The Portuguese arrived at the port in the16^th century, followed by the British merchants and Christian missionaries in the 17^th century. China was a self-sufficient country at that time. It was advanced in agriculture, medicine and various productions and Europe provided little that Chinese needed. As a result, the empire saw that the foreign traders were only there to plunder China’s abundance of goods and its prosperity. Nevertheless, the Emperor needed to be generous so the government opened the port of Guangzhou, but the laws required the foreign traders to be confined in the city. As business expanded, the Europeans found the restrictions too cumbersome and started to press the local government to ease the regulations. A century later, the British Government grew opium in India to trade silks and teas with China. The business was extremely lucrative for the British. Then the Qing government decided to close the port to stop the massive inflow of the drugs, and it infuriated the British greatly. In 1839, the British opened fire in Guangzhou and initiated its "gunboat diplomacy" to keep the port open. Their weapons vastly outdated, the Qing troops were easily overpowered by the Royal Navy. Before long, China surrendered and the Treaty of Nanking was signed in 1842. In the Treaty China was force to pay the British four hundred million ounces of silver (one ounce from each Chinese man, woman and child). She was also forced to open five ports, which included Shanghai. Subsequently in 1898, Hong Kong was forced to lease to the British for 99 years.

The Treaty of Nanking and the repeated defeats and humiliations suffered by the Qing regime, revealed the corrupted government’s incompetence and stubborn opposition to modernization, which, in turn, triggered the reform movement’s decision to overthrow the regime by force. In April 1911, 72 US and British educated young Chinese scholars lost their lives fighting against Qing’s troops in a revolution in Guangzcho, the legendary Battle of Guangzcho. Although the attempt failed, the battle was a wake-up call for the entire nation. On October 10 of the same year, Dr. Sun Yat Sen moved back from Honolulu to wage a successful battle in Wuhan. Thousands of years of imperial dynasties in China finally ended and a republic was born. The famous Mausoleum of the 72 Martyrs in the city is in memory of those young people who sacrificed themselves for the benefit of a nation.

OUR MISSION

Today, Guangzcho is the most prosperous city, next to Shanghai, in China. Countless businesses in Hong Kong, and in Asia, have moved to the city and the surrounding Special Economic Zones to take advantage of lower labor costs. Millions have flooded to the area with hopes of pursuing better lives and better futures. Some have achieved them but most are struggling. It appears everyone has a story to tell and a discovery to share, but among all the stories, the greatest one has never been told………

Far away in the East, in God’s creation, there’s a land that you have never seen, and a people that you have never met. Nevertheless, they are like you and me; they hear the sounds, see the colors and smell the perfumes, they also share the sorrows and agonies of life. Who would be the one to share the true meaning of life to them?

Official Name of Country: People's Republic of China
Area: 9,596,960 sq km (mainland)
Population: 1.2 billion (mainland) Yikes!
Capital city: Beijing (pop 12.6 million)
People: Han Chinese (93%), plus Mongol, Zhuang, Manchu and Uighur minorities
Languages: Putonghua (Beijing Mandarin dialect), Cantonese
Religion: Officially atheist; Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism (no stats available); Muslim, Christian Government: Communist republic
Head of State: Jiang Zemin

GDP: US$1.0 trillion
GDP per head: US$860
Growth rate: 7.8%
Inflation: 2.8%
Major industries: Iron, steel, coal, machinery, textiles
Major trading partners: USA, Japan, Germany, South Korea