On August 30th, the "Guangzhou Through the Millennia: Academic Symposium Marking 2,240 Years Since the City's Founding and 1,800 Years of Its Name" was held at the Guangzhou Museum of Art, systematically decoding the evolutionary logic of Guangzhou's civilization over the past two millennia. Cultural relics are the most reliable keys to understanding an ancient city. Multiple scholars and experts used archaeological sites and unearthed relics as starting points to reconstruct the continuous development trajectory of the city.

"From its founding over 2,000 years ago to the present day, the city's center has remarkably remained anchored in the exact same location without shifting an inch." At the symposium, Chen Chunsheng, former Party secretary of Sun Yat-sen University and professor at the Department of History, highlighted the unique characteristic that Guangzhou's urban core has never relocated in over two millennia. He noted that Guangzhou not only retains a distinct regional cultural landscape but has also inherited the institutions and ritual systems of the Central Plains since the Nanyue Kingdom period, creating a developmental narrative where "the city's pulse resonates and shines in harmony with the nation's pulse."

Given Guangzhou's role as the eastern hub of the Maritime Silk Road, the ocean provides an indispensable perspective for understanding Guangzhou. Li Qingxin, a level-2 researcher at the Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences, president of the China Society for Maritime History Studies and president of the Guangdong History Society, proposed a dual analytical framework of "World Guangzhou" and "Guangzhou World." He stated that Guangzhou has never been absent from the development of the Maritime Silk Road over the past two millennia, giving rise to two dazzling "Guangzhou eras" during the Tang and Song dynasties as well as the Ming and Qing dynasties. "'World Guangzhou' connects the inside and outside, while 'Guangzhou World' radiates in all directions. The two are mutually reinforcing, which constitutes the maritime DNA that has kept Guangzhou prospering for over 2,000 years," Li said.

顶尖学者解码广州文明演进逻辑

8月30日，“城脉千年——广州建城2240年得名1800年学术研讨会”在广州艺术博物院举行，系统解码了广州两千余年文明演进逻辑。文物是读懂古代城市最可靠的钥匙。多位学者专家从遗址、出土文物出发，还原出广州绵延不绝的城市发展轨迹。

“从两千多年前建城至今，这座城市的中心居然就一直‘守’在那里，没有分厘挪动”，研讨会上，中山大学原党委书记、历史学系教授陈春声点明广州城市核心两千余年未曾迁移的独特特质。他提出，广州既保有鲜明的地域文化风貌，又自南越国时期便承袭中原典章礼制，造就了“城脉与国脉同频共振、交相辉映”的发展脉络。

作为海上丝绸之路的东方枢纽，海洋是解读广州绕不开的视角。广东省社科院二级研究员、中国海外交通史研究会会长、广东历史学会会长李庆新提出“世界广州”与“广州世界”双重分析框架。他表示，在两千余年海上丝绸之路发展进程中，广州从未缺位，诞生了唐宋与明清两个光彩夺目的“广州时代”，“‘世界广州’联通内外，‘广州世界’辐射四方，二者互为表里，正是广州两千多年长盛不衰的海洋基因。”

新快报记者 | 李佳文
译 | 陈冠臻
英文审校 | 曾敏