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History of Guangzhou China

It is believed that the first city built at the site of Guangzhou was Panyu (番禺; the locals pronounced this in Cantonese as Poon Yu) founded in 214 BC. The city has been continuously occupied since that time. Panyu was expanded when it became the capital of the Nanyue Kingdom (南越) in 206 BC.

Guangzhou probably dates back to about 214 B.C. It appears to have been founded as a military camp for the soldiers of Emperor Shi Huang of the Qin Dynasty. One of the city's better attractions is the tomb of Emperor Wen Li, who ruled NanYue Kingdom in southern China from 137 to 122 BC. The site, on Jiefang Road, is now a museum. The tomb was discovered in 1983; more than a thousand objects have been excavated from the tomb -- everything from a chariot to musical instruments. The king was buried with his gold seal and a number of jade ornaments.

By the beginning of the Tang Dynasty in 618 A.D. Guangzhou was an international port, but it lived in those days in the shadow, not of Hong Kong, but of Quanzhou in Fujian Province. The Portuguese arrived in Guangzhou in 1514. From 1757 to 1842 Guangzhou was the only port in China open to foreign visitors. The First Opium War was started here in 1839 when the city commissioner order the destruction of 20,000 chests of opium.

After the communist take-over, urban renewal projects in the city improved the lives of many residents. New housing on the shores of the Pearl River provided homes for the poor boat people. Reforms by Deng Xiaoping, who came to power in the late 1970s, led to rapid economic growth due to the city's close proximity to Hong Kong and access to the Pearl River.

As labor costs increased in Hong Kong, manufacturers opened new plants in the cities of Guangdong including Guangzhou. As the largest city in one of China's wealthiest provinces, Guangzhou attracts farmers from the countryside looking for factory work. Cantonese links to overseas Chinese and beneficial tax reforms of the 1990s have aided the city's rapid growth.

After the opening and reform, Guangzhou has become the southern gateaway to exchanges between the inland and foreign countries. Giving full play to the extensive overseas in human relations, and geographical merits, Guangzhou took the lead in opening up to the outside world, intensifying the reform so that the economy has gained high-speed development. Among the ten big cities in the country, Guangzhou rank in the front in all-round strength. Surfing in the tide of commodity economy, Guangzhou people have absorbed and assimilated the ideology of modern market economy, manifesting the strong figure of the Chinese people confronted with international market competition. Guangzhou, this famous historical cultural city with special features of Lingnan, has a brilliant long history. The historical achievements are the basis for progress, while the glorious tradition is the motive force. In the socialist construction of modernization of China, Guangzhou will surely perform its function of pioneering and windowing.