Why it looks like this

Qingyuan sits at the seam between two Guangdongs: upstream, the mountainous karst country of the north; downstream, the flat, crowded delta. The Bei River, the delta's northern artery, runs through the city after cutting its last gorge at Feilaixia.

Long a river port and market town, Qingyuan has lately become the delta's overflow — factories and new districts spreading on the flats as Guangzhou's high-speed suburbs reach up the valley.