Guangzhou became a part of China in the 3d cent. B.C. Hindu and Arab merchants reached Guangzhou in the 10th cent., and the city became the first Chinese port regularly visited by European traders. In 1511, Portugal secured a trade monopoly, but it was broken by the British in the late 17th cent.; in the 18th cent. the French and Dutch were also admitted. Trading, however, was restricted until the Treaty of Nanjing (1842) following the Opium War, which opened the city to foreign trade. Following a disturbance, French and British forces occupied Guangzhou in 1856. Later the island of Shameen (Shamian) was ceded to them for business and residential purposes, and this reclaimed sandbank with its broad avenues, gardens, and fine buildings was known for its beauty; it was restored to China in 1946.

Chen Clan Temple
One tagged place of Guangzhou history is Chen Clan temple. The ancestral temple for the whole clan of the Chen in Guangdong Province, also called Chen Clan Academy, was designed by Li Julin and built from 1890 to 1894, Qing Dynasty when Emperor Guangxu reigned over the country. The whole structure faces the south and covers 15,000 square meters with 6,400 square meters as principal section.

Chen Clan Temple is known for its superb art of decoration for it epitomizes the folk decoration art of Guangdong. It is also famous for “three kinds of carving, three kinds of sculpture and one kind of iron casting”, including Stone carving, wood carving, Brick carving, Pottery Sculpture, plaster sculpture, painted sculpture and iron casting.

Museum of West Han Dynasty and Nanyue King
On the Xianggang Hill beside the Jiefang Road stands the tomb of Nanyue King who was the second generation of the King of Nanyue Kingdom in early West Han Dynasty and also the grandson of General Zhao Tuo of the Qin dynasty who unified areas south to the five mountain ridges. The tomb, enjoying a history of over 2000 years, was discovered in 1983. 20 meters deep down behind the hill, it was made of 750 stone slabs with 7 rooms in 2 parts separated by two stone doors. Each room was of its own function. After a few years of excavation, over 1000 pieces or sets of valuable cultural relic and 15 buried-alive dead bodies had been unearthed.

Up to date, this tomb is the earliest, largest and richest ancient tomb of early Han dynasty found in Guangdong and Guangxi areas. It is also the only all-stone tomb with earliest color murals. Of the unearthed cultural relics, bronze instruments, 36 large cooking vessels, 36 bronze mirrors and 3 gold coins (up to date, there have been only 4 gold coins in total of the time discovered in the area) and 240 jade wares. The King wore clothes with jade pieces threaded together. Besides, people found a blue colored flat grass slab, a set of printing copper moulds and African ivory and other rare treasures of significance.