Dongguan's 5,000 year old civilization and its 1,656 years of history as a county make it an important cradle for Southern-Chinese culture with plentiful of historic and natural heritage. Since 1980, the urbanization process of Dongguan has been on the fast track, tripling its population in 20 years and rapidly expanding the scale of the city. Nonetheless, the historic and natural heritage has been protected and maintained.