Guangzhou

History

Guangzhous earliest recorded name is Panyu (Chinese: ; Jyutping: ), derived from two nearby mountains known as Pan and Yu in ancient times. Its recorded history begins with Chinas conquest of the area during the Qin dynasty. Panyu expanded when it became capital of the Nanyue Kingdom in 206 BC; the territory of Nanyue included what is now northern Vietnam.

The Han dynasty annexed the Nanyue Kingdom in 111 BC during the empires expansion southward, and Panyu became a provincial capital and remains so today. In 226 AD, Panyu became the seat of Guang Prefecture (; Guangzhou / ; Guangfu).

Although Guangzhou replaced Panyu as the name of the walled city, Panyu was still the name of the surrounding area until the end of Qing dynasty. Today, Panyu is a district of Guangzhou south of Haizhu District separated from the rest of the city by the Pearl River.

The Old Book of Tang described Guangzhou as important port in the south of China. In that period, direct routes connected the Middle East and China. A Chinese prisoner, who was captured in the Battle of Talas and stayed in what is now Iraq for twelve years, returned to China by ship on a direct route from Iraq to Guangzhou. Guangzhou was mentioned by various Muslim geographers in the ninth and tenth centuries, such as Al-Masudi and Ibn Khordadbeh. Guangzhou was known as Khanfu ????? by the Arabs. According to a local Guangzhou government report, the city was sacked by Muslims on October 30, 758. The Arab historian Abu Zayd as-Sirafi mentioned Guangzhou several times in his book The Journey of as-Sirafi (Arabic: ), providing a description of daily life, food, business dealings, and the justice system of the city. As-Sirafi also reports that in 878 followers of the Chinese rebel leader Huang Chao besieged Guangzhou and massacred a large number of foreign merchants residing there. The foreign merchants were Arab Muslims, Persians, Jews and Christians

During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, Guangzhou was the capital of the Southern Han state which existed from 917 to 971, and was one of the most stable of the southern states. The region enjoyed considerable cultural and economic success in this period.

From the tenth to twelfth century, Persian women were to be found in Guangzhou. Multiple women originating from the Persian Gulf lived in Guangzhous foreign quarter. Some scholars did not differentiate between Persian and Arab, calling them both "Dashi" (Chinese: ; pinyin: ), and some say that the Chinese called all women coming from the Persian Gulf "Persian Women".

The Moroccan traveler Ibn Battuta visited Guangzhou in the 14th century in his journey around the world. He described the manufacturing process of large ships in the city.

During the Northern Song dynasty, the celebrated poet Su Shi (Shisu) 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 in Guangzhou by sea in 1514, establishing a monopoly on the external trade out of its harbour by 1517. They were later expelled from their settlements in Guangzhou (Cantao in Portuguese), but instead were granted use of Macau as a trade base with the city in 1557. They would keep a near monopoly on foreign trade in the region until the arrival of the Dutch in the early 17th century.