Houjie

Hou·jie
H4O1U1J8I1E1
/hoʊˈd͡ʒjeɪ/

proper noun

A town in Dongguan, Guangdong, China.

Scrabble 16

Meanings

proper noun
  1. A town in Dongguan, Guangdong, China.

    The town of Houjie was one of the first within Dongguan prefecture to receive Taiwanese investment.

    2010, Karl Gerth, As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers are Transforming Everything, New York: Hill and Wang, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 71
    5 more examples

    In the Tungkun, Sheklung, Yashan and Lungkang areas, they encountered and defeated many groups of 200 to 300 Chinese soldiers and reached the line connecting Howkai, Talanghu, Changmutow and Pingshanhu on the evening of November 23rd.

    [1938, Tokyo Gazette, volume 2, →OCLC, page 42

    The township of Houjie, for example, had an official population of 75,000, but was also home to another 100,000 migrant workers who kept its 900 factories producing. Because of this new supply of inexpensive labor, most Houjie natives had given up farming to become managers and entrepreneurs with a lifestyle and level of material consumption unimaginable under Mao. As Nicholas Kristof discovered when he visited the township shortly after my own trip, the local Party chief had long since abandoned ideology in favor of the affectations of a tycoon. Rather than making his appointed rounds in a Chinese-made Liberation-brand truck, he was ensconced in a chauffeur-driven air-conditioned Mercedes-Benz 300SEL complete with a bibiji and dageda. Towns like Houjie were commercial free-fire zones that moguls from postindustrial countries could only dream about.

    1994, Orville Schell, Mandate of Heaven: The Legacy of Tiananmen Square and the Next Generation of China's Leaders, Touchstone Books, published 1995, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 337

    According to the peasant workers, Huang's body floated up six days after the incident. As for Li's body, it was discovered 8 km to 9 km downstream at Houjie township. Huang's body was cremated on February 23 at Dongguan Crematorium and Li's was cremated on February 25. Their relatives from Guangxi did not get to Dongguan until February 27 and March 1, respectively. So they did not have a chance to bid farewell before the cremation.

    2001, Anita Chan, China's Workers Under Assault: The Exploitation of Labor in a Globalizing Economy, M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 40

    The city is divided into thirty-two towns, and each one specializes in manufacturing. Chang’an produces electronic components, Dalang is famous for sweaters, and Houjie makes shoes.

    2008, Leslie T. Chang, Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, New York: Spiegel & Grau, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 19

    In a rundown mall in Houjie, a factory town in the urban sprawl of Dongguan, the HSBC branch stands out with its bright posters and smiling receptionist, but only a handful of customers an hour crossed the threshold during a Reuters visit last week.

    2017 April 27, “Empty Pearl River Delta branches a check on HSBC's China plan”, in Reuters, archived from the original on 25 May 2022, Breaking City News

Origin

  1. Mandarin厚街
  2. EnglishHoujie

From the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of the Mandarin 厚街 (Hòujiē).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Cantonese 厚街
  • 厚街 (hau⁵ gaai¹)town
Chinese Mandarin 厚街
  • 厚街 (Hòujiē)town
Cite this entry
APA

Houjie. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Houjie

MLA

“Houjie.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Houjie. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Houjie,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Houjie.

Source: Houjie on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.