廣州淪陷之前人口超過120萬，淪陷後減至30萬，絕大部分走去咗香港，工廠亦隨之遷移。1942年香港淪陷後發生糧荒，又有逾46萬人返省城。廣州淪陷期間，各類抗日活動不絕。日軍進城初期大肆燒殺奸掠，後實施高壓統治，致使經濟文化蕭條。1943年廣東大旱，餓殍遍地，將死者拋入海珠橋底橋洞呻吟等死，畀稱為“昇仙洞”。
The population of Guangzhou exceeded 1.2 million before the fall and dropped to 300,000 after the fall of Guangzhou, most of which went to Hong Kong, and the factories were relocated. After the fall of Hong Kong in 1942, there was a food shortage, and more than 460,000 people returned to the provincial capital. During the fall of Guangzhou, all kinds of anti-Japanese activities continued. In the early days of the Japanese army's entry into the city, they burned, killed, raped and plundered, and then implemented high-pressure rule, resulting in economic and cultural depression. In 1943, there was a great drought in Guangdong, starvation was everywhere, and the dead were thrown into the bridge cave at the bottom of the Haizhu Bridge to groan and wait for death, which was called "Shengxian Cave".