No longer enjoying a monopoly after the war, it lost trade to other ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai , but continued to serve as a major transshipment port. Due to a high urban population and large volumes of port traffic, Guangzhou is classified as a Large-Port Megacity, the largest type of port-city in the world. Guangzhou is at the heart of the most-populous built-up metropolitan area in mainland China , which extends into the neighboring cities of Foshan , Dongguan , Zhongshan , Shenzhen and part of Jiangmen , Huizhou , Zhuhai and Macao , forming the largest urban agglomeration on Earth with approximately Administratively, the city holds subprovincial status [14] and is one of China's nine National Central Cities.
Together with Shanghai , Beijing and Shenzhen , Guangzhou has one of the most expensive real estate markets in China. In modern commerce, Guangzhou is best known for its annual Canton Fair , the oldest and largest trade fair in China. For three consecutive years — , Forbes ranked Guangzhou as the best commercial city in mainland China.
As an important international city, Guangzhou hosts 65 foreign representatives , [19] [20] and ranks 10th in the world and 5th in China after Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Shenzhen in terms of the number of billionaire residents according to the Hurun Global Rich List The name of the city is taken from the ancient " Guang Province " after it had become the prefecture's seat of government, which is how some other Chinese cities, including Hangzhou , Suzhou , and Fuzhou got their names.
The origin of the name is still uncertain, with 11 various explanations being offered, [25] including that it may have referred to two local mountains. Although it originally and chiefly applied to the walled city, it was occasionally conflated with Guangdong by some authors. The 19th-century name " Kwang-chow foo " [38] derived from Nanjing dialect of Mandarin and the town's status as a prefectural capital.
A settlement now known as Nanwucheng was present in the area by BC. It was said to have consisted of little more than a stockade of bamboo and mud. It was the seat of Qin Empire 's Nanhai Commandery , and served as a base for the first invasion of the Baiyue lands in southern China.
