Houjie

Houjie (simplified Chinese: 厚街镇; traditional Chinese: 厚街鎮; pinyin: Hòujiē Zhèn) is a town under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Dongguan, Guangdong, China. The town spans an area of 125.7 square kilometres (48.5 mi²), has a registered hukou population of 95,055 as of 2008, and a permanent population of 550,807 as of 2020.

When the area was first established during the Southern Song dynasty, it was known as Houjie (Chinese: 后街; pinyin: Hòujiē; lit. 'behind the street'), since one well-known traveler chose to reside in a location behind a major building in town. Later, the town chose to change the first character, as another character pronounced hou (Chinese: 厚; pinyin: hòu) was used in words meaning honest and kind (Chinese: 淳厚; pinyin: chún hòu) and abundant (simplified Chinese: 丰厚; traditional Chinese: 豐厚; pinyin: fēng hòu).

Houjie was built as a village in 1122.

In 1957, Houjie became a township, but was changed to a people's commune one year later. In 1983, the Houjie People's Commune was abolished, and Houjie became a district. In 1987, it became a town, which it remains to this date.

Located in the western portion of Dongguan, Houjie lies approximately 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Dongguan's urban center, and 47 nautical miles from Hong Kong. The area is part of the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area on the Pearl River Delta.

The Henggang Reservoir [zh] is located in Houjie.

It borders the town of Humen to the south, and Dongguan's urban center to the north.

Houjie administers the following 24 residential communities: