Journey Date : 1st Trip 20-26 August 2005, 2nd Trip 09 March 2006
Journey Place : Ba Jiao Ting Temple, Tai Hong Gong Temple
in ShanTou City (Special Economic Zone), GuangDong Province, The People's Republic of China

Shantou (simplified Chinese: 汕头; traditional Chinese: 汕頭; pinyin: Shàntóu; POJ: Sòaⁿ-thâu; also historically known as Swátōw or Suátao) is a city of 4,971,000 permanent inhabitants (as at end 2006) in coastal eastern Guangdong Province, China, occupying an area of 2,064 sq. km. With its immediately surrounding cities of Jieyang and Chaozhou, the metropolitan region - known as Chaoshan - covers an area of 10,404 sq.km. and had a permanent population of 13,139,800 at the end of 2006.

Shantou, a city significant in 19th-century Chinese history as one of the treaty ports established for Western trade and contact, was one of the original Special Economic Zones of the People's Republic of China established in the 1980s, but failed to blossom like other cities such as Shenzhen, Xiamen and Zhuhai. However, it remains as East Guangdong's economic centre, and is home to one of Guangdong's top rated universities, Shantou University.

Shantou is one of the most densely-populated regions in China. Former Chaoyang City was China's most populous county-level administrative region, with 2.4 million inhabitants.

Most residents are ethnically Teochew. There are also Hakka, popularly known as Half-Hakka (半山客), majorly living in Chaoyang District (潮陽區) and Chaonan District (潮南區). Though they speak Teochew on a daily basis and practise Teochew culture. Thanks to the Mandarin-medium education system, most people, especially the younger generations, can fluently speak the national dialect.

Governmental statistics show that 2.16 million overseas Chinese have roots in Shantou, with significant populations of Teochew people residing in Thailand. This is demonstrated by the unusually high number of international direct flights between Bangkok and Shantou.

(Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shantou)