"collection of ancient books in Southern China. Guangzhou currently maintains sister city agreements with the following foreign cities. Guangzhou Guangzhou (; ; ), also known as Canton, is the capital and most populous city of the province of Guangdong in southern China. On the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kong and north of Macau, Guangzhou has a history of over 2,200 years and was a major terminus of the maritime Silk Road, and continues to serve as a major port and transportation hub, as well as one of China's three largest cities. Guangzhou is at the heart of the"
"The city has also sometimes been known as Guangzhou Fu or Guangfu after its status as the capital of a prefecture. From this latter name, Guangzhou was known to medieval Persians such as Al-Masudi and Ibn Khordadbeh as Khanfu (). Under the Southern Han, the city was renamed Xingwang. The Chinese abbreviation for Guangzhou is """" (although the abbreviation on car license plates, as with the rest of the province, is ), after its nickname ""Rice City"". The city has long borne the nickname or from the five stones at the old Temple of the Five Immortals said to have"
"of Guangzhou and remained in common use until the gradual adoption of pinyin. As an adjective, it is still used in describing the people, language, cuisine and culture of Guangzhou and the surrounding Liangguang region. The 19th-century name """" derived from Nanjing dialect of Mandarin and the town's status as a prefectural capital. A settlement now known as Nanwucheng was present in the area by . Some traditional Chinese histories placed Nanwucheng's founding during the reign of Ji Yan, king of Zhou from 314–256 . It was said to have consisted of little more than a stockade of bamboo and"
"England by Lord Palmerston and which were called ""Palmerston's follies"". Later, similar forts built by the Europeans in China came to be called ""folly fort"" or simply ""folly"". The French Folly and Dutch Folly were forts in the Pearl River in Guangzhou (then romanized as ""Canton""), which the Europeans used during the Second Opium War. The Dutch folly was located at , which was then a small island in the river. Today two skyscrapers stand in the same place, which is at the water's edge and no longer an island due to land reclamation. The French folly was located at"
"ports of Zhoushan, Xiamen, and Guangzhou. Official British trade was conducted through the auspices of the British East India Company, which held a royal charter for trade with the Far East. The East India Company gradually came to dominate Sino-European trade from its position in India and due to the strength of the Royal Navy. Trade benefited after the newly-risen Qing dynasty relaxed maritime trade restrictions in the 1680s. Taiwan came under Qing control in 1683 and rhetoric regarding the tributary status of Europeans was muted. Guangzhou (known as Canton to Europeans) became the port of preference for incoming foreign"
"romanization of the local Cantonese pronunciation of the same Chinese characters. It was formerly the area's more common English name, although Mandarin pinyin is now the official form within China. It was also sometimes simply translated as ""Westgate"" or the ""western suburbs"" of Guangzhou (formerly known as ""Canton""). ""Xiguan"" or ""New Xiguan"" is also an informal name for Guangzhou's Liwan District. Old Xiguan covered most of the present Liwan District, excluding Xicun ""Xīcūn""; ""West Village"") Litchi Bay, and the old Fangcun District. It ran along the Pearl River from the 1st Quay (, ""Diyī Jin"", ""Dai6-jat7 Zeon1"") in the northwest"
"Guangzhou Guangzhou (; ; ), also known as Canton, is the capital and most populous city of the province of Guangdong in southern China. On the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kong and north of Macau, Guangzhou has a history of over 2,200 years and was a major terminus of the maritime Silk Road, and continues to serve as a major port and transportation hub, as well as one of China's three largest cities. Guangzhou is at the heart of the most-populous built-up metropolitan area in mainland China that extends into the neighboring cities of Foshan, Dongguan, Zhongshan and"
"capital Guangzhou and the Cantonese language specifically refers to only the Guangzhou dialect of the Yue Chinese languages. The English name ""Canton"" derived from Portuguese ' or ', a muddling of dialectical pronunciations of ""Guangdong"" (e.g., Hakka ""Kóng-tûng""). Although it originally and chiefly applied to the walled city of Guangzhou, it was occasionally conflated with Guangdong by some authors. Within Guangdong and Guangxi, Cantonese is considered the prestige dialect and is called ""baahk wá"" () which means ""vernacular"". In historical times, it was known as ""Guangzhou speech"" or Guangzhounese (廣州話; 广州话; Gwóngjāu wá) but due to Guangzhou's prosperity it has"
"present name, ""Guangdong Province"" was given in early Ming dynasty. Since the 16th century, Guangdong has had extensive trade links with the rest of the world. European merchants coming northwards via the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea, particularly the Portuguese and British, traded extensively through Guangzhou. Macau, on the southern coast of Guangdong, was the first European settlement in 1557. In the 19th century, the opium traded through Guangzhou triggered the First Opium War, opening an era of Western imperialists' incursion and intervention in China. In addition to Macau, which was then a Portuguese colony, Hong Kong"
"the mission failed to achieve its official objectives, it was later noted for the extensive cultural, political, and geographical observations its participants recorded in China and brought back to Europe. Foreign maritime trade in China was regulated through the Canton System, which emerged gradually through a series of imperial edicts in the 17th and 18th centuries. This system channeled formal trade through the ""Cohong"", a guild of thirteen trading companies (known in Cantonese as ""hong"") selected by the imperial government. In 1725, the Yongzheng Emperor gave the ""Cohong"" legal responsibility over commerce in Guangzhou. By the 18th century, Guangzhou, known"
"as Canton to British merchants at the time, had become the most active port in the China trade, thanks partly to its convenient access to the Pearl River Delta. In 1757, the Qianlong Emperor confined all foreign maritime trade to Guangzhou. Qianlong, who ruled the Qing dynasty at its zenith, was wary of the transformations of Chinese society that might result from unrestricted foreign access. Chinese subjects were not permitted to teach the Chinese language to foreigners, and European traders were forbidden to bring women into China. By the late 18th century, British traders felt confined by the Canton System"
"people unfamiliar with the history of the city. Local residents continued to refer to the tower by various nicknames including ""Slim Waist"" (), ""Twisted Firewood"" (; a metaphor for ""stubborn"" in Cantonese) and ""Yangdianfeng"" (; homophonic to ""epilepsy"" in colloquial Chinese). The naming was reconsidered in 2010. After surveying a broad range of public opinions, ""Canton Tower"" was decided as the official name and announced at the end of September 2010. The new English name, alluded to the city's prosperous past, was considered the most identifying and least ambiguous among the multitude of proposals. Canton Tower was constructed by Guangzhou"
"called , in Cantonese ""Tong yan gai"", in Mandarin ""Tángrénjiē"", in Hakka ""Tong ngin gai"", and in Toisan ""Hong ngin gai"", literally meaning ""Tang people's street(s)"". The Tang Dynasty was a zenith of the Chinese civilization, after which some Chinese call themselves. Some Chinatowns are indeed just one single street, such as the relatively short Fisgard Street in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. A more modern Chinese name is (Cantonese: Waa Fau, Mandarin: Huábù) meaning ""Chinese City"", used in the semi-official Chinese translations of some cities' documents and signs. ""Bù"", pronounced sometimes in Mandarin as ""fù"", usually means ""seaport""; but in"
"Persians, Arabs, Hindu Indians, Malays, Bengalis, Sinhalese, Khmers, Chams, Jews and Nestorian Christians of the Near East, among many others. In 748, the Buddhist monk Jian Zhen described Guangzhou as a bustling mercantile business center where many large and impressive foreign ships came to dock. He wrote that ""many big ships came from Borneo, Persia, Qunglun (Indonesia/Java)...with...spices, pearls, and jade piled up mountain high"", as written in the ""Yue Jue Shu"" (Lost Records of the State of Yue). During the An Lushan Rebellion Arab and Persian pirates burned and looted Guangzhou in 758, and foreigners were massacred at Yangzhou in"
"The emblem of Asian Games was a fire symbol which was similar to the Five Goats Statue in Yuexiu Park, and the mascot was five goats. The Legend of Five Goats The Legend of Five Goats comes from the ancient Guangzhou city, and is an origin of Guangzhou's nicknames like 'City of Five Goats', 'City of the Goat', 'City of the Rice'. It is also the origin of many Guangzhou local brands' names. The name 'Five Goats' can earliest be seen in poetry of Tang dynasty, and the related legendry can be dated back to Jin dynasty. Though the legendary"
"six stalks. They gave the five wheats to the people, left the five goats, and they left by the clouds. People spread the grains to the ground. From then on, Guangzhou had regular winds and rains and rich harvests, and the five god goats became stone goats stood on the hill. This is how the nicknames of Guangzhou come. The literal recordings of this legendary can be dated back to Jin Dynasty, during which Pei Yuan wrote in his essay Guangzhou Ji.' ""Taiping Yulan (""The Northern Song Dynasty,in 983) also refers to the descriptions of 'Guangzhou Ji'—“On the Guangzhou court"
"with Chinese characters extended with a number of non-traditional characters for Cantonese words. Guangzhou became the centre of rapidly expanding foreign trade after the maritime ban was lifted, with the British East India Company establishing a chamber of commerce in the city in 1715. The ancestors of most of the Han Chinese population of Hong Kong came from Guangzhou after the territory was ceded to Britain in 1842. As a result, Hong Kong Cantonese, the most widely spoken language in Hong Kong and Macau, is an offshoot of the Guangzhou dialect. The popularity of Cantonese-language media, Cantopop and the Cinema"
"Oriental languages, and went by names such as Chinese Emma or Canton Kitty. Their premises were often used as gambling houses and opium dens. Some ran Chinese gambling houses, where card games were held downstairs and the upstairs served as an opium room. About 20 Chinese men lived in each. The 1851 census found 78 Chinese-born residents all living in London and a parliamentary enquiry expressed doubt as to whether there was sufficient space for living conditions. The China tea trade via Canton was resumed despite increased competition from India, which quickly surpassed China as the primary source of tea."
"been the sheep or goats ridden by the Taoist culture heroes credited with introducing rice cultivation to the area around the time of the city's foundation. The former name ""City of the Immortals"" came from the same story. The more recent is usually taken as a simple reference to the area's fine greenery. The English name ""Canton"" derived from Portuguese ' or ', a muddling of dialectical pronunciations of ""Guangdong"" (e.g., Hakka ""Kóng-tûng""). Although it originally and chiefly applied to the walled city, it was occasionally conflated with Guangdong by some authors. It was adopted as the Postal Map Romanization"
"substitute the names of Nankin and Pekin after the cities of Nanjing (Nanking) and Beijing (Peking) in China. The name of Pekin was extinguished when it was renamed Redford in 1833. The Township of Canton was created by act of the Michigan Territorial Legislature on March 7, 1834 out of a southern portion of Plymouth Township. It was named in honor of the port and provincial capital known historically as Canton, Imperial China, known today from the pinyin standard as Guangzhou. The first meeting to organize the township was held in April 1834. In the summer of 2002, the emerald"
"Chang'an Chang'an (; ) was an ancient capital of more than ten dynasties in Chinese history, today known as Xi'an. Chang'an means ""Perpetual Peace"" in Classical Chinese since it was a capital that was repeatedly used by new Chinese rulers. During the short-lived Xin dynasty, the city was renamed ""Constant Peace"" (); yet after its fall in AD 23, the old name was restored. By the time of the Ming dynasty, a new walled city named Xi'an, meaning ""Western Peace"", was built at the Sui and Tang Dynasty city's site, which has remained its name to the present day. Chang'an"
"a Mandarin text may look similar but are pronounced differently. In English, the term ""Cantonese"" can be ambiguous. Cantonese proper is the variety native to the city of Canton, which is the traditional English name of Guangzhou. This narrow sense may be specified as ""Canton language"" or ""Guangzhou language"". However, ""Cantonese"" may also refer to the primary branch of Chinese that contains Cantonese proper as well as Taishanese and Gaoyang; this broader usage may be specified as ""Yue speech"" (). In this article, ""Cantonese"" is used for Cantonese proper. Historically, speakers called this variety ""Canton speech"" or ""Guangzhou speech"" (),"
"The Legend of Five Goats The Legend of Five Goats comes from the ancient Guangzhou city, and is an origin of Guangzhou's nicknames like 'City of Five Goats', 'City of the Goat', 'City of the Rice'. It is also the origin of many Guangzhou local brands' names. The name 'Five Goats' can earliest be seen in poetry of Tang dynasty, and the related legendry can be dated back to Jin dynasty. Though the legendary had several versions, it was unified after Ming dynasty. Usually the Legend of Five Goats reflects the history that Lingnan people was colonized by Zhongyuan ancestors."
"Danish Asiatic Co. in 1731, and the Swedish East India Co. the next year. These were joined by the occasional Prussian or Trieste Company vessel. The first independent American ship arrived in 1784 and the first colonial Australian one in 1788. By that time, Guangzhou was one of the world's great ports, organised under the Canton System. The main exports were tea and porcelain. As a meeting place of merchants from all over the world, Guangzhou became a major contributor to the rise of the modern global economy. In the 19th century, most of the city's buildings were still only"
"violent outrages against British residents. In response, in June 1840, the British, with 4,000 troops backed by four armed steam ships, blockaded Guangzhou’s harbour and so the First Opium War began. The war ended after the British supported by a number of other nations looking for spoils, had destroyed defences in Guangzhou and Tianjin, and had taken part of Guangzhou city. The Treaty of Nanjing was signed in August 1842. This treaty stipulated the opening of Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xiamen, Ningbo and Shanghai to Foreign trade and the ceding of Hong Kong in perpetuity. The treaty provisions were then extended to"
"briefly after storming the fortified town of Zhenhai at the mouth of the Yong River on October 10, 1841. The British repulsed a Chinese attempt to retake the city in the Battle of Ningpo on March 10, 1842. In 1861, the forces of the Taiping Rebellion took the city relatively unopposed as defending garrison fled, and held the town for six months. In March 1885, during the Sino-French War, Admiral Courbet's naval squadron blockaded several Chinese warships in Zhenhai Bay and exchanged fire with the shore defences. Ningbo was also once famed for traditional Chinese furniture production. During the Qing"
"Zhongshan, Guangdong. Hong Kong was where he developed his thoughts of revolution and was the base of subsequent uprisings, as well as the first revolutionary newspaper. Sun Yat-sen's revolutionary army was largely made up of Cantonese, and many of the early revolutionary leaders were also Cantonese. Cantonese people and their culture are centered in Guangdong, eastern Guangxi, Hong Kong and Macau. Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), the capital city of Guangdong, has been one of China's international trading ports since the Tang dynasty. During the 18th century, it became an important centre of the emerging trade between China and the"
"The Qing became widely known internationally in English as ""China"" or the ""Chinese Empire"", with ""China"" being the standard English translation of ""Zhongguo"" or ""Dulimbai Gurun"". They were commonly used in international communications and treaties in addition to English-language mass media and newspapers etc. during the Qing. Because the Qing dynasty was established by the Manchu people, a Tungusic people who saw themselves as heirs to both the Son of Heaven and earlier multi-ethnic empires, and because the empire had extended its control into Inner Asia, the court commonly used Chinese, Manchu, Mongol, Tibetan, and Uighur names for their realm."
"was ""An Dun"" (安敦). Daqin Daqin (; alternative transliterations include Tachin, Tai-Ch'in) is the ancient Chinese name for the Roman Empire or, depending on context, the Near East, especially Syria. It literally means the ""great China"", Qin () being the name of the founding dynasty of the Chinese Empire. Historian John Foster defined it as ""the Roman Empire, or rather that part of it which alone was known to the Chinese, Syria"". In various texts its capitals were given as Antioch and Constantinople, with no clear descriptions of the city of Rome. Its basic facets such as laws, customs, dress,"
"stones upon their departure and gave the city several of its nicknames. Another place of worship is the City God Temple. Guangzhou, like most of southern China, is also notably observant concerning ancestral veneration during occasions like the Tomb Sweeping and Ghost Festivals. Buddhism is the most prominent religion in Guangzhou. The Zhizhi Temple was founded in 233 from the estate of a Wu official; it is said to comprise the residence of Zhao Jiande, the last of the Nanyue kings, and has been known as the Guangxiao Temple (""Temple of Bright Filial Piety"") since the Ming. The missionary Bodhidharma"
"Amir of Bukhara, Sayyid ""So-fei-er"" in Chinese. He is called the ""Father"" of Chinese Islam. Islam was named by the Tang and Song Chinese as ""Dashi fa"" (""law of the Arabs""). He gave Islam the new name of ""Huihui Jiao"" (""the Religion of the Huihui""). Guangzhou (Canton) had a community which included Persians women in the 10th-12th centuries, found in Liu Chang's harem in the 10th century and in Song dynasty era Guangzhou in the 12th century the Persian women () there were observed wearing many earrings. The Muslim women in Guangzhou were called either Persian women () or Pusaman"
"Cultural Revolution. Guangzhou's fair is held 3 days before Lunar New Year's Eve. It sells New Year Trees and other goods. In Guangzhou (Canton), there is at least one fair in each district, which became a custom since the 1960s. The origin of such fairs can be traced back to the Ming Dynasty, although official records of the Lunar New Year Fairs in Canton are found first in the 1920s, when the city was under the rule of the Republic of China. The official name for the fair in Canton is flowermarket (花市), however the locals tend to use the"
"by Jean-Baptiste Du Halde. These early spellings may represent pronunciation in the Nanjing dialect, which was used as a lingua franca at this time, or the various other southern Chinese languages (e.g., Cantonese, Hokkien and Hakka) used by the traders of the port cities visited by early European traders. Peking was the English name of the city until the adoption of pinyin. However, it is still employed adjectivally in terms such as ""Pekingese"", ""Peking duck"", ""Peking Man"" and various others. The name remains in common and official use in many other languages. The city has had many other names. The"