Shantou, a prefecture-level city under the jurisdiction of Guangdong Province, abbreviated as "Shantou", also known as "Alligator City" and "Alligator Island", is the vice-center city of the province, the city of Shantou-Taochew-Jiejie metropolitan circle, an international hub seaport, and the permanent site of the China Digital Economy Innovation and Development Conference, which is situated in the southern end of the Han River delta, connected with Chaozhou in the north, adjacent to Jieyang in the west, bordering on the South China Sea in the south, and across the sea from Taiwan in the east, and the three rivers, namely, Han River, Rong River and Lian River, enter into the sea. The Han River, Rong River and Lian River flow into the sea, and it is the only city in China with an inner bay. As of the end of 2022, Shantou has six districts and one county under its jurisdiction, with a total area of 2,245 square kilometers, a resident population of 5,541,900, and a population density of 2,463 people per kilometer. The three cities of Jieyang, Chaozhou and Shantou on the east coast of Guangdong Province have been called Chaoshan since modern times. Historically, the three cities of Chaoshan have belonged to the same prefecture for a long time, and have been under the jurisdiction of Jieyang County since the Qin and Han dynasties, and under the jurisdiction of Chaozhou Prefecture since the Sui Dynasty. Qing Xianfeng ten years (1860), Chaozhou Prefecture Chenghai County Shatou officially opened the port, is one of the earliest cities in China to open up to the outside world, there are Britain, France, the United States, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Japan and Italy and other 13 countries set up in Shantou consulates, the total number of second only to Guangzhou. In 1921, Shantou City Hall was established and became the second city in Guangdong Province to set up a city. Within a short time after its establishment, Shantou became the second largest city in Guangdong Province, and from 1932 to 1937, the number of ships and tonnage of foreign vessels entering and exiting Shantou port ranked the third in China, after Shanghai and Guangzhou. 1991, Shantou was divided into three prefectural-level cities, namely, Shantou, Chaozhou, and Jieyang. In recent years, Shantou has ranked among the top three cities. Shantou is a National Comprehensive Reform Pilot Zone approved by the State Council, an important gateway to the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, a special economic zone in China, the hometown of Chaozhou cuisine in China, a national logistic hub, a national comprehensive transportation hub, one of the central cities of the Economic Zone on the West Coast of the Taiwan Straits, a national forest city, the most valuable tourist city for investment in China, the national e-commerce demonstration city, and the 36th place of the national ranking of the city's doing business environment in 2021. 36th place. In 2023, the gross regional product of Shantou is 315.832 billion yuan.