City & tourism
Guangzhou, the South Gate of China, is a prosperous metropolis full of vigor.
Guangzhou is the capital city of Guangdong, and the center of its political, economic, scientific, educational and cultural life. Sui (Ears of Rice) is short for Guangzhou and the City of Ram (Yang Cheng) is also an alias of Guangzhou. The kapok is the city flower and the kapok tree is the city tree of Guangzhou.
Guangzhou is located in the middle south of Guangdong Province, north of the Pearl River Delta. It lies close to the South China Sea, Hong Kong, and Macau. Zhujiang (The Pearl River), the third largest river of China, runs through Guangzhou and is navigable to the South China Sea. Situated in such an excellent geographical region, Guangzhou is called China's South Gate.
Covering an area of 7434.4 square kilometers (2870 square miles), Guangzhou is home to more than 11 million people, including a 3.7 million transitory population. With the opening of China to the outside world, a large number of people from other regions of China swarmed into Guangzhou, one of the first 'open' cities in China. This has accelerated its economic development.
Guangzhou is a famous historical city. In ancient days, Guangzhou was the capital city for three Chinese dynasties: the Nan Yue (South Yue), the Nan Han (South Han) and the Nanming (South Ming). Thus it was put in the list of the 24 most famous historical cultural cities and became a tourist destination. You can not understand most Chinese cities deeply until you know their history. This is true of Guangzhou. Many historic sights: the Western Han Nanyue King's Tomb Museum, the Zhenhai Tower and the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall tell us the 2,000-year history of Guangzhou.
Today, Guangzhou retains its ancient customs, but is also a large city full of vigor and current fashions. You can find something worth taking home in Shangxia Jiu Lu, Beijing Lu and Di Shi Fu Lu.
Trying Yue Cai (Cantonese Cuisine), one of eight Chinese famous cuisines, is definitely a must in Guangzhou! Eat delicious food with ingredients you have never heard of.
Guangzhou is famous as a hometown for overseas Chinese. It boasts the largest population of overseas Chinese people. These overseas Chinese do a great deal of good for Guangzhou: opening international markets, bridging Guangzhou and the rest of the world, and establishing many schools, hospitals, nurseries, kindergartens and rest homes in Guangzhou.
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 buying Guangdonga's silk and porcelain and in 1557 Macau was established as their base of operations in the area.
After several attempts, the British also gained a foothold into Guangzhou and in 1685, Chinaa's Imperial Qinggovernment gave in to the pesky foreigners seeking its wares and opened Guangzhou to the West.
But trade was restricted to Guangzhou and the foreigners restricted to Shamian Island.
Annoyed by the trade imbalance, the British gained the upper hand over the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) by dumping opium on Guangzhou.
The Chinese generated quite a habit for the stuff and by the nineteenth century, trade was heavily weighted against the Chinese.
The British were feeding the Chinese addiction with cheap Indian opium and ferrying away silk, porcelain and tea.
A very large thorn in the Qinga's paw, the imperial commissioner was ordered to eradicate the opium trade and in 1839, Chinese forces seized and destroyed 20,000 chests of the drug.
The British did not take this very well and soon the First Opium War was fought and won by Western forces.
The 1842 Treaty of Nanking ceded Hong Kong Island to the British.
It was during these tumultuous times that thousands of Cantonese left home to seek their fortunes in the US, Canada, Southeast Asia, Australia and even South Africa.
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, was from a small village outside Guangzhou.
Guangzhou today is struggling to overcome its image as Hong Konga's little sister. An economic powerhouse in southern China, Guangzhou enjoys relative wealth compared with many other parts of China and is a bustling and vibrant city.
|
|
 |
|
