Shameen

Shamian is a place with rich history, exotic atmosphere and beautiful scenery. It is suitable for walking. It is 900 meters long from east to west and 300 meters wide from north to south. It will not be tired to walk back and forth for two times. In song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, it was an important place for trade and tourism at home and abroad. After the Opium War, it became a British and French concession in 1861. Like some small European cities, Shamian has many cafes, restaurants and bars on the roadside, and the sidewalks are full of elegant tables and chairs.

Shameen

Shamian, once known as shicuizhou, is named Shamian because it is a sandbank formed by the alluvial of the Pearl River. Shamian is located in the southwest of Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province. It is adjacent to the Pearl River white goose pond in the South and shajiyong in the north. It is a small island facing liuersan road. It has eight streets and lanes, covering an area of 0.3 square kilometers. In song, yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Shamian was an important place for trade and tourism at home and abroad. After the Opium War, it became a British and French concession in 1861.

Shamian is an important commercial port in Guangzhou. After 100 years, more than 10 countries have set up consulates in Shamian, nine foreign banks and more than 40 foreign firms have operated in Shamian, and Guangdong Customs club and Guangzhou club have been established in Shamian. Shamian witnessed the changes of modern history of Guangzhou, and left the footprints of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, Premier Zhou Enlai and other great people. Shamian has become the epitome of modern history and concession history of our country. The European style architecture on Shamian island has formed a unique open-air architecture "Museum".

History of scenic spots

During the reign of Daoguang in the Qing Dynasty, there was a fort here. The first and second Opium Wars left brilliant achievements in resisting foreign aggression. On September 7, 1963, when the construction of Shamian was carried out, two Guangzhou city defense cannons during the first Opium War were excavated. One was cast in Foshan in the 21st year of Daoguang (AD 1841), weighing 6000 Jin. The two cannons are still on display on the Bank of white goose pond. It will be the witness of Guangzhou people's resistance to imperialist aggression and will be forever attached to later generations

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In 1840, Britain launched the first Opium War. In 1842, the Qing government was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which was humiliating to the country. From then on, Britain opened the door of armed invasion of China. In 1856, the British and French imperialists launched the second Opium War. In 1857 (the seventh year of Xianfeng), the British and French allied forces invaded Guangzhou, and the people of Guangzhou made indomitable resistance. In 1858 (the eighth year of Xianfeng), the British and French allied forces fell into Dagu in the north and forced Beijing to surrender. On the 26th and 27th of the same year, Emperor Xianfeng sent Shi Guiliang of the University and Hua Shana, the Minister of the Ministry of official affairs, as plenipotentiaries to sign the Treaty of Tianjin with Britain and France.

In 1859, the British and French in Guangzhou conspired to set up an aggressive base in Guangzhou. They were interested in the favorable terrain of white goose pond, where they could attack and retreat. Burke, an official figure of the British government, came forward to negotiate with the Qing government in Guangzhou, forcing the Qing government to dig a 40 meter wide and 1200 meter long Xiaoyong (now shajiyong) in the north of Shamian by hand, which was separated from the land and made Shamian an island. At the same time, a road was opened up to the north of shajiyong, named Shaji, commonly known as Guiji (now 623 Road), and East and West bridges were built to connect Shamian. They also forced the Qing government to demolish the fortresses along the coast of Shamian, throw the Fangcheng cannons and the footstones of the fortresses into the river, and fill them with gravel and earth to build embankments for them to live and do business. The project cost more than 200000 taels of silver and was funded by the Qing government. On September 3, 1861 (July 29, the 11th year of Xianfeng), Britain and France forced the Qing government to sign the lease Treaty of Shamian

. Britain occupies 80% of the concession in the west of Shamian, about 264 mu, and the remaining 66 mu in the East belongs to France. Each country has its own bridge in the Chinese mainland. It is stipulated that the width of the river along the sand surface is 90 feet, and the 45 feet area close to the sand surface belongs to the sand concession. Chinese ships cannot berth. By the end of the 19th century, Shamian concession had become an independent urban area with various public facilities.

On June 23, 1925, tens of thousands of workers, students and people from all walks of life in Guangzhou held an anti imperialist demonstration. Along huiai Road (now Zhongshan Road), in front of Caiting, they turned to Yonghan Road (now Beijing Road), Taikang Road, Yide Road, Taiping South Road (now Renmin South Road) to Changdi and went straight to Shaji Road (now 623 Road). At 2:40 p.m., when the front group of the procession had passed near the West Bridge and turned into the inner street, and the rear group would also arrive at the West Bridge, the imperialists set up machine guns in the blockhouses and water towers at the head of the West Bridge, and in the high-rise buildings such as Watson's soda factory, and immediately fired at the procession. The British, French and Portuguese gunboats moored on the baietan River also unloaded their guns and bombarded the demonstration teams. Fifty two people were killed and more than 170 were seriously injured. This is the "Shaji Massacre", also known as the "623 Massacre"

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During the revolutionary uprising of Guangzhou commune in 1927, the imperialists of the United States, Britain and Japan directly took part in the suppression. They used machine guns, cannons and warships moored in white goose pond to help the Kuomintang reactionaries shelling the revolutionary uprising

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On December 8, 1941, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan. Then the Japanese puppet army, which occupied Guangzhou at that time, took over the Shamian area militarily and put the British, French, American and other foreigners in the concentration camp

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In March 1942, in order to win people's support, although the Japanese army nominally handed over Shamian to Wang puppet government, it was actually controlled by the Japanese during the four years from 1941 to 1945 when Japan surrendered. After the surrender of Japan, although the KMT government accepted Shamian, the whole Shamian was still the sphere of influence of foreigners such as the United States, Britain and France. It was not until the liberation of Guangzhou in 1949 that Shamian really returned to the embrace of the Chinese people

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In the early days of the liberation of Guangzhou, the military control commission of Guangzhou took over Shamian and used to be a special zone together. In 1950, the special zone of Shamian was merged into Taiping District, and the sub district office of Shamian was established. The central district was established in 1952, and Shamian district was under the jurisdiction of the central district. In 1960, central district was abolished, and Shamian district was transferred to Liwan District, which is the same as Qingping administrative street and Lingnan street. On October 6, 1961, an office was set up in Shamian. Directly under the leadership of Guangzhou Municipal People's Committee. In September 1970, the Shamian Street Revolutionary Committee was established and transferred to Liwan District. On October 1, 1980, the Revolutionary Committee was abolished and the Shamian Street Office of Liwan District was established as the agency of the people's Government of Liwan District

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Main attractions

Church of Notre Dame

The Church of Notre Dame is a building in the French concession. It was originally named Shamian Catholic Church. It was named after the statue of Notre Dame of Ruth, which was originally built on a mount of Notre Dame in the south of the garden of the church. It was set up by the members of the French Consulate in Guangzhou to live a religious life.

The church is located in the northeast corner of the junction of Shamian street and Shamian first street. It is composed of the lobby, priest building, nun building and mount Notre Dame. The lobby is in the front, the priest building is in the back by East, the nun building is in the back by west, and mount Notre Dame is in the East. There are two subsidiary buildings, one is a two-story building and the other is a bungalow. The church is basically well preserved. The top of the main windows and doors on the facade and the small spires at the four corners of the tower, the complex daylighting windows and ridges on the octagonal cusp top, the continuous small cusp arches at the bottom and the buttressed pillars pollinated from the top to the bottom. It reflects the mysterious and yearning characteristics of the Catholic Church.

Guangdong foreign affairs museum

Guangdong foreign affairs museum is the first local foreign affairs museum in China. It is located at No. 20, South Street, Shamian, Guangzhou. It is a baroque style building built in 1890. It was originally the French Consulate in Guangzhou during the Republic of China. It is a class a cultural relic among the Shamian Buildings and a national key cultural relic protection unit.

When you enter the Guangdong foreign affairs museum, you will not only have the opportunity to understand the many famous foreign affairs in Guangdong Province in the past half century, but also see more than 200 precious foreign affairs gifts from 122 friendly provinces and states around the world. In addition to collecting pictures of Foreign Affairs gifts and important foreign affairs activities in Guangdong since the reform and opening up, the museum also specially uses the space of revolving stairs to display more than ten old pictures of Shamian a hundred years ago, one of which records the figure of a Westernization interpreter wearing a long braid and a big coat a hundred years ago. "This should be a picture of the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China." Liu Lu said that the old photo, which was hung in the hall on the second floor, not only fully reflects the scenery of the West Bridge in Shamian, but also shows that the Westernization interpreter who was walking in the British and French consular area still kept his clean clothes.

Shamian Christian Church

Shamian Christian Church is a church set up by the Anglican Church of England in the British concession of Shamian, Guangzhou. It is located in the fifth street of Shamian and was built in 1864. Located at the western end of the concession, it is managed by the Hong Kong Guangdong Diocese of the Anglican Church of China. It has been presided over by a British priest and worships in English. As the Shamian Christian Church is a rare and complete Christian building in Guangzhou, many couples get married in Guangzhou and will use it as one of the necessary scenic spots for wedding photos. After the Second World War, the Chinese government took back the concession and the church was transferred to the South China Diocese of the Anglican Church of China. After 1949, it was occupied by government departments. In the 1980s, it was recovered by the provincial Christian churches. In 1991, it resumed religious activities and was called Shamian hall.

Customs house

The customs house is a building in the French concession

Chinese PinYin : Sha Mian