1.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
2.
Thirteen Factories
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The Thirteen Factories also known as the Canton Factories, was a neighborhood along the Pearl River in southwestern Guangzhou in the Qing Empire from c. 1684 to 1856. These warehouses and stores were the principal and sole legal site of most Western trade with China from 1757 to 1842. The factories were destroyed by fire in 1822 by accident, in 1841 amid the First Opium War, the factories importance diminished after the opening of the treaty ports and the end of the Canton System under the terms of the 1842 Anglo-Chinese Treaty of Nanking. Their former site is now part of Guangzhou Cultural Park, the foreign agents were known at the time as supercargos in English and as daban in Chinese. This terms Cantonese pronunciation, taipan, only came into common English use after the rise of private trading from 1834 on. A private captain might be his own supercargo, a large East Indiamen might have five or more, which were ranked chief supercargo, 2nd supercargo, a team of supercargos divided their work, some overseeing sales, others tea purchases, silk purchases, and so forth. Permanent supercargos might divide their work by the ships arrived. The bookkeepers who attended them were called writers, those serving with the ship, Hong is the Cantonese pronunciation of 行, the Chinese term for a properly-licensed business. By analogy, it was applied to its chief, the Hong merchant, and its property, Hoppo, or fully the Canton Sea Customs Minister, was the imperial official responsible for imperial customs and supervised the other officials. The word is Chinese Pidgin English, and some speculated that it derived from Hu Bu, the Hoppo was responsible for fixing the charges levied as a ship entered the port, a responsibility that allowed him to become quite rich. Since the Ming dynasty, a series of sea bans restricted Chinas foreign commerce, in 1684, the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing Dynasty allowed foreigners to trade with China in the four cities of Guangzhou, Xiamen, Songjiang, and Ningpo. In the case of Guangzhou, early traders were obliged to follow the monsoon winds, the foreign ships were anchored downstream at Pazhou, with business conducted in the citys western suburbs. Typically, cargo was ferried from the ships by its own crew, to avoid theft or piracy, foreign traders began assigning a few of their own seamen to these ships as guards. In 1686, Westerners were allowed to rent accommodations in the quarter to avoid the necessity of shuttling back to Pazhou each night. A Chinese comprador hired each factorys staff of Chinese servants and bought its provisions from local vendors, another comprador dealt with the ships provisions at Pazhou, where sampan ladies crowded around the ships to do laundry and odd jobs for the sailors. A few weeks before departure, the crew came to the factories in shifts of a few days each for shore leave, chaperoned by some of the ships officers. Hog Lane was lined with open-fronted booths and shops catering to them, selling food, drink, clothing, and chowchows, and was policed by Chinese guards stationed at both ends of the alley. At first the supercargos came and left with the ships, by the 1760s, every East India company had permanent supercargos and rooms were being rented in Macao year-round as well
3.
Pearl River (China)
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The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang and formerly often known as the Canton River, is an extensive river system in southern China. The name Pearl River is also used as a catch-all for the watersheds of the Xi, Bei. These rivers are all considered tributaries of the Pearl River because they share a common delta, as well as referring to the system as a whole, the Pearl River name is also applied to a specific branch within the system. This Pearl River is the widest distributary within the delta, although considerably short, the waters that converge east of the Bei Jiang are first referred to as the Pearl River just north of Guangzhou. The Pearl River is famed as the river flows through Guangzhou. The Pearl Rivers estuary, Bocca Tigris, is dredged so as to keep it open for ocean vessels. This bay separates Macau and Zhuhai from Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the Pearl River is so named because of the pearl-colored shells that lie at the bottom of the river in the section that flows through the city of Guangzhou. A500 kV-power line, suspended from three of the tallest pylons in the world, the Pylons of Pearl River Crossing, crosses the river near its mouth. Zhujiang Brewery, one of the three largest domestic breweries in China, is located on the Pearl River Delta within the city of Guangzhou
4.
Qianlong Emperor
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The Qianlong Emperor was the sixth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. This turned around in his years, the Qing empire began to decline with rampant corruption and wastefulness in his court. Hongli was adored both by his grandfather, the Kangxi Emperor and his father, the Yongzheng Emperor, some historians argue that the main reason why the Kangxi Emperor appointed the Yongzheng Emperor as his successor was because Hongli was his favourite grandson. He felt that Honglis mannerisms were similar to his own. As a teenager, Hongli was very capable in martial arts, after his fathers enthronement in 1722, Hongli was made a qinwang under the title Prince Bao of the First Rank. For many years, the Yongzheng Emperor did not designate any of his sons as the crown prince, Hongli went on inspection trips to the south, and was known to be an able negotiator and enforcer. He was also appointed as the regent on occasions when his father was away from the capital. Honglis accession to the throne was already foreseen before he was proclaimed emperor before the assembled imperial court upon the death of the Yongzheng Emperor. The name in the box was to be revealed to other members of the family in the presence of all senior ministers only upon the death of the emperor. When the Yongzheng Emperor died suddenly in 1735, the will was taken out and read before the entire Qing imperial court, Hongli adopted the era name Qianlong, which is composed of the characters 乾 and 隆 and which collectively mean Lasting Eminence. The Qianlong Emperor was a military leader. Immediately after ascending the throne, he sent armies to suppress the Miao rebellion and his later campaigns greatly expanded the territory controlled by the Qing Empire. This was made not only by Qing military might, but also by the disunity. Under the Qianlong Emperors reign, the Dzungar Khanate was incorporated into the Qing Empires rule and renamed Xinjiang, while to the west, the incorporation of Xinjiang into the Qing Empire resulted from the final defeat and destruction of the Dzungars, a coalition of Western Mongol tribes. The Qianlong Emperor then ordered the Dzungar genocide, historian Peter Perdue has argued that the decimation of the Dzungars was the result of an explicit policy of massacre launched by the Qianlong Emperor. Khalkha Mongol rebels under Prince Chingünjav had plotted with the Dzungar leader Amursana, the Qing army crushed the rebellion and executed Chingünjav and his entire family. Poems glorifying the Qing conquest and genocide of the Dzungar Mongols were written by Zhao, Zhao Yi wrote the Yanpu zaji in brush-notes style, where military expenditures of the Qianlong Emperors reign were recorded. The Qianlong Emperor was praised as being the source of eighteenth-century peace, the Dzungar genocide has been compared to the Qing extermination of the Jinchuan Tibetan people in 1776, which also occurred during the Qianlong Emperors reign
5.
Kangxi Emperor
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The Kangxi Emperors reign of 61 years makes him the longest-reigning emperor in Chinese history and one of the longest-reigning rulers in the world. However, since he ascended the throne at the age of seven, actual power was held for six years by four regents and his grandmother, the Kangxi Emperor is considered one of Chinas greatest emperors. The Kangxi Emperors reign brought about stability and relative wealth after years of war. He initiated the period known as the Prosperous Era of Kangxi and Qianlong or High Qing and his court also accomplished such literary feats as the compilation of the Kangxi Dictionary. Born on 4 May 1654 to the Shunzhi Emperor and Empress Xiaokangzhang in Jingren Palace, the Forbidden City, Beijing and he was enthroned at the age of seven, on 7 February 1661. His era name Kangxi, however, only started to be used on 18 February 1662, large bright eyes lighted up his face, which was pitted with smallpox. Before the Kangxi Emperor came to the throne, Grand Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang had appointed the powerful men Sonin, Suksaha, Ebilun, Sonin died after his granddaughter became Empress Xiaochengren, leaving Suksaha at odds with Oboi in politics. In a fierce struggle, Oboi had Suksaha put to death. The Kangxi Emperor and the rest of the imperial court acquiesced in this arrangement, in 1669, the Kangxi Emperor had Oboi arrested with the help of his grandmother Grand Dowager Empress Xiaozhuang, who had raised him. And began taking control of the empire. He listed three issues of concern, flood control of the Yellow River, repair of the Grand Canal, the Grand Empress Dowager influenced him greatly and he took care of her himself in the months leading up to her death in 1688. The main army of the Qing Empire, the Eight Banners Army, was in decline under the Kangxi Emperor. It was smaller than it had been at its peak under Hong Taiji and in the reign of the Shunzhi Emperor, however. In addition, the Green Standard Army was still powerful with generals such as Tuhai, Fei Yanggu, Zhang Yong, Zhou Peigong, Shi Lang, Mu Zhan, Shun Shike and Wang Jingbao. The main reason for decline was a change in system between the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors reigns. The Kangxi Emperor continued using the military system implemented by his predecessors. According to the system, a commander who returned from a battle alone would be put to death and this was meant to motivate both commanders and soldiers alike to fight valiantly in war because there was no benefit for the sole survivor in a battle. By the Qianlong Emperors reign, military commanders had become lax and this was because commanders statuses had become hereditary, a general gained his position based on the contributions of his forefathers
6.
Manchu people
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The Manchu are an ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. They are sometimes called red-tasseled Manchus, a reference to the ornamentation on traditional Manchu hats, the Later Jin, and Qing dynasty are established by Manchus, who are descended from the Jurchen people who earlier established the Jin dynasty in China. Manchus form the largest branch of the Tungusic peoples and are distributed throughout China and they can be found in 31 Chinese provincial regions. They also form the largest minority group in China without an autonomous region, among them, Liaoning has the largest population and Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Beijing have over 100,000 Manchu residents. About half of the live in Liaoning and one-fifth in Hebei. The Sushen used flint-headed wooden arrows, farmed, hunted and fished, the cognates Sushen or Jichen again appear in the Shan Hai Jing and Book of Wei during the dynastic era referring to the Tungusic Mohe tribes of the far northeast. The Mohe practiced pig farming extensively and were sedentary. They were predominantly farmers and grew soybeans, wheat, millet and rice, in the 10th century CE, the term Jurchen first appeared in documents of the late Tang dynasty in reference to the state of Balhae in present-day northeastern China. Following the fall of Balhae, the Jurchens became vassals of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty, in the year 1114, Wanyan Aguda united the Jurchen tribes and established the Jin dynasty. His brother and successor, Wanyan Wuqimai defeated the Liao dynasty, after the fall of the Liao dynasty, the Jurchens went to war with the Northern Song dynasty, and captured most of northern China in the Jin–Song wars. During the Jin dynasty, the first Jurchen script came into use in the 1120s and it was mainly derived from the Khitan script. The Jurchens were sedentary, settled farmers with advanced agriculture and they farmed grain and millet as their cereal crops, grew flax, and raised oxen, pigs, sheep and horses. Their farming way of life was different from the pastoral nomadism of the Mongols. In 1206, the Mongols, vassals to the Jurchens, rose in Mongolia and their leader, Genghis Khan, led Mongol troops against the Jurchens, who were finally defeated by Ögedei Khan in 1234. From that time, the Jurchens of North China increasingly merged with the Han Chinese while those living in their homeland started to be Mongolized and they adopted Mongolian customs, names and the Mongolian language. As time went on, fewer and fewer Jurchens could recognize their own script, the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty was replaced by the Ming dynasty in 1368. In 1387, Ming forces defeated the Mongol commander Naghachus resisting forces who settled in the Haixi area, at the time, some Jurchen clans were vassals to the Joseon dynasty of Korea such as Odoli and Huligai. Their elites served in the Korean royal bodyguard, the Joseon Koreans tried to deal with the military threat posed by the Jurchen by using both forceful means and incentives, and by launching military attacks
7.
Ming dynasty
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The Ming dynasty was the ruling dynasty of China – then known as the Empire of the Great Ming – for 276 years following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming, described by some as one of the greatest eras of orderly government, although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng, regimes loyal to the Ming throne – collectively called the Southern Ming – survived until 1683. He rewarded his supporters and employed them as a counterweight against the Confucian scholar-bureaucrats. One, Zheng He, led seven enormous voyages of exploration into the Indian Ocean as far as Arabia, the rise of new emperors and new factions diminished such extravagances, the capture of the Zhengtong Emperor during the 1449 Tumu Crisis ended them completely. The imperial navy was allowed to fall into disrepair while forced labor constructed the Liaodong palisade, haijin laws intended to protect the coasts from Japanese pirates instead turned many into smugglers and pirates themselves. The growth of Portuguese, Spanish, and Dutch trade created new demand for Chinese products and produced an influx of Japanese. This abundance of specie remonetized the Ming economy, whose money had suffered repeated hyperinflation and was no longer trusted. While traditional Confucians opposed such a prominent role for commerce and the newly rich it created, combined with crop failure, floods, and epidemic, the dynasty collapsed before the rebel leader Li Zicheng, who was defeated by the Manchu-led Eight Banner armies who founded the Qing dynasty. The Mongol-led Yuan dynasty ruled before the establishment of the Ming dynasty, consequently, agriculture and the economy were in shambles, and rebellion broke out among the hundreds of thousands of peasants called upon to work on repairing the dykes of the Yellow River. A number of Han Chinese groups revolted, including the Red Turbans in 1351, the Red Turbans were affiliated with the White Lotus, a Buddhist secret society. Zhu Yuanzhang was a peasant and Buddhist monk who joined the Red Turbans in 1352. In 1356, Zhus rebel force captured the city of Nanjing, with the Yuan dynasty crumbling, competing rebel groups began fighting for control of the country and thus the right to establish a new dynasty. In 1363, Zhu Yuanzhang eliminated his archrival and leader of the rebel Han faction, Chen Youliang, in the Battle of Lake Poyang, arguably the largest naval battle in history. Known for its ambitious use of ships, Zhus force of 200,000 Ming sailors were able to defeat a Han rebel force over triple their size, claimed to be 650. The victory destroyed the last opposing rebel faction, leaving Zhu Yuanzhang in uncontested control of the bountiful Yangtze River Valley, Zhu Yuanzhang took Hongwu, or Vastly Martial, as his era name. Hongwu made an effort to rebuild state infrastructure. He built a 48 km long wall around Nanjing, as well as new palaces, Hongwu organized a military system known as the weisuo, which was similar to the fubing system of the Tang dynasty. With a growing suspicion of his ministers and subjects, Hongwu established the Jinyiwei, some 100,000 people were executed in a series of purges during his rule
8.
Koxinga
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Zheng Chenggong, better known in the West by his Hokkien honorific Koxinga or Coxinga was a Chinese-Japanese Ming loyalist who resisted the Qing conquest of Chinas southeastern coast. Conquering the Dutch outposts on Taiwan, he established a dynasty which ruled the island as the Kingdom of Tungning. Zheng Sen was born in 1624 in Hirado, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan, to Zheng Zhilong, a Chinese merchant and pirate, and a Japanese woman, recorded only by her surname Tagawa, or probably Tagawa Matsu. He was raised there until the age of seven with the Japanese name Fukumatsu, in 1638, Zheng became a Xiucai in the imperial examination and became one of the twelve Linshansheng of Nanan. In 1641, Koxinga married the niece of Dong Yangxian, an official who was a Jinshi from Huian, in 1644, Koxinga studied at the Imperial Nanking University, where he met and became a student of the scholar Qian Qianyi. In 1644, Beijing fell to rebels led by Li Zicheng, Manchu armies aided by Wu Sanguis forces defeated the rebels and took the city. The Ming remnant forces retreated to Nanjing where they put Prince Fu on the throne as the Hongguang Emperor in an attempt to continue the Ming dynasty in the south. The next year, the Manchu armies led by Dodo advanced south and conquered Yangzhou and Nanjing while the Ming leader defending Yangzhou, the Hongguang emperor was captured and executed. In 1645, Prince Tang was installed on the throne as the Longwu Emperor with support from Zheng Zhilong, the Longwu Emperor established his court in Fuzhou, which was controlled by the Zhengs. In the later part of the year, another Ming Prince Lu proclaimed himself as Regent in Shaoxing, although Prince Lu and Longwus regimes stemmed from the same dynasty, both of them pursued different goals. It was due to the defences of Fujian and the military resources of the Zheng family. The Longwu Emperor granted Zheng Zhilongs son, Zheng Sen, a new name, Chenggong. In 1646, Koxinga first led the Ming armies to resist the Manchu invaders, Zheng Zhilong ordered the defending general of Xianxia Pass, Shi Fu, to retreat to Fuzhou even when Qing armies approached Fujian. As such, the Qing army faced little resistance when it conquered the north of the pass, in September 1646, Qing armies broke through inadequately defended mountain passes and entered Fujian. Zheng Zhilong retreated to his fortress and the Longwu Emperor faced the Qing armies alone. Longwus forces were destroyed and he was captured and died shortly afterwards, the Qing forces sent envoys to meet Zheng Zhilong secretly and they offered to appoint him as the governor of both Fujian and Guangdong provinces if he would surrender to Qing. Zheng Zhilong agreed and ignored the objections of his family, surrendering himself to the Qing forces in Fuzhou on 21 November 1646, Koxinga and his uncles were left as the successors to the leadership of Zheng Zhilongs military forces. Koxinga operated outside Xiamen and recruited many to join his cause in a few months and he used the superiority of his naval forces to launch amphibious raids on Manchu-occupied territory in Fujian and he managed to take Tongan in Quanzhou prefecture in early 1647
9.
Taiwan
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Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, is a state in East Asia. Neighbours include China to the west, Japan to the northeast, Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and the one with the largest economy. The island of Taiwan, also known as Formosa, was inhabited by Taiwanese aborigines before the 17th century. After a brief rule by the Kingdom of Tungning, the island was annexed by the Qing dynasty, the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan in 1895 after the Sino-Japanese War. While Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Republic of China was established on the mainland in 1912 after the fall of the Qing dynasty, following the Japanese surrender to the Allies in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan. However, the resumption of the Chinese Civil War led to the ROCs loss of the mainland to the Communists, and the flight of the ROC government to Taiwan in 1949. As a founding member of the United Nations, the ROC continued to represent China at the United Nations until 1971, in the early 1960s, Taiwan entered a period of rapid economic growth and industrialization, creating a stable industrial economy. In the 1980s and early 1990s, it changed from a one-party military dictatorship dominated by the Kuomintang to a multi-party democracy with universal suffrage, Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy. It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, the PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan and asserted the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC, the PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible. There are various names for the island of Taiwan in use today, the former name Formosa dates from 1542, when Portuguese sailors sighted the main island of Taiwan and named it Ilha Formosa, which means beautiful island. The name Formosa eventually replaced all others in European literature and was in use in English in the early 20th century. This name was adopted into the Chinese vernacular as the name of the sandbar. The modern word Taiwan is derived from this usage, which is seen in forms in Chinese historical records. Use of the current Chinese name was formalized as early as 1684 with the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, through its rapid development, the entire Formosan mainland eventually became known as Taiwan. The official name of the state is the Republic of China and it was a member of the United Nations representing China until 1971, when it lost its seat to the Peoples Republic of China. Over subsequent decades, the Republic of China has become known as Taiwan. In some contexts, especially ones from the ROC government
10.
Zhuhai
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Zhuhai is a prefecture-level city on the southern coast of Guangdong province in China. Located in the Pearl River Delta, Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the northwest, Zhongshan to the north, Zhuhai was one of the original Special Economic Zones established in the 1980s. Zhuhai is also one of Chinas premier tourist destinations, being called the Chinese Riviera, according to a report released in 2014 by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zhuhai is the most livable city in China. Zhuhai borders the Macau Special Administrative Region, and is 140 kilometres southwest of Guangzhou and its territory includes 146 islands and a coastline of 690 kilometres. Some of the latter are actually closer to Hong Kong than to the Zhuhai mainland. The jurisdiction of Nei Lingding Island, located in the Pearl River estuary was transferred from Zhuhai to Shenzhen in 2009, average highs in January and July are 18 and 32 °C respectively. It never snows and a frost has never recorded in the city centre. Conversely, extreme heat waves do not occur as they do further inland, Zhuhai became a city in 1979, a year before it was designated as one of the first Special Economic Zones of China. The establishment of Zhuhai as an SEZ allowed the Chinese Central Government and economy to have access to the Macau and consequently. As a result, Zhuhai is now a city in the Pearl River Delta region according to the new general urban plan approved by the State Council. The implementation of Special Economy Zone intended for the city to become a key city, science and education city, scenic and tourism city. The outstanding geographic location, a range of supporting infrastructure. Utilized foreign investment reached US$10.344 billion in 2008, among the top 500 enterprises worldwide,19 of them have investment projects in Zhuhai such as ExxonMobil, BP, Siemens, Carrefour and Matsushita. Hong Kong is the largest overseas investor in Zhuhai, accounting for 22% of total utilized foreign investment in 2002, Zhuhai hi-tech zone is located in the north of Zhuhai, which is very close to downtown. Furthermore, technological resources are centralized in our zone, there is also a development in hi-tech industries which is leading by software. The hi-tech zone is the showcase for Zhuhais scientific development, Zhuhai Free Trade Zone Zhuhai Free Trade Zone was founded in 1996 with the State Councils approval, occupying 3 km2. A Zhuhai FTZ Administrative Committee was set up in June 1997, by the end of 2006, there had been over 200 companies registered in the Free Trade Zone, including more than 150 foreign-funded enterprises, and the total investment amount was 1 billion US dollars. Their combined sales were more than 1.3 billion US dollars or 10% of all the sales in the world
11.
Zhongshan
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Zhongshan is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China, with a population of over 3 million. The city used to be called Shekki or Shiqi, Zhongshan is one of a very few cities in China named after a person. It is named after Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who is known in Mandarin as Sun Zhongshan. Sun, the father of the Republic of China who is also regarded positively by the Peoples Republic, was born in Cuiheng village in Nanlang Township of what was then Xiangshan County. In 1925, the year after his death, Xiangshan was renamed Zhongshan in his honor, until 1925, Zhongshan was generally known as Xiangshan or Heung-san, in reference to the many flowers that grew in the mountains nearby. The city was renamed in honor of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Sun is considered by both the China and the Republic of China to be the Father of Modern China, and was from Cuiheng village – now part of Nanlang Town in Zhongshan. Thousands of years ago, much of the Zhongshan area lay within the Pearl River estuary, gradually from south to north, the area filled in with alluvial silt and became dry land. The northern parts of todays Zhongshan did not fill in until the time of the Ming Dynasty, the Zhongshan area was part of an extended Dongguan County during the Tang Dynasty, and was a significant sea salt producer. The prosperous settlement was upgraded to a county in 1152. After the collapse of the Southern Song Dynasty, many descendants of Song court officials, including members of the imperial family, under the Qing Dynasty, embankments were built to prevent flooding in the new alluvial lands, and the area of cultivation was extended. Much of the First Opium War took place in and around Xiangshan, in 1839, the official Lin Zexu arrived in Xiangshan and ordered the expulsion of Sir Charles Elliot and other British traders from the area. Qing Dynasty soldiers resisted British attacks on the area in 1840, after the Opium Wars opened the region to foreign influence, a number of Xiangshan residents, including Sun Zhongshan, left to study overseas and were among the creators of modern China. Xiangshan was one of the first counties in China liberated as part of the Xinhai Revolution, after Sun Zhongshans death in 1925, the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Republic of China decided to memorialize Sun by renaming his county of birth from Xiangshan to Zhongshan. During the Second Sino-Japanese War, in July 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army seized several islands belonging to Zhongshan, during March 1940, the Japanese army occupied most of Zhongshan. The Japanese army implemented Unit 8604 or Nami Unit, a military medical unit, related to Unit 731. It was headquartered at Zhongshan Medical University, Nationalist and Communist units launched guerrilla attacks on Japanese forces beginning in 1942. On August 15,1945, Japanese forces declared an unconditional surrender, Zhongshan was the scene of fighting during the Chinese Civil War and was held for much of the war by Nationalists. On October 30,1949, however, the Peoples Liberation Army defeated Nationalist forces in Zhongshan, in 1983, Zhongshan was elevated in administrative status from a county to a county-level city under the administration of Foshan
12.
Macau
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Macau, also spelled Macao, officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the western side of the Pearl River Delta in East Asia. Macau is bordered by the city of Zhuhai in Mainland China to the north, Hong Kong lies about 64 kilometres to its east across the Delta. With a population of 650,900 living in an area of 30.5 km2, Macau was administered by the Portuguese Empire and its inheritor states from the mid-16th century until late 1999, when it constituted the last remaining European colony in Asia. Portuguese traders first settled in Macau in the 1550s, in 1557, Macau was leased to Portugal from Ming China as a trading port. The Portuguese Empire administered the city under Chinese authority and sovereignty until 1887, sovereignty over Macau was transferred back to China on 20 December 1999. The Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau and Macau Basic Law stipulate that Macau operate with a degree of autonomy until at least 2049. Macau participates in international organizations and events that do not require members to national sovereignty. Macau is a city in Southern China, known for its casinos. Its gaming revenue has been the worlds largest since 2006, with the heavily dependent on gaming. According to The World Factbook, Macau has the fourth highest life expectancy in the world, the present Chinese name means Inlet Gates. Macau is otherwise known in Chinese as Haojing or Jinghai, the name Macau is thought to be derived from the A-Ma Temple, a temple built in 1448 dedicated to Mazu, the goddess of seafarers and fishermen. It is said that when the Portuguese sailors landed at the coast just outside the temple and asked the name of the place, the Portuguese then named the peninsula Macau. The history of Macau is traced back to the Qin dynasty, the first recorded Chinese inhabitants of the area were people seeking refuge in Macau from invading Mongols during the Southern Song. Under the Ming dynasty, fishermen migrated to Macau from Guangdong, the Macau native people were Tanka boat people. Macau did not develop as a settlement until the Portuguese arrived in the 16th century. In 1513, Jorge Álvares became the first Portuguese to land in China, in 1535, Portuguese traders obtained the rights to anchor ships in Macaus harbours and to carry out trading activities, though not the right to stay onshore. In 1557, the Portuguese established a permanent settlement in Macau, the Portuguese continued to pay an annual tribute up to 1863 in order to stay in Macau. By 1564, Portugal commanded western trade with India, Japan, but their pride was damaged by the indifference with which the Chinese treated them
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