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CHINA | Guangzhou, China Travel Guide
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
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A Brief History of Guangzhou
A Brief History of Guangzhou
Goat City
Legend has it that Guangzhou was founded by the Five Immortals who arrived riding rams and planted rice to ensure ongoing prosperity, a story that gives Guangzhou its nickname – Yangcheng (Goat City). In the third century BC Guangzhou served as capital of the Nanyue Kingdom, which was founded by a rebel Qin commander. The city soon utilized its position in the far south of the country as a trading post and, by the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD), ships were leaving for ports as far away as the Middle East. In the Ming dynasty Guangzhou became China’s only officially sanctioned international trading port and it prospered as a result. However, British frustration with Chinese reluctance to trade for goods (rather than precious metals) led to the introduction of opium from India and the resulting addiction and demand soon depleted the imperial coffers. The highly principled commissioner, Lin Zexu, was sent to remedy the situation, which he did by blockading the British concession and destroying their opium. The result of this was the First OpiumWar that eventually led to China opening five treaty ports to the British in 1842, one of which was Guangzhou.
Revolutionary Center
A long way from the historic capitals in central and northern China, Guangzhou has often served as the focus of anti-imperial movements. Sun Yatsen spent time here and attempted a coup at the start of the 20th century. When the nationalists finally ascended to power, Sun chose Guangzhou as their capital. During the failed Communist-nationalist alliance of the mid-1920s Mao Zedong taught at the Peasant Training Institute here, which helped to convince him that China’s revolution must be born in the fields. In 1927, the same year as the Communists were massacred in Shanghai, a Communist coup failed in Guangzhou. During the war the city fell first into the hands of the Japanese and, after they were defeated, the nationalists controlled Guangzhou, until it was “liberated” in 1949.
Factory of the World
Since economic reforms Guangzhou and the whole Pearl River Delta, untethered by the regulations of the north, have been at the heart of south China’s financial revolution. Factories use cheap labor, which swarms in from the rural provinces. Guangzhou, Shenzhen SEZ and a host of other industrial towns like Dongguan in the Delta region now produce most of the goods that are shipped from an ever more tertiary services-oriented Hong Kong. Guangzhou is currently embroiled in a battle for economic supremacy with its upstart neighbor Shenzhen. All the while it revels in its wealth with exotic feasts of the freshest foods known to man.
Last updated October 13, 2008
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