Cónghuà

Cónghuà lies where the Pearl River Delta gives way to the hills of northern Guangdong. The Liuxi River cuts valleys through ranges that climb to Tiantang Peak, the highest in the Guangzhou area. In the spring of 1489 the Ming took land from Panyu and made a new county here, naming it Conghua for the hope that remote people would turn to civilisation, a sign that the upland valleys had long been outside tight imperial control. The Qing kept Conghua as a county of Guangzhou Prefecture.