980s as the city expanded its size. Back then, it was east of another district called Dongshan (which was merged into Yuexiu in 2005) and it was more suburban like if not rural like. Despite a majority of colleges and universities in the city are located in the district, the rest of the district were mostly composed of rice fields.
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The first big project built in the district during the 1980s was the Tianhe Sports Center when the city was selected to host the Sixth National Games in 1986. The complex includes a stadium of 65,000 seats, a gymnasium and an indoor swimming pool. Its construction had a lasting impact on the development of the district. Soon other projects followed and rice fields gave away to residential complexes called "xiaoqu" (meaning "little districts"). The construction of xiaoqu began in the mid and late eighties and most of them had residential buildings of no more than 10 stories. Each floor was kept to no more than four units due to the lack of elevators since they would increase the construction cost. Also, due to the sheer number of residential buildings — some xiaoqu had more than 20 residential buildings — a lot of land was needed and thus converted.
The building of Guangzhou East Railway Station in 1990 further contributed to the growth of the district. The old Guangzhou Railway Station is 10 km to the west and was the terminus for trains to and from Beijing and Hong Kong. To relieve the traffic, the East Railroad Station was built and is now the terminus for trains to and from Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
As the district developed, the size of xiaoqu became smaller since land became more valuable and expensive. Most of the new xiaoqu now only consist of four to six residential buildings but each can contain 30 floors or more since the growth of district attracted big developers where the cost of construction (such as elevators) was no longer an issue. Also, taller residential buildings gave rise to taller office buildings.
South of the Sports Center and north of the Zhujiang River is Zhujiang New Town, an area desolate a decade ago but which is now one of the fastest-developing areas of Guangzhou. Many of Guangzhou's newest and most iconic buildings are found in this part of the district.
Several venues used for the 2010 Asian Games are located in Tianhe District.
Many of the city's colleges and universities are located in the district. They include:
Besides the Guangzhou East Railway Station (referred to by locals as simply "East Station"), Tianhe is also the terminus for several Guangzhou Metro lines, and one line goes through it:
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