Editing Guangdong (section)

===Imperial===
Originally inhabited by a mixture of tribal groups known to the Chinese as the [[Baiyue]] ("Hundred Yue"), the region first became part of China during the [[Qin dynasty]]. Under the Qin Dynasty, Chinese administration began and along with it, reliable historical records about the region. After establishing the first [[Qin's wars of unification|unified Chinese empire]], the Qin expanded southwards and set up [[Nanhai Commandery]] at [[Panyu District|Panyu]], near what is now part of Guangzhou. The region was later controlled by an independent kingdom known as [[Nanyue]] between the fall of Qin and the reign of [[Emperor Wu of Han]]. The [[Han dynasty]] administered Guangdong, Guangxi, and northern Vietnam as [[Jiaozhou (region)|Jiaozhi Province]]; southernmost Jiaozhi Province was used as a gateway for traders from the west—as far away as the Roman Empire. Under the [[Eastern Wu|Wu Kingdom]] of the [[Three Kingdoms]] period, Guangdong was made its own province, the Guang Province, in 226 CE.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

Canton was a prosperous port city along a tropical frontier region beset by disease and wild animals, but rich in oranges, [[banyan]], bananas, and [[lychee]] fruits. They traded slaves, silk and [[chinaware]] with [[Persians]], [[Brahmans]] and [[Malays (ethnic group)|Malays]] in exchange for their renowned medicines and fragrant tropical woods. [[Shi'a Muslims]] who had fled persecution in [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] and [[Buddhists]] from India lived side by side in the thriving town each erecting their own houses of worship. A foreign quarter sprang up along the [[Pearl River (China)|river]] where many traders of diverse backgrounds including Arabs and [[Sinhalese people|Singhalese]] took up residence.<ref name="University of California Press">{{cite book |last1=Schafer |first1=Edward H. |title=The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of Tang Exotics |date=1963 |publisher=University of California Press |page=15 |isbn=978-0-520-05462-2}}</ref>

The port's importance declined after it was raided by Arabs and Persians in 758 and the foreign residents were at times troubled by the corrupt local officials, sometimes responding violently. During one incident in 684, for example, a merchant vessel's captain murdered a corrupt governor who had used his position to steal from the merchant.<ref name="University of California Press"/>

Together with [[Guangxi]], Guangdong was made part of [[Lingnan culture|Lingnan]] Circuit (political division Circuit), or Mountain-South Circuit, in 627 during the [[Tang dynasty]]. The Guangdong part of Lingnan Circuit was renamed [[Guangnan East Circuit]] ({{lang|zh-Hant|廣南東路}}) in 971 during the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279). "Guangnan East" ({{Zh-no-labels|t=廣南東}}) is the source of the name "Guangdong" ({{Zh-no-labels|t=廣東|s=广东|first=t}}).<ref>{{Cite book|script-title=zh:中国历史地名大词典|last1=史为乐 (Shǐ Wéilì)|last2=邓自欣 (Dèng Zìxīn)|last3=朱玲玲 (Zhū Línglíng)|publisher=China Social Sciences Press|year=2005|isbn=978-7500449294|editor-last=史为乐 (Shǐ Wéilì)|edition=1st|location=Beijing|language=zh-Hans-cn|trans-title=Large Dictionary of Chinese Historical Place Names|oclc=61167815}}</ref>{{Page reference|227}}
[[File:Dim Sum Breakfast.jpg|thumb|Cantonese food]]
As time passed, the demographics of what is now Guangdong gradually shifted to ([[Han people|Han]]){{when|date=February 2020}} Chinese dominance as the populations intermingled due to commerce along the great canals. From the fall of the Han dynasty onwards, it shifted more abruptly through massive migration from [[Northern China|the north]] during periods of political turmoil and nomadic incursions. For example, internal strife in northern China following [[An Lushan Rebellion|the rebellion]] of [[An Lushan]] resulted in a 75% increase in the population of Guangzhou prefecture between the 740s–750s and 800s–810s.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nhyz.org/yxx/jxzy/zy/zy48.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030529135953/http://www.nhyz.org/yxx/jxzy/zy/zy48.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=29 May 2003 |title=nhyz.org |publisher=nhyz.org |access-date=25 April 2012 }}</ref> As more migrants arrived, the local population was gradually [[Sinicization|assimilated to Han Chinese culture]]<ref>{{cite journal|pmid=11836649 |title=  Phylogeographic differentiation of mitochondrial DNA in Han Chinese|journal=  The American Journal of Human Genetics|date= March 2002|doi=10.1086/338999 |volume=70 |issue=3 |pmc=384943 |pages=635–51|last1=  Yao|first1=  Yong-Gang|last2=  Kong|first2=  Qing-Peng|last3=  Bandelt|first3=  Hans-Jürgen|last4=  Kivisild|first4=  Toomas|last5=  Zhang|first5=  Ya-Ping}}</ref> or displaced.

As [[Mongol conquest of the Song dynasty|Mongols]] from the north engaged in their [[Mongol conquest of China|conquest of China]] in the 13th century, the [[Southern Song]] court fled southwards from its capital in [[Hangzhou]]. The defeat of the Southern Song court by Mongol naval forces in The [[Battle of Yamen]] 1279 in Guangdong marked the end of the Southern Song dynasty (960–1279).<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://world.time.com/2013/06/15/exiled-in-hong-kong-famous-company-for-edward-snowden/slide/the-southern-sung-emperors/ |title=The Southern Song Emperors |magazine=Time |date=13 June 2013 |access-date=7 February 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170829110014/http://world.time.com/2013/06/15/exiled-in-hong-kong-famous-company-for-edward-snowden/slide/the-southern-sung-emperors/ |archive-date=29 August 2017 |last1=Trivedi |first1=Anjani }}</ref>

During the Mongol [[Yuan dynasty]], large parts of current Guangdong belonged to [[Jiangxi]].<ref>{{cite book |author=Zhang Tingyu |display-authors=etal |year=1739|title=[[History of Ming]] |volume=45 |chapter=Records XXI, Geography VI |quote={{lang|zh-hant|廣東《禹貢》揚州之域及揚州徼外。元置廣東道宣慰使司，治廣州路。屬江西行中書省。|nocat=true}}|language=zh}}</ref> Its present name, "Guangdong Province" was given in early [[Ming dynasty]].

Since the 16th century, Guangdong has had extensive trade links with the rest of the world. European merchants coming northwards via the [[Straits of Malacca]] and the [[South China Sea]], particularly the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] and [[British people|British]], traded extensively through Guangzhou. [[Macau]], on the southern coast of Guangdong, was the first European settlement in 1557.{{citation needed|date=August 2014}}

In the 19th century, the [[opium trade]]d through Guangzhou triggered the [[First Opium War]], opening an era of Western imperialists' incursion and intervention in China. In addition to [[Portuguese Macau|Macau]], which was then a [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese colony]], Hong Kong was ceded to the British, and [[Leased Territory of Guangzhouwan|Kouang-Tchéou-Wan]] (modern day area of [[Zhanjiang]]) to the [[French colonial empire|French]].{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}
[[File:中国广东省江门市台山上川岛 China Guangdong Province, Jiangmen City - panoramio (10).jpg|thumb|Jiangmen beaches, Guangdong]]
Due to the large number of people that emigrated out of the Guangdong province, and in particular the ease of immigration from Hong Kong to other parts of the [[British Empire]] (later [[British Commonwealth]]), many overseas Chinese communities have their origins in Guangdong and/or Cantonese culture. In particular, the [[Cantonese]], [[Hakka]], [[Teochew dialect|Teochew]] dialects have proportionately more speakers among overseas Chinese people than Mandarin-speaking Chinese. Additionally, many Taishanese-speaking Chinese [[Chinese emigration|emigrated]] to Western countries, with the results that many Western versions of Chinese words were derived from the Cantonese dialects rather than through the mainstream Mandarin language, such as "[[dim sum]]".   Some Mandarin Chinese words originally of foreign origin also came from the original foreign language by way of Cantonese. For example, the Mandarin word ''{{transliteration|zh|níngméng}}'' ({{lang-zh|s=柠檬|t=檸檬}}), meaning "Lemon", came from Cantonese, in which the characters are pronounced as ''{{transliteration|zh|lìng mung}}''.<ref>{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h5e8Za8sEJAC&q=Shanghainese+origin+lemon+mm+ningmeng+Cantonese+origin:+lihngmung+lemonade+%23+MK*+ningmeng+shui+lemon+time+wmmw+ningmeng+shijian+lepton+w%26m+leibodun+Leveler+/+B%C2%BB%26:%C2%A3+niweila+dang+(political+party)+liaison+mm+lianyong+libido+Wc%26+laibiduo&pg=PA364
|title=Translingual practice: literature, national culture, and translated modernity—China, 1900–1937
|year=1995
|author=Lydia He Liu
|publisher=Stanford University Press
|edition=illustrated, annotated
|isbn=978-0-8047-2535-4
|quote=last car {{lang|zh-hant|拉斯卡|nocat=true}} lasi ka Shanghainese origin lemon {{lang|zh-hant|檸檬|nocat=true}} ningmeng Cantonese origin: lihngmung lemonade # MK* ningmeng shui lemon time wmmw ningmeng shijian lepton w&m leibodun Leveler / B»&:£ niweila dang (political party) liaison mm lianyong libido Wc& laibiduo
|page=364
|access-date=8 December 2011}}()</ref> In the United States, there is a large number of Chinese who are descendants of immigrants from the [[county-level city]] of [[Taishan, Guangdong|Taishan]] (Toisan in Cantonese), who speak a distinctive dialect related to Cantonese called [[Taishanese]] (or Toishanese).

During the 1850s, the [[Taiping Heavenly Kingdom]], whose leader [[Hong Xiuquan]] was born in Guangdong and received a pamphlet from a Protestant Christian missionary in Guangdong, was allied with a local Guangdong [[Red Turban Rebellion (1854–1856)]]. Because of direct contact with the West, Guangdong was the centre of anti-Manchu and anti-imperialist activity. The generally acknowledged founder of modern China, [[Sun Yat-sen]], was also from Guangdong.