Short answers, pulled from the story.
Guangdong had a population of 127.06 million as of 2023, making it the most populous province in China. It became the most populous in January 2005, partly because its booming economy drew tens of millions of migrant workers from other provinces, a group known as the "floating population."
Guangdong recorded a GDP of US$2.0 trillion in nominal terms in 2024, contributing approximately 10.5 percent of mainland China's economic output. As of 2022, its economy was larger than those of Australia and South Korea, and in nominal terms only California, Texas, New York State, and England exceeded it among all country subdivisions.
Sun Yat-sen, the founder of modern China and of the Republic of China, was born in Guangdong. He declared a military government there during the Warlord Era, and the Zhongshan Sun Wen Memorial Park in the city of Zhongshan commemorates him.
Guangdong is home to Cantonese and other Yue varieties, Hakka Chinese centered around Meizhou, Teoswa (Chaoshan Min) in the eastern coastal area, Leizhou Min on the Leizhou Peninsula, and smaller communities speaking Shaozhou Tuhua and Southwestern Mandarin. Mandarin is used in education and government throughout the province.
Shenzhen was the first special economic zone established in China, and it is one of three such zones located in Guangdong alongside Shantou and Zhuhai. Guangdong received permission to accept foreign investment as one of the first provinces to do so under Deng Xiaoping's open-door policy, which began in 1978.
Most railroad laborers who built transcontinental lines in Canada, the Western United States, and Panama in the 19th century came from Guangdong, particularly the Siyi area. Because these migrants spoke Cantonese dialects, many English-language versions of Chinese words , including "dim sum" , derive from Cantonese rather than Mandarin. The vast majority of Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia also trace their ancestry to Guangdong.