Gāoyào

Gāoyào was the seat county of Zhaoqing on the West River in western Guangdong. It took its name from the Gaoyao Gorge, later called the Lingyang Gorge, and the Han made it a county in 111 BC. Under the Yuan the same seat served Zhaoqing Circuit, and in 1368 the Ming restored Zhaoqing Prefecture. County and prefectural offices therefore stood in one city, with separate jurisdictions.

The city rose in importance. The Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci settled here in 1583 and printed a Chinese map of the world, and from the mid-sixteenth century until 1746 the viceroy of Guangdong and Guangxi governed from Zhaoqing. In 1646 the Yongli emperor of the Southern Ming was enthroned in the city and the court sat here again from 1648 to 1650. Over the Ming, parts of Gaoyao's territory were split off to form the neighbouring counties of Gaoming, Sanshui and Dong'an.