As the third largest city in China, and the one closest to Hong Kong, Guangzhou heads one of the most successful industrial areas of the country. Like Shenzhen, Guangzhou has boomed in the past 20 years, as factories have opened serving Hong Kong and later mainland capital interests. Unlike Shenzhen, Guangzhou also has a long history as a trading center of China, stretching back to before the Opium Wars. Guangzhou also has one of the largest 'university towns' in the country, a super-campus on which thousands of students enjoy a great study and social life.

As the southern gate of China, Guangzhou is the capital and the sub-provincial city of Guangdong Province, known as Canton in the west. It is a port on the Pearl River, navigable to the South China Sea, and is located about 120 kilometers north-west of Hong Kong. The city has a population of 6 million, making it the most populous city in the province and the third most populous metropolitan area in China. Guangzhou is a subtropical coastal city, enjoying temperate, humid climate without extremes. Situated on the Pearl River, with the Baiyun Hills to the north, it is possible to escape the city for some natural and more scenic break. Moreover, it is only a two hour drive from Guangzhou to Hong Kong or Macao.

Guangzhou's famous Canton Fairs, held twice a year, are major events for the city, where translators and even students are often required to give a helping hand interpreting for international business visitors and local enterprises.Guangzhou is the economic centre of the and is the heart of one of mainland China's leading commercial and manufacturing regions. In 2006, the GDP exceeded USD 76.8 billions ranking first among the other 659 Chinese cities.

A fishing village through the ages, Guangzhou started to grow when European traders entered Chinese waters in the 15th century. The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive to the city by sea, establishing a monopoly on the external trade out of its harbour by 1511. Later, the British brought their gunboats up the Pearl River, and Guangzhou's history became dominated by the imperialist quest for riches. Guangzhou was one of the five Chinese treaty ports opened by the, signed in 1842, at the end of the First Opium War between Britain and China. Together with Hong Kong, Guangzhou was a controversial center of commerce from the start.

Founded in 1995 in a merger between the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages and Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Trade, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies (GUFS) combines these two fields of expertise in its 16 faculties. Its major disciplines are literature, economics, management, law, education, science and engineering. A state-level research center in Social Sciences and minority languages, GUFS international students benefit from the active environment of social scientific enquiry in the school.