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1、Guangzhou (Canton), a prosperous metropolis full of vigor, is the capital city of Guangdong Province located along the south coastline of China. Being an excellent port on the Pearl River navigable to the South China Sea, and with fast accessibility to Hong Kong and Macau, Guangzhou serves as the po
2、litical, economic, scientific, educational and cultural center in Guangdong area.Being the first cities benefited from Chinas Reform and Opening Up policy since 1978, Guangzhou acts as the pioneer of the economic development of the country, with thousands of large, small and medium-sized enterprises
3、, which offer more job opportunities and make the city a heavily populated area. The city is especially prosperous in commerce, tourism, dining, finance and real estate. For travelers, Guangzhou shows much attraction through its famous sights such as the Five Ram Statue in Yuexiu Park, Pearl River a
4、nd White Cloud Mountain.Guangzhou History. from googleearthIt is believed that the first city built at the site of Guangzhou was Panyu (蕃禺, later simplifed to 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
5、 expanded when it became the capital of the Nanyue Kingdom (南越) in 206 BC.Recent archaeological founding of her palace suggests that the city might have traded frequently with foreigners by the sea routes. The foreign trade continued through every following dynasty and the city remains a major inter
6、national trading port to this day.The Han Dynasty annexed Nanyue in 111 BC, and Panyu became a provincial capital and remains so until this day. In 226 AD, the city became the seat of the Guang Prefecture (廣州; Guangzhou). Therefore, Guangzhou was the name of the prefecture, not of the city. However,
7、 people grew accustomed to calling the city Guangzhou, instead of Panyu.Although the Chinese name of Guangzhou replaced Panyu as the name of the walled city, Panyu was still the name of the area surrounding the walled city until the end of Qing era.Arabs and Persians sacked Guangzhou (known to them
8、as Sin-Kalan) in AD 758, 2 according to a local Guangzhou government report on October 30, 758, which corresponded to the day of Guisi (癸巳) of the ninth lunar month in the first year of the Qianyuan era of Emperor Suzong of the Tang Dynasty.123During the Northern Song Dynasty, a celebrated poet call
9、ed Su Shi visited Guangzhous Baozhuangyan Temple and wrote the inscription Liu Rong (Six Banyan Trees) because of the six banyan trees he saw there. It has since been called the Temple of the Six Banyan Trees.The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive to the city by sea, obtaining the monopol
10、y for external trade with its harbour by 1511. They were later expelled from their settlements in Guangzhou (in Portuguese Canton or Cantao), but instead granted use of Macao (first occupied in 1511) as a trade base with the city in 1557. They would keep a near monopoly of foreign trade in the regio
11、n until the arrival of the Dutch in the early XVII century.After China brought Taiwan under its control 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 wer
12、e going there to procure cargos. Portuguese in Macao, Spanish in Manila, and Armenians and Muslims from India were already actively trading in the port by the 1690s, when the French and English East India companies ships began frequenting the port. Other companies were soon to follow: the Ostend Gen
13、eral India Company in 1717; Dutch East India Company in 1729; the first Danish ship in 1731, which was followed by a Danish Asiatic Company ship in 1734; the Swedish East India Company in 1732; followed by an occasional Prussian and Trieste Company ship; the Americans in 1784; and the first ships fr
14、om Australia in 1788. By the middle of the 18th century, Guangzhou had emerged as one of the worlds great trading ports, which was a distinction it maintained until the outbreak of the Opium War in 1839 and the opening of other ports in China in 1842.Guangzhou was one of the five Chinese treaty port
15、s opened by the Treaty of Nanking (signed in 1842) at the end of the First Opium War between Britain and China. The other ports were Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo, and Shanghai.In 1918, Guangzhou became the official name of the city, when an urban council was established in it. Panyu became a countys name
16、south of Guangzhou. In both 1930 and 1953, Guangzhou was promoted to the status of a Municipality, but each promotion was cancelled within the year.Japanese troops occupied Guangzhou from 1938-10-12 to 1945-09-16.Communist forces entered the city on October 14, 1949. Their urban renewal projects 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
