Guǎngzhōu or Guǎng Prefecture was a '' zhou'' (prefecture) in

imperial China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

in the

Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area in official documents, ...

. Its administrative area contained parts of modern

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, as well as both modern

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. Between 601 and 607 it was known as Pan Prefecture, between 742 and 758 as Nanhai Commandery, and in the 10th century (before 971) as Xingwang Prefecture (as the capital of

Southern Han Southern Han ( zh , t = 南漢 , p = Nán Hàn , j=Naam4 Hon3; 917–971), officially Han ( zh , t = 漢 , links=no), originally Yue ( zh , c = 越 , links=no), was a dynastic state of China and one of the Ten Kingdoms that existed during the ...

). The modern sub-provincial city

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, established in 1918, retains its name.

Counties

#Nanhai () #Panyu () #Zengcheng () #Qingyuan () #Huaiji () #Dongguan () #Xinhui () #Yining () or Xin'an () #Sihui () #Xiangshan () #Huameng () #Jianshui () #Chengyang () #Hankuang ()

References

* * * Prefectures of the Sui dynasty Prefectures of the Tang dynasty Prefectures of Southern Han Guangnan East Circuit Former prefectures in Guangdong {{China-hist-stub