Guangzhou (Canton) — capital of Guangdong, southern China

Climate

Guangzhou is located on the Pearl River. Due to its geographical location, Guangzhou has a subtropical humid monsoon climate with an average annual temperature of 22 °C. Most precipitation (annual average: 1,982 mm) falls in the rainy season from April to August.

Administrative structure

At the county level, the sub-provincial city of Guangzhou is composed of eleven municipalities. The People's Government of Guangzhou is located in Yuexiu Municipality. On April 28, 2005, Dongshan and Fangcun Municipal Districts were dissolved and incorporated into Yuexiu and Liwan. In addition, Nansha Municipality was spun off from Panyu, and Luogang Municipality was established from parts of Baiyun, Tianhe, Zengcheng, and from part of Huangpu, forming an exclave of the new municipality. In February 2014, Luogang was dissolved again and its area was integrated into Huangpu Municipality. At the same time, the two independent cities of Conghua and Zengcheng were transformed into urban districts.

Ancient

It is believed that the area around Guangzhou was settled as early as the 9th century BC. During the Qin Dynasty, the city was the capital of Nanhai Prefecture (南海, Nánhǎi, Jyutping Naam4hoi2).

Other historians believe that people settled in 214 BC. According to this theory, the oldest settlement area in present-day Guangzhou was in Panyu (番禺, Pānyú, Jyutping Pun1jyu4). Since then, the area has been continuously inhabited. Panyu grew especially when it became the capital of the Nanyue Kingdom in 206 BC. The Western Han Dynasty annexed the kingdom in 111 BC. Since then, Panyu has been a provincial capital. In 226, the city became the seat of Guang County (廣州 / 广州, Guǎngzhōu, Jyutping Gwong2zau1). People got used to calling the city Guangzhou instead of Panyu.

Trade

For a long time, Guangzhou was the starting point of the so-called "Silk Road by Sea" (海上絲路 / 海上丝路, Hǎi shàng Sīlù, Jyutping Hoi2 Soeng6 Si1lou6). By sea, the city maintained trade relations with South Asian countries such as India and Arabia.

From 1757 to 1842, Guangzhou was the only trading port where foreigners were contractually guaranteed the right to trade.

In 1711, the British East India Company established a trading post in Guangzhou. Emperor Qianlong restricted the right of foreigners to establish branches in Guangzhou to a small area in Guangzhou.

Guangzhou was one of the five treaty ports whose opening was forced by Britain through the Treaty of Nanking after the First Opium War. The other ports were Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai.

20th century

In 1918, Guangzhou became the official name of the city. Panyu has since been called a district in the south of Guangzhou.

Sun Yat-sen prepared the revolution against the emperor in Guangzhou. The military school he built, called Huangpu Junxiao, also Whampoa Military Academy, (黃埔軍校 / 黄埔军校, Huángpŭ Jūnxiào, Jyutping Wong4bou3 Gwan1haau6) is still preserved today and a popular destination.

Japanese troops captured Guangzhou in October 1938 as part of the Canton Operation and held it until September 16, 1945.

After the end of the civil war, renewals led to a higher standard of living for many people in Guangzhou. From the end of the 1970s, the city benefited from the economic reforms introduced by Deng Xiaoping. Economic growth was greatly boosted, especially by its proximity to Hong Kong and its location on the Pearl River.

In the Tianhe district, the 530-meter-high Chow Tai Fook Center, currently the seventh tallest building in the world, was completed in 2016. Together with the 438-meter-high Guangzhou International Finance Center opposite, the CITIC Plaza to the north and the 600-meter-high Canton Tower to the south, the second-highest television tower in the world, it forms an architectural diamond.