Long History of Guangzhou

Source: http://english.gz.gov.cn

It is a famous cultural city with a history of more than 2,200 years. As early as in Chou Period, 9th century BC, there were exchanges between Baiyue people at Guangzhou and people of Chu State in the middle reaches of Yangtze River, the name " Chu Ting " originated, which was the earliest name of Guangzhou . In the 33rd year of Emperor Qin Shihuang (214 BC), Qin unified Lingnan, Nanhai prefecture (capital was built at "Panyu" where it is today) was set up. In the year of 226, in order to strengthen the rule, Sun Quan decided to divide original Jiaozhou into two parts- Jiaozhou and Guangzhou , name of Guangzhou became known since then. When the municipal council was set up in 1921, Guangzhou really means the city today.

Guangzhou has other nicknames such as "Yangcheng" (Ram City) and " Rice Spike City ". Since the flowers here keep blossoming all the year round, it is also called " Flower City ". There is a beautiful legend which goes like that, long long ago in the Zhou Dynasty, there were five celestials riding five rams with rice spikes in their mouths, five celestials presented spikes to the residents of Guangzhou , and wished that there would be bumper harvests and no famine any more from then on. Finally, the celestials flew away and left five rams that turned into stones. To its memory, a special Five-Ram Sculpture was built in Yuexiu Park .

Guangzhou was a prosperous city during the Qin and Han Dynasties. It was the earliest trade port in China and has been opening to the world, and was the starting port of the " Silk Road on the Sea" since the Han and Tang Dynasties.

It is a source of modern Chinese revolution. In this land, so many historic events took place, which are Sanyuanli Struggle against British invaders, Huanghuagang Uprising and Guangzhou Commune Uprising. Mr. Sun Yat-sen, a revolutionary forerunner, set up Huangpu Military Academy and the political powers for three times. Comrade Mao Zedong ran the Institute of Peasant Movement to train lots of key revolutionaries. Comrades Zhang Tailei, Ye Ting and Ye Jianying were leaders of the famous Guangzhou Uprising with establishment of Guangzhou Commune of Guangzhou Soviet. Famous writers such as Lu Xun, Guo Moruo and Yu Dafu came here to promote advanced cultural progress.

There are a lot of well-known sites and places of historical interests. Up to now, there are more than 219 places officially protected by the state, province or municipality respectively, out of which 19 are at state-level, 41 are at province-level and 159 are at municipality-level. The ruins of King's Palace of Southern Yue of Western Han Dynasty and the ruins of Shipyard of Qin or Han Dynasty were excavated along Road Zhongshan Silu. Among them, the ruins of King's Palace of Southern Yue were evaluated twice as one of the Ten Largest National Relics Discoveries. We have bidded to the United Nations for enabling the ruins of King's Palace of Southern Yue, the ruins of King's Tomb of Southern Yue and Water Dam of the Southern Yue Kingdom to be listed as world-level historic relics.