Abstract

Guangzhou is a unique city in China with regard to its special role throughout modern history, beginning from the Qing Dynasty. Its uniqueness resides in the way it has engaged with the outside world – in a pendulum movement from passive to active engagement.

When it was first appointed as China's only trading port to the Western world during the Qing Dynasty, Guangzhou never expected to be part of the newly industrialized developed world. Up to then, its only mission had been to serve the Emperor, who had little interest in learning more about the Western nations and who moreover considered China to be the only global superpower of that era. However, this illusion was soon broken as colonizers swarmed into this oriental feudal empire. Guangzhou was forced to become one of the first treaty ports, and part of its land – known as Shamian – was ceded to foreigners. This can be seen as the first page in Guangzhou's history of opening up to the rest of the world.

Guangzhou maintained its status as leased territory for such a long time that, until 1949, when the People's Republic of China was established, it basically never changed. But after 1949, Guangzhou played a positive role in welcoming guests from the former Soviet Union and other communist countries at a time when the former Western colonizers withdrew their capital – and their generosity – from China. Lacking funds for construction, Guangzhou was forced to become involved with the outer world. For this reason, Guangzhou became the only city permitted to carry out import and export trading. A symbolic milestone was the first China Export Commodities Fair (also known as the Canton Fair) in 1957, which was seen at the time as the ‘window of China’. When the Cultural Revolution finally came to an end in 1978, China entered a new period in its history in which all capable cities become equal competitors in attracting foreign commerce. With the disappearance of its special trading privileges, Guangzhou lost its direction in these years. The focus of both domestic and international commercial interests had moved to new, hot development points such as Shenzhen, adjacent to Hong Kong, and Pudong in Shanghai.