Guangzhou History

Always a center of trade to foreigners, Guangzhou was established during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). By the 200 AD, Indians and Romans were coming to Guangzhou and in the next five-hundred years, trade grew with many neighbors far and near from the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive to the city by sea, establishing a monopoly on the external trade out of its harbor by 1511. they were later expelled from their settlements in Guangzhou, but instead granted use of Macau as a trade base with the city in 1557. After China claimed control of Taiwan in 1683, the Qing government became open to encouraging foreign trade. Guangzhou quickly emerged as one of the most adaptable ports for negotiating commerce and before long; many foreign ships were going there to procure cargos.

By the middle of the 18th century, Guangzhou had emerged as one of the world's great trading ports under the Thirteen Factories, which was a distinction it maintained until the outbreak of the Opium Wars in 1839 and the opening of other ports in China in 1842. The privilege during this period made Guangzhou one of the top 3 cities in the world.

In the twentieth century, Guangzhou was the seat of the Chinese Nationalist Party founded by Dr. Sun Yatsen. Dr. Sun, the first president of the Republic of China after the fall of the Qing Dynasty. The fall of Guangzhou to the Communist armies in late Oct., 1949, signaled the Communist takeover of all China. Under the Communist government, Guangzhou was developed as an industrial center and a modern port, with a great trade to and from Hong Kong. The liberalization of the economy after 1978 by Deng Xiaoping had great implications for the area around Guangdong. Special Economic Zones (Shenzhen, Zhuhai, etc.) were established and factories were set up.

Today, as an economic powerhouse in southern China, Guangzhou enjoys relative wealth compared with many other parts of China and is a bustling and vibrant city.

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