guangzhou Photos

Guangzhou is China’s third biggest city and one of the most important business centres of the world.

It was probably founded in the year 214 BC by the army of emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. The first Europeans to arrive here were the Portuguese, in the 16th century, who named the town Cantao – which later became Canton, the name under which it came to be known.

From the mid-18th century and until the First Opium War in 1839, it was one of the world’s largest ports and one of the three largest cities in the world. In 1839, the Chinese confiscated 20,000 crates of opium, which brought about the armed intervention of England and thus the First Opium War.

The language spoken in Guangzhou is Cantonese, which difers from Northern Mandarin. It is the dialect spoken by the majority of expat Chinese people. Cantonese cuisine is also the most popular type of Chinese cuisine.