Author: CHUNG Yoon Ngan
Date: 05-05-07 20:05
The province of Guangdong (廣東省)
http://yn.chung.id.au/Guangdong.Province.jpg
(廣) Guang means = vast; wide; extensive.
(東) Dong means = east.
(廣東) Guangdong means the vast land in the east of the large river Dong
Jiang (東江) or Yue Jiang (粵江) that flows in the east of the territory.
(面積) The area is about 186,000 square kilometers.
(人口) The estimated population is about 75.1 million.
(省會) The provincial capital is Guangzhou (廣州) with a population of about
6.664 million.
A brief historical account of the province of Guangdong.
During the Spring and Autumn Period (春秋時代 722BC to 481BC) and the Warring States Period (戰國時代 453BC to 221BC) of the Zhou Dynasty (周朝 1134BC to 256BC), the territory of the present day provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi (廣西省) was called Yue (越) or (粵). There were many ethnic groups living in this territory. Collectively they were called Bai Yue (百越) or hundred Yue. In later generations the territory was divided into two - the East and West. East Yue (東粵) was called the present day province of Guangdong (廣東省) and the West was called Guangxi province (廣西省).
In 221BC, Ying Zheng (嬴政), the ruler of the State of Qin (秦國) subjugated
all the States in the land. He established a big empire called the Qin Dynasty (秦朝 221BC to 207BC) and he called himself the First Emperor of Qin (秦始皇帝). He divided his empire into 41 Prefectures (郡). East Yue, present day Guangdong province was under the jurisdiction of Nanhai Prefecture (南海郡) with the administration in Fanyu (番禺 present day city of Guangzhou (廣州市).
In order to consolidate his empire, in 214BC, the First Emperor dispatched
an army of 500,000 men, under the command of Tu Sui (屠睢) to the south.
The troops were divided into five army crops of 100,000 each. One crop was sent to Fan Yu (番禺), the administrative center of Nan Hai Prefecture.
Before he died in 210BC, the First Emperor banished convicts, army deserters, corrupt officials and other criminals to the present day provinces of Guangdong and Guangxi to live with the Bai Yue people. The First Emperor also encouraged spinsters, newly married couples and businessmen to settle in the land of the Yue. The new comers sinicized (中國化 Zhongguo hua) the Yue People.
During the reign of the Second Emperor of Qin Ying Huhai (秦二皇帝嬴胡亥
), Ren Xiao (任囂), the Governor of Nan Hai Prefecture died of illness.
He was succeeded by Zhao Tuo (趙佗). When the Qin Dynasty collapsed in
207BC Zhao Tuo unilaterally declared the formation of the Kingdom of Nan
Yue (南越國) and proclaimed himself the King of Nan Yue Kingdom (南越國王
). In actual fact he broke away from the Central Government in the North.
天高皇帝遠 The Emperor was far away.
The Han Dynasty (漢朝 206BC to 220AD) recognized the Kingdom of Nan Yue. In 112BC, Emperor Wu Di (武皇帝) of the Han Dynasty invited the King of Nan Yue, Zhao Xing (趙興) to come to the Han capital for a visit. Zhao Xing did not go. Emperor Wu Di was angry and dispatched an army of 100,000 strong to invade the Kingdom of Nan Yue which was eventually crushed by the Han army. Thus the territory of Yue returned to the fold of the Han Dynasty.
The soldiers of this punitive force did not return to their homelands in
the north. Instead they sent for their families from the north. Knowing
that the land in the south was much fertile than those in the north many
northerners emigrated to the south. The Bai Yue People were further Sinicized by the northerners.
During the Ming Dynasty (明朝 1368AD to 1644AD) an administration called
Bu Zheng Shi Si (布政使司) was established in this territory. The Qing Dynasty ( 清朝 1644AD to 1911AD) established a provincial government there called Guangdong (廣東). Since then it had been called Guangdong province. The single word name of Guangdong is Yue (粵) named after the large river Yue Jiang.
CHUNG Yoon-Ngan (鄭永元)
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