Lạng Sơn Province in the context of "Guangxi"

The Pearl River (Chinese: 珠江; pinyin: Zhūjiāng; lit. 'pearl river', or 粤江; 粵江; Yuèjiāng; 'Yue river') is an extensive river system in southern China. "Pearl River" is often also used as a catch-all for the watersheds of the Pearl tributaries within Guangdong, specifically the Xi ('west'), Bei ('north'), and Dong ('east'). These rivers all ultimately flow into the South China Sea through the Pearl River Delta. Measured from the farthest reaches of the Xi River, the Pearl–Xi–Xun–Qian–Hongshui–Nanpan 2,400 km (1,500 mi) Pearl River system constitutes China's third-longest, after the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, and its second largest by volume, after the Yangtze. The 453,700 km (175,200 sq mi) Pearl River Basin drains the majority of Guangdong and Guangxi provinces (collectively known as Liangguang), as well as parts of Yunnan, Guizhou, Hunan and Jiangxi; it also drains the northernmost parts of Vietnam's Northeast Cao Bằng and Lạng Sơn provinces. The Pearl River is famed as the river that flows through Guangzhou.

As well as referring to the system as a whole, the Pearl River name is applied to a specific branch within it. This Pearl River is the widest distributary within the delta, although notably short; the waters that converge east of the Bei are first referred to as the Pearl River just north of Guangzhou. The Pearl River's estuary, Bocca Tigris, is regularly dredged so as to keep it open for ocean vessels. The mouth of the Pearl River forms a large bay in the southeast of the delta, the Pearl River Estuary, the Bocca Tigris separates Shiziyang in the north, Lingdingyang in the south, and Jiuzhouyang at the southern tip of the estuary surrounded by the Wanshan Archipelago. This bay separates Macau and Zhuhai from Hong Kong and Shenzhen.

21°50′52″N 106°45′28″E / 21.84778°N 106.75778°E / 21.84778; 106.75778

Lạng Sơn (listen) is a city in far Northern Vietnam, and the capital of Lạng Sơn Province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Route 1.

The Tày people, also known as the Thổ, T'o, Tai Tho, Ngan, Phen, Thu Lao, or Pa Di, is a Central Tai-speaking ethnic group who live in northern Vietnam. According to a 2019 census, there are 1.8 million Tày people living in Vietnam. This makes them the second largest ethnic group in Vietnam after the majority Kinh (Vietnamese) ethnic group. Most live in northern Vietnam in the Cao Bằng, Lạng Sơn, Bắc Kạn, Thái Nguyên, and Quảng Ninh provinces, along the valleys and the lower slopes of the mountains. They also live in some regions of the Bắc Ninh and Bắc Giang provinces. They inhabit fertile plains and are generally agriculturalists, mainly cultivating rice. They also cultivate maize, and sweet potato among other things.

Cao Bằng is a province of the Northeast region of Vietnam. The province has borders with Hà Giang, Tuyên Quang, Bắc Kạn, and Lạng Sơn provinces within Vietnam. It also has a common international border with Guangxi province in China. The province covers 6,700.39 km (2,587.04 mi) and, as of 2023, its population was 547,849 people.

The area has a rich history tracing to the Bronze Age Tây Âu (西甌) Kingdom of the ethnic Tày. Cao Bằng has several points of historical interest as well as many natural features such as the Pác Bó (at the mouth of the confluence of two rivers, the Bằng Giang and Hien rivers) where Hồ Chí Minh in January 1941 established a revolutionary force at Cốc Bó cave, the Mạc emperor's Temple, the Kỳ Sầm Temple, Coi Bin Church, the Bản Giốc waterfall area at the international border between Vietnam and China, and the Thang Hen Mountain Lake.