Houjie

See also: hóujié and Hòujiē

English

Etymology

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 厚街 (Hòujiē).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /hoʊˈd͡ʒjeɪ/

Proper noun

Houjie

1. A town in Dongguan, Guangdong, China.
   • [1938, Tokyo Gazette‎^[1], volume 2, →OCLC, page 42:

     In the Tungkun, Sheklung, Yashan and Lungkang areas, they encountered and defeated many groups of 200 to 300 Chinese soldiers and reached the line connecting Howkai, Talanghu, Changmutow and Pingshanhu on the evening of November 23rd.

     (Note: Howkai is the Cantonese-derived name for Houjie.)]

   • 1994, Orville Schell, Mandate of Heaven: The Legacy of Tiananmen Square and the Next Generation of China's Leaders‎^[2], Touchstone Books, published 1995, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 337:

     The township of Houjie, for example, had an official population of 75,000, but was also home to another 100,000 migrant workers who kept its 900 factories producing. Because of this new supply of inexpensive labor, most Houjie natives had given up farming to become managers and entrepreneurs with a lifestyle and level of material consumption unimaginable under Mao. As Nicholas Kristof discovered when he visited the township shortly after my own trip, the local Party chief had long since abandoned ideology in favor of the affectations of a tycoon. Rather than making his appointed rounds in a Chinese-made Liberation-brand truck, he was ensconced in a chauffeur-driven air-conditioned Mercedes-Benz 300SEL complete with a bibiji and dageda. Towns like Houjie were commercial free-fire zones that moguls from postindustrial countries could only dream about.

   • 2001, Anita Chan, China's Workers Under Assault: The Exploitation of Labor in a Globalizing Economy‎^[3], M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 40:

     According to the peasant workers, Huang's body floated up six days after the incident. As for Li's body, it was discovered 8 km to 9 km downstream at Houjie township. Huang's body was cremated on February 23 at Dongguan Crematorium and Li's was cremated on February 25. Their relatives from Guangxi did not get to Dongguan until February 27 and March 1, respectively. So they did not have a chance to bid farewell before the cremation.

   • 2008, Leslie T. Chang, Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China‎^[4], New York: Spiegel & Grau, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 19:

     The city is divided into thirty-two towns, and each one specializes in manufacturing. Chang’an produces electronic components, Dalang is famous for sweaters, and Houjie makes shoes.

   • 2010, Karl Gerth, As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers are Transforming Everything‎^[5], New York: Hill and Wang, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 71:

     The town of Houjie was one of the first within Dongguan prefecture to receive Taiwanese investment.

   • 2017 April 27, “Empty Pearl River Delta branches a check on HSBC's China plan”, in Reuters‎^[6], archived from the original on 25 May 2022, Breaking City News‎^[7]:

     In a rundown mall in Houjie, a factory town in the urban sprawl of Dongguan, the HSBC branch stands out with its bright posters and smiling receptionist, but only a handful of customers an hour crossed the threshold during a Reuters visit last week.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Houjie.

Translations

town

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 厚街 (Hòujiē)

Further reading

• Houjie at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.