Zhongshan City, formerly Xiangshan. To the Southeast of the city is a continuous wave of mountain range, abundant in flowers blooming throughout the four seasons—fuchsia flowers, cherry apple trees, rhododendrons, orchids and eaglewoods, their fragrance dominating the air. The ancients called it Xiangshan— "the fragrant mountains."
According to archeological discoveries, Xiangshan was the only mountain to form in the Lingdingyang waterway. Sediment, which flowed through the Lingdingyang waterway, via the Pearl River, gradually formed a mass of land, and slowly began to adjoin the mainland. The evolution of Xiangshan is perfectly captured by the famous Chinese saying: "like the interchange of sea and land, time brings great changes to the world."
Under the order of Ming Emperor Yongle—Zhu Di (1360-1424), Xie Jin, Yao Guangxiao, Wang Jing, Zou Ji et al. compiled The Yongle Encyclopedia. Contained in this work is a deion of then Xiangshan: "The city of Xiangshan is but an island in the abyss of the great seas. The land is barren and narrow, and the people are very poor."
Xiangshan's poverty was due to the county's establishment unfortunately coinciding with the chaos of the war of the late Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), and the enslavement of Han Chinese by the Mongol rule of the Yuan Dynasty (1206-1368). After this major development setback, Xiangshan only returned to basic, stable, artisan and agricultural industry in the middle or late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) after years of revitalization and recultivation. However, even the most prosperous of business districts was no more than a few small shop-fronts along the street selling paper products, Chinese medicine, seafood, groceries and other basic goods.
Between the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911), European fleets continued to arrive, bringing with them aspirations and motivation to transform China's relationship with the rest of the world. Under our self-imposed autarky, self-imposed intoxication of 3,000 years, the first to feel this wave of change was of course Xiangshan. The Culture of Xiangshan records: "After the 16th century occupation by the Portuguese of Macao, we not only became the center of exchange for Western goods, but also China's key port for industry, government, spirituality, and technological development. The penetration of Western culture breathes new life into cultures of Xiangshan and area covering Guangdong and Hainan. Xiangshan in its close proximity to Western influence was exposed early to different world views, values and outlooks on life—and has adapted. Traditional Chinese concepts of 'the sky was round while the earth was square' and the 'China was the center of the world' have begun to shift. The superiority of Western systems of government, science and technology, religion, education, culture and arts has entered the consciousness of most Xiangshan people, and has given them a desire to step beyond the confines of this nation's borders out into the wider world in search of the new, in search of strength and in search of wealth."
The comprehensive impact of Western culture on Xiangshan is deep. The European and American influenced youth of the late Qing Dynasty would become pioneers in the improvement and reforms of China, active in all walks of society and all over the nation—one after another. The great contributors to the push for democracy: Tang Shaoyi, Luk Ho-tung (Lu Haodong), Yeung Hok-ling (Yang Heling) and Yeung Sin-yat (Yang Xianyi); those who endured the bitter hardships of modern China's industrialization: Chui Wing-cun (Xu Rongcun), Chui Yan (Xu Run), Tang Tingshu, Ma Ying-biao (Ma Yingbiao), Guo Le and Kwok Cheun (Guo Quan); those who brought fresh ideological enlightenment: Zheng Guanying, Rong Hong, Liu Shifu and Tong Kwok-on (Tang Guo'an). The pinnacle of these "shining stars," however, is of course the great democratic reformist Sun Yat-sen.
The revolutionaries of Xiangshan threw themselves onto the stage of China, starting a wave of reform that the entire world would be watching closely. They repeatedly tried to change their hometown—and change China—so some people say the history of modern China began in Xiangshan.
Whether reforms of improvement or revolution, over the past hundred years China's leading reformists have all undertaken extensive enquiry into political, economic, cultural and developmental aspects of society, working towards a common goal—integration into a globalized world, and stepping into a modern era. Xiangshan was a key experiment in opening the doors of old and autarkist China to the outside world.
Early in 1909, in order to save the nation, under Zheng Guanying's "art of business wins over the art of war" philosophy, some proposed to establish a 60-year "tax-free economic port" in Xiangzhou, a place between Xiangshan and Macao. In his report to the Qing government, Wang Shen writes, "…on the battlefield of business with the West, our foremost tactic is to construct tax free zones in all southern ports, including Hong Kong…" [1]
Zhang Renjun, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi believed this was a viable proposal—of great help to Zheng Guanying, assistant manager of the Guangzhou Chamber of Commerce at the time. On April 23, 1909, China's first Special Economic Zone began construction. The 60-year tax-free zone attracted overseas Chinese business and investment, bringing prosperity to the region—of impact not dissimilar to that of the 1980 creation of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone. American missionary John Thomson described this free trade port as follows: