The provincial capital of Guangdong (廣東) was the first Chinese city to open to Westerners and earned its English name Canton. For over 2000 years, it has been the political, economic and commercial center of the region.
We visited two historical sites, the Chen Clan Academy (陳家祠) and the Mausoleum of the Nanyue King (西漢南越王博物館).
The Chen Clan Academy was built in 1894 to accommodate imperial examination candidates from the clan. It now houses the Guangdong Folk Art Museum (廣東民間工藝博物館).
The tomb of Zhao Mo (趙眜 137 BC – 122 BC), the second king of Nanyue, was discovered in 1983. His father declared himself king at the end of the Qin Dynasty. Later, Nanyue made peace with China and superficially submitted to the Han Empire as a vassal state. Today Vietnamese refer to this kingdom as the Triệu Dynasty.