Chung Shan County

Hsiang-shan County (Chinese: 香山縣, Wade-Giles: Hsiang-shan Hsien, Pinyin: Xiāngshān Xiàn; literally "Fragrant Mountain"; also spelt Siang-shan) was a county in southern China. Since 1912, it was a county in Kwangtung Province, in the Republic of China. It was renamed Chung-shan County (中山縣) in April 1925, in memory of the founder of the Republic of China, Sun Yat Sen.

The county covered the modern-day Zhuhai City and Zhongshan City in the Guangdong Province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), and the Macau Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China.

This place, original name is Hsiang-shan Island (or Xiangshan Dao; 香山島), as an island in a bay where three rivers emptied into the sea, was a part of the river delta, just separated from the continent by the distributaries in the delta, until it became a peninsula sometime during the 17th century, but was still separated from the mainland by waterways.

About the 8th century (during the Tang Dynasty), Administratively part of the Baoan County and Dongguan County in history, a Xiangshan Township (香山鎮) was created within the Dongguan County, at the present-day Shanchang (山场) of Zhuhai.

About the 12th century (during Northern Song Dynasty), this township became a separate county.

About the mid-16th century (during the Ming Dynasty), some Portuguese ask the local government of the Ming Dynasty to set a contract for Rental Macau (for a while, still under the overall jurisdiction of Xiangshan authorities), and later became a colony of Portuguese. This colony was later expanded from a small settlement on the Macau Peninsula, to the entire peninsula, Ilha Verde, Taipa and Coloane.

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