Editing Guangdong (section)

===20th century===
During the early 1920s of the [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]], Guangdong was the staging area for the [[Kuomintang]] (KMT) to prepare for the [[Northern Expedition (1926–1927)|Northern Expedition]], an effort to bring the various [[warlord era|warlords]] of China back under a unified central government. The [[Whampoa Military Academy]] was built near Guangzhou to train military commanders.
[[File:广东省台山下川岛的海湾 - panoramio.jpg|thumb|410x410px|Taishan Xiachuan Island, Guangdong]]
At the end of the [[Chinese Civil War]] Guangdong became one of the [[Nationalist government]]'s final footholds in [[Mainland China]], with Guangzhou temporarily serving as the [[Kuomintang]]'s provisional capitol. The [[People's Liberation Army]] seized control of the province after the [[retreat of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dikötter |first=Frank |title=The Tragedy of Liberation: A History of the Chinese Revolution, 1945–1957 |date=2013 |publisher=Bloomsbury Press |isbn=978-1-62040-347-1 |edition=1 |location=London |pages=31–32}}</ref>

The new [[Chinese Communist Party]] administration issued harsh taxes, requisitioning between 22 and 60 percent of grain annually. However, the local party boss Fang Fang tried to moderate [[Land Reform Movement (China)|Chinese land reform policy]] in order to protect successful businesses in the [[Pearl River Delta]], landholdings by [[overseas Chinese]] seeking to eventually return to the country, and commercial relations with [[British Hong Kong]]. In response [[Mao Zedong]] purged Fang and thousands of cadres from the province in 1952, sending [[Tao Zhu]] to implement a much harsher program under the slogan "Every Village Bleeds, Every Household Fights."{{Sfn|Dikötter|2013|p=76–81}}

During [[Reform and opening up|Reform and Opening Up]], Guangdong was supported by the central government to be "one step ahead" of the rest of the country.<ref name=":53">{{Cite book |last=Santos |first=Gonçalo |title=Chinese Village Life Today: Building Families in an Age of Transition |date=2021 |publisher=[[University of Washington Press]] |isbn=978-0-295-74738-5 |location=Seattle |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=43}} Most major cities in Guangdong underwent liberalizing economic reforms in the mid-1980s.<ref name=":53" />{{Rp|page=43}} Since Reform and Opening Up, the province has seen extremely rapid economic growth, aided in part by its close trading links with [[Hong Kong]], which borders it. It is now the province with the highest gross domestic product in China.

In 1952, a small section of Guangdong's coastline ([[Qinzhou]], Lianzhou (now [[Hepu County]]), [[Fangchenggang]] and [[Beihai]]) was given to Guangxi, giving it access to the sea. This was reversed in 1955, and then restored in 1965. [[Hainan]] Island was originally part of Guangdong, but it was separated into its own province in 1988.