Incorporated into the Han Dynasty , Panyu became a provincial capital . In 226 , it became the seat of Guang Prefecture , which gave it its modern name . The '' Old Book of Tang '' described Guangzhou as an important port in southern China . Direct routes connected the Middle East and China , as shown in records of a Chinese prisoner returning home from Iraq twelve years after his capture at Talas . Relations were not always peaceful : Muslims sacked the city on 30 October 758 and were massacred by the Chinese rebel Huang Chao in 878 , along with the city 's Jews , Christians , and Parsis
were massacred
Guangzhou massacre
Guangzhou