Zhongshan was historically inhabited by the Yue peoples, a large family of non-Han tribes that once possessed most of southern China. After unifying China in 221 BC, the First Emperor of Qin dispatched a 500,000-man army to what is now southern China to conquer the Yue peoples and bring the area under Han Chinese control. The Qin Dynasty organized its territory into "Commanderies"– roughly equivalent to a province or prefecture – and Zhongshan became part of the Nanhai Commandery, which covered most of modern-day Guangdong and Guangxi Provinces. After the First Emperor's death in 210 BC, Han Chinese general Zhao Tuo was declared king of Nanyue, an autonomous state covering what was originally the Nanhai Commandery. Nanyue's capital – like that of the earlier Commandery – was at Panyu, a settlement now part of the provincial capital Guangzhou. Zhao Tuo's successors were unable to successfully resist Chinese re-integration for long, and were eventually re-conquered by the armies of Emperor Wu of Han in 111 BC. During the reign of Zhao Tuo, most government officials were Chinese army officers or their descendants, though they encouraged other Han Chinese settlers to adopt Yue customs. Han Chinese immigration to the region remained small until the War of the Eight Princes (291 – 307 AD), when large groups of Han Chinese fled from the Chinese heartland south to the region.
The Zhongshan area was part of Dongguan during the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907 AD), and was a significant sea salt producer. In 1082, during the Northern Song Dynasty, a fortified settlement called Xiangshan was founded in the area, marking the first official use of the name by which it would be known throughout most of its modern history. The prosperous settlement was then upgraded to a county in 1152. Much of the First Opium War took place in and around Zhongshan: in 1839, the famous official Lin Zexu arrived in Zhongshan and ordered the expulsion of Sir Charles Elliot and other
