Qianshan Subdistrict
History
History
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[thumb\|right\|200px\|"Cazablanc" and the border wall in 1781](/wiki/File:Plan_de_la_Ville_de_Macao_-_Cazablanc.png "Plan de la Ville de Macao - Cazablanc.png")
[thumb\|right\|200px\|Remains of the old fort wall at Qianshan](/wiki/File:Qiansanwall.JPG "Qiansanwall.JPG")
Qianshan was formerly a separate [village](/wiki/Chinese_village "Chinese village"), first settled under the [Southern Song](/wiki/Southern_Song_dynasty "Southern Song dynasty") in AD1152 ([Shaoxing](/wiki/Emperor_Gaozong_of_Song "Emperor Gaozong of Song")22\) to [produce salt](/wiki/Salt_production "Salt production") from the [Qianshan River](/wiki/Qianshan_River "Qianshan River"). The location once overlooked the inner [harbor](/wiki/Harbor "Harbor") of [Macao](/wiki/Macao_Island "Macao Island"), whose border wall lay  to its southwest. and main settlement about 3 km farther. With the [Portuguese](/wiki/Portuguese_Empire "Portuguese Empire") developing a [permanent enclave there](/wiki/Portuguese_Macao "Portuguese Macao") during the late [Ming](/wiki/Ming_dynasty "Ming dynasty"), Qianshan—being the Chinese settlement nearest to its peninsula's northern border—was turned into a military outpost in 1621\. By 1640, it comprised a 500\-man garrison. 

Qianshan became the seat of the [subprefect](/wiki/Subprefect_%28China%29 "Subprefect (China)") or "keun\-min\-foo" ([t](/wiki/Traditional_characters "Traditional characters") [s](/wiki/Simplified_characters "Simplified characters") *jūnmínfǔ*) in 1731\. He was charged with dealing with the foreign settlement and overseeing [their trade with Guangzhou](/wiki/Canton_System "Canton System") ("Canton"). As part of these duties, he controlled the permits needed for [pilots](/wiki/Boat_pilot "Boat pilot")  *yǐnshuǐrén*) of the ships sailing north through the [Humen](/wiki/Humen "Humen") ("Bocca Tigris" or "Bogue") to the [Huangpu Anchorage](/wiki/Huangpu_Anchorage "Huangpu Anchorage") ("Whampoa", now Pazhou).. He would ensure that foreign ships headed upriver had some [cargo](/wiki/Cargo "Cargo") apart from silver dollars and [bullion](/wiki/Bullion "Bullion"). He was also sometimes obliged to quarantine Macao's market, prohibiting Chinese farmers and merchants from trading there and supplying its food, in order to maintain the freedom of the area's Chinese to practice [Buddhist](/wiki/Buddhism_in_China "Buddhism in China") and [local](/wiki/Chinese_folk_religion "Chinese folk religion") rituals, which the Portuguese periodically attempted to prohibit. In the lead\-up to the [First Opium War](/wiki/First_Opium_War "First Opium War"), [Lin Zexu](/wiki/Lin_Zexu "Lin Zexu") and [Deng Tingzhen](/wiki/Deng_Tingzhen "Deng Tingzhen") visited Qianshan during their procession from [Xiangshan](/wiki/Zhongshan "Zhongshan") (now Zhongshan) to visit the Portuguese authorities at Macao on 3 September 1839\.

From 1862 to 1874, the [Qianshan River](/wiki/Qianshan_River "Qianshan River") was thoroughly [dredged](/wiki/Dredging "Dredging") by Chinese authorities to create a safe shipping channel for the communities on its banks, including Qianshan. On 22–23 September 1874, Qianshan was hit by a devastating [typhoon](/wiki/Typhoon "Typhoon"): around 4000 were killed in [Macao](/wiki/Macao "Macao"), [Wanzai](/wiki/Lapa_Island "Lapa Island") ("Lapa"), and Qianshan and hundreds of bodies that washed ashore had to be [buried](/wiki/Burial "Burial") by local hospitals or [incinerated](/wiki/Cremation "Cremation") by the government. The area continued to be pummeled by typhoons—56 in the century from 1883 to 1983—but none on the scale of the 1874 disaster.

Qianshan benefited from [Deng Xiaoping](/wiki/Deng_Xiaoping "Deng Xiaoping")'s [Opening Up Policy](/wiki/Opening_Up_Policy "Opening Up Policy") and was granted [town](/wiki/Chinese_town "Chinese town") status in 1987\. As settlements throughout the [Pearl River Delta](/wiki/Pearl_River_Delta "Pearl River Delta") expanded, though, Qianshan no longer formed a separate settlement and was reorganized as a [subdistrict](/wiki/Chinese_subdistrict "Chinese subdistrict") of [Zhuhai](/wiki/Zhuhai "Zhuhai")'s [Xiangzhou District](/wiki/Xiangzhou_District%2C_Zhuhai "Xiangzhou District, Zhuhai") in August 2001\..  Qianshan Port, which opened onto the Qianshan River, was closed in the 2000s, with its ticket hall becoming a warehouse and the waterfront being developed as a public park.


What happened to Qianshan after a devastating typhoon hit it in 1874?