Zhuhai is a resort city located on the west bank of the Pearl River estuary, near Macau on the east shore of Zhongshan Island, of the central coast of southern Guangdong, China, on the southeastern edge of the Pearl River Delta. Its name literally means "pearl sea", which originates from the city's location at the mouth of the Pearl River meeting the South China Sea. Zhuhai borders Jiangmen to the west, Zhongshan to the north and Macau to the southeast, and has a bridge connecting to Hong Kong.
Zhuhai was one of the original four special economic zones established in 1980, as well as one of China's premier tourist destinations, being called the Chinese Riviera. While the city is located in the traditionally Cantonese-speaking province of Guangdong, a significant portion of the population is now made up of Mandarin-speaking economic migrants originally from inland provinces.
The core of Zhuhai, Xiangzhou District along with Macao are in the northeastern portion of the administrative division and are part of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area, the biggest built-up area in the world with more than 65,565,622 inhabitants as of the 2020 census, encompassing Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan, Macau, the main part of Guangzhou, and small parts of Jiangmen and Huizhou cities but with Hong Kong not quite conurbated yet.
According to a report released in 2014 by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Zhuhai is the most liveable city in China. Zhuhai is classified as a Medium-Port Metropolis.
History Prehistoric era through Bronze age
Archeological evidence suggests human inhabitation in the Zhuhai region from at least the Neolithic Age. Numerous sites, including Baojingwan on Gaolan Island and Houshawan on Qi'ao Island, have yielded artifacts including pottery, rings, tools, and discs made of stone and jade that date between the Late Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Baojingwan also contains petroglyphs and paintings from the Late Neolithic period. Zhuhai's prehistoric cultures demonstrate similarities with others discovered in the Pearl River Delta, and indicate the presence of maritime, hunter-gatherer, and agricultural societies. Sites such as Tangxiahua have also revealed bronze casts, indicating the existence of regional bronze manufacturing that was contemporary with the Shang and Western Zhou dynasties.
Imperial China Qin through Yuan After the Qin dynasty's conquering of the indigenous Baiyue in 214 BCE, present-day Zhuhai was incorporated into Panyu County within the larger Nanhai Commandery. Following the Qin's collapse, Zhuhai was part of the Nanyue kingdom until its defeat by the Han in 111 BCE. Sustained migration of Han Chinese into the Zhuhai region began during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420). One notable instance was after Sun En's failed rebellion was driven out of Guangzhou; Sun's forces escaped to the Wanshan Archipelago, and their descendants eventually settled on the islands among remaining Baiyue and established fishing communities.
By the Tang dynasty (618-907), sedimentation from the region's watershed formed alluvial plains between islands and gradually expanded Zhuhai's shoreline; its first significant settlement, Xiangshan, was established as a military outpost in 757. Located in present-day Shanchang, Xiangshan assisted in countering piracy along the Maritime Silk Road and eventually developed into a center of salt production. Other regional industries in this period and in the subsequent Song dynasty (960–1279) were silver mining, fishing, and agriculture. Increased migration from Northern China and Xiangshan's productive capacity eventually convinced the imperial court to establish Xiangshan County in 1152 by incorporating land from Dongguang, Nanhai, Panyu, and Xinhui.
Further migration into Zhuhai was prompted by the Jin–Song wars and other upheavals during the Song Dynasty. Zhuhai's prominent local clans, including the Tangs, Zhangs, Yangs, Rongs, and Wus, originated in these waves of migrations; 24 clans had been established in Xiangshan by the Southern Song. Clans brought more effective agricultural practices to Zhuhai and developed it further through land reclamation efforts.
During their retreat from encroaching Yuan forces, the Song imperial court passed through several settlements in Zhuhai, with Hengqin being the location of a battle against the Yuan led by Zhang Shijie. The Battle of Yamen, the Song's last stand against the Yuan, took place near the west coast of present-day Doumen. Zhang Shijie later drowned in the South China Sea, and his body was buried by villagers at the foot of Huangyang Mountain in Doumen. Surviving members of the Song then settled in Xiangshan and were strictly overseen and persecuted by the Yuan government; some lived around Huangyang Mountain and established a hermitage that eventually became Jintai Temple in 1740.
Ming through emergence of Macau Raids by wokou pirates along China's coasts during the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644) instigated the construction of fortifications in Zhuhai, including on Sanzao Island and Jinding. By the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (1521–1567), the imperial government instituted the Haijin policy, which banned maritime trade throughout Guangdong and other provinces with the intent of countering piracy. Problems with piracy continued to intensify and clandestine trade with foreign merchants persisted in the Zhuhai region. Despite the trade bans, Guangdong governor Lin Fu persuaded the Ming government to open a port at Lampacau in present-day Nanshui in 1529, which between 1553 and 1557 was a center of trade with the Portuguese. Trade officials were eventually moved from Lampacau to Haojing in 1535, which was less remote and considered more favorable for trade.
Portuguese merchants first arrived in Haojing in 1553 after allegedly bribing the port's chief official Wang Bo to allow for the drying of their cargo and establishment of trade operations; increased Portuguese migration to Haojing led to its development into Macau. As Macau grew, the Ming government built fortifications in Zhuhai to prevent further encroachment by Portugal, including a border checkpoint at Gongbei in 1574 and a military garrison at Qianshan in 1621.
Following the collapse of the Ming, the Qing dynasty enforced the Great Clearance along China's coastal provinces between 1656 and 1684 to counter Ming loyalists that operated out of Taiwan. Xiangshan County and all surrounding municipalities were subsequently evacuated, with anyone resisting facing death. Residents in Zhuhai reluctant to leave their homes hid in Hengqin, Sanzao, Gaolan, and elsewhere; they were infamously lured out by the Qing army in 1664 to Huangshan mountain in Doumen and killed en mass. Piracy and banditry also worsened in Zhuhai during the chaos of the transition to the Qing, and its islands and villages were subject to violent raids. Many of Zhuhai's original inhabitants did not return after the clearance policy ended in 1684, and the area became populated with migrants from other regions in Guangdong. Settlements in Zhuhai then proliferated into the 18th century as the economy recovered from the clearance; many of Zhuhai's present-day villages originate from this period.
To emphasize their sovereignty over Macau, the Qing government implemented a local governance structure in 1731 at Qianshan to manage Chinese and Portuguese affairs, which was eventually moved to Mong Ha in 1743. A further layer of authority, the Macau Coast Military and Civilian Government, was added in 1744 and governed Xiangshan as well as other nearby counties; this organization's chief official was based out of the Qianshan fort until 1910.
Late Qing
Beginning in the 18th century, the opium trade arose in Zhuhai and the broader Pearl River Delta. British merchants originally stored opium at Yunque Bay to the south of Macau before moving their operations to Lintin Island following the Qing bans on the trade. Illicit opium trafficking then continued between Western and Chinese smugglers in the waters around Cumsingmoon.
The Pearl River Delta's piracy problem also reemerged beginning in the 1780s, initially with support from the Vietnamese Tây Sơn dynasty that the Qing unsuccessfully fought during their invasion of Đại Việt in 1788. Primarily targeting foreign and Chinese merchant vessels, including those trading in opium, the region's pirates numbered in the tens of thousands by 1805, and had bases throughout the Delta; those in Zhuhai included anchorages at Gaolan, Sanjiao, and Zhuzhou Islands. Cheung Po Tsai, considered one of the most formidable pirates of the period, raided several areas in Xiangshan in August 1809. After repeated failures at combating the region's piracy, the Qing began offering amnesty to pirate leaders in exchange for military postings and monetary rewards; this, along with infighting among pirate gangs, significantly reduced pirate activity by 1810.
In the prelude to the First Opium War, villagers on Qi'ao Island, an opium depot in northwestern Zhuhai, skirmished with British and American opium traffickers on July 1, 1836 and successfully pushed them out. After the war broke out in 1839, the British Army instigated the Battle of the Barrier at the Macau-Xiangshan border wall at Gongbei on August 19, 1840; the British force's superior firepower resulted in a Qing defeat. The Qing's loss of the war in 1842 and subsequent signing of unequal treaties with a series of Western countries motivated the Portuguese to assert greater authority over Macau; this led to the Passaleão incident in August 1849, when Portuguese troops successfully occupied the Qing's fort Baishaling at Gongbei after the assassination of Macau Governor João Maria Ferreira do Amaral. Further Portuguese encroachments into Xiangshan resulted in the Qing government signing the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking in 1887, which officially recognized Portugal's sovereignty over Macau. Border disputes in Zhuhai between Macau and the Qing government continued into the early 20th century; some villages organized local militias to resist Portuguese expansionism. Beyond conflicts with foreign powers, Zhuhai was also impacted by the Red Turban Rebellion led by the Hongmen society in the 1850s, with areas like Doumen serving as bases of activity for the rebels.
Throughout the 19th century, many of Zhuhai's residents migrated abroad in pursuit of economic opportunity; others were trafficked as a part of Macau's coolie trade that boomed after the First Opium War. Some became successful businessmen and reinvested their earnings into their hometowns. These included Wu Yuzheng and Wang Xi, who along with others in Xiangshan worked to establish Xiangzhou in 1908 as a tax-exempt port and commercial center. Xiangzhou's prosperity was short-lived, and it was eventually deserted due to lack of government support and investment, competition from Macau, and a devastating fire in 1911. Remittances also emerged as an important source of income for locals as migration increased.