History of Hong Kong Under Imperial China - Prehistory To Han Dynasty (before 200 AD)

Prehistory To Han Dynasty (before 200 AD)

Prior to the Qin Dynasty, southern China was populated by a large family of non-Chinese tribes known as the Yue people (Chinese: 越; Jyutping: Jyut6). Little is known for certain about the Yue people other than from information gleaned from ancient Chinese records and modern archaeological excavations. Their language is believed to have been Austro-Asiatic, although a clear consensus has yet to be reached on its more specific aspects.

Shortly after consolidating his rule over China in 221 BC, the first Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huang sent a 500,000-man army to conquer the Yue tribes and bring what is now southern China under Chinese control. In 214 BC, Chinese armies defeated the Yue tribes, and the area was annexed as Chinese territory. The Qin Dynasty organized its territory into "Commanderies" (Chinese: 郡; Mandarin Pinyin: jùn; Jyutping: gwan6) - roughly equivalent to modern day provinces - and the territory of what is now Guangdong and Hong Kong became part of the Nanhai Commandery.

The First Emperor's death in 210 BC precipitated a number of revolts and insurrections throughout China. Zhao Tuo, a Han Chinese general who had marched south with the Qin army, declared the founding of a kingdom called Nanyue, with himself as king and a capital at Panyu (modern Guangzhou). Nanyue became a successful kingdom that had a mostly Han Chinese ruling elite with a large number of native Yue inhabitants as lesser leaders and officials. Artifacts from the period have been found throughout the greater Guangzhou area, but none have yet been found in Hong Kong.

Nanyue was conquered by the Han Dynasty around 112 BC. In the 1950s, a tomb at Lei Cheng Uk dating from the Eastern Han Dynasty (25–220 AD), was discovered and excavated. Artifacts found in the tomb caused some archaeologists to believe that salt production flourished in the area during this period, although conclusive evidence has yet to been found. The first Han Chinese settlement of the Hong Kong area likely dates to this period.