Located in the central-southern part of Guangdong Province, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) was formed by the sediments brought down by the tributaries of the Pearl River, including Xijiang, Beijiang, Dongjiang, Tanjiang, Suijiang, Liuxihe and Zengjiang rivers. In its broadest case, the PRD stretches from Gaoyao in the west to Huizhou in the east, and from Qingyuan in the north to South China Sea in the south. However, the PRD is generally known as within the boundaries of Xinhui, Gaoming, Sanshui, Zengcheng, Dongguan and Shenzhen. The economic region of the PRD comprises of the following prefectures:

According to the official statistics in 2004, the total area of the PRD economic region was approximately 40,000 sq km (or 0.4% of the national total), with a population of over 20 millions (or 1.9% of the national total).

Sources:

• Zhongguo Zhujiang san jiao zhou zhi nan di tu ji
• Zhujiang Sanjiaozhou jing ji qu di tu
• Zhu san jiao xin yin xiang di tu ce
• Changjiang he Zhujiang Sanjiaozhou ji Gang Ao te bie xing zheng qu tong ji nian jian (2005)