Who was the world's richest businessman in the early 19th century?

Possibly a Chinese merchant named Wu Bingjian, who lived and worked in China's southern city of Guangzhou, according to The Wall Street Journal which included him in its list of 50 richest men in the past 1,000 years. It's estimated that his wealth could be worth millions of silver coins, several times that of the richest man in the U.S. 

During the 85 years before the First Opium War ended in 1842, Guangzhou, known to the West as Canton, was the only port in China permitted to trade with the West. 

Thirteen Hongs, or factories, represented a monopoly in Guangzhou officially sanctioned by the Qing Dynasty government to trade with foreigners. As one of the leaders of the Hongs, Wu accumulated his fortune by exporting tea, porcelain and silk to the West.

Luo Wenjing, vice director of Guangzhou 13 Hongs Museum, has been studying the history of the Hongs and Guangzhou for two decades. He says being the Qing Dynasty's only region open to the world made the city a frontier in absorbing and introducing leading technologies from the West.

"Merchants of the 13 Hongs used every means to promote and spread the cowpox vaccination, saving millions of people's lives across China," said Luo. He added that the 13 Hongs merchants also introduced modern technologies like cartography, sailing, shipbuilding, artillery and gunpowder into China. 

In fact, Guangzhou's status as an important port city and international trading center can be traced further to Tang Dynasty, almost 1,500 years ago, when Guangzhou was full of the Arabic merchants coming to China for tea and silk through the maritime silk road.

Luo told CGTN that being a trade center for a millennium makes the city and its people "see the world with a global perspective."

Moving into the second half of the 20th century, with the advantages of human resources and preferential policies thanks to opening up and reform, Guangdong has quickly become a global factory, producing one-third of the world's shoes, textiles, toys and hard disk drives. 

The robust growth of manufacturing in Guangdong Province drives its capital city Guangzhou to revitalize itself as an international trading hub. Since 1957, Guangzhou has become home to the Canton Fair, which is the most representative trading event in China, converging overseas buyers from over 215 countries and regions.

Sai Joythis is an Indian businessman working for a Qatar company. He is one of the over five million foreigners visiting the city every year. "Guangdong Province has everything you know," he said. "If we don't buy from the factory of the world, then it's a big loss for us. We have to, there is no other option."

The receptiveness of change and the global vision make Guangzhou not only appealing to international merchants, but also a nourishing startup for entrepreneurs. Considering its affordable living expenses, Guangzhou was listed as the fourth most startup-friendly city in China, according to the big data provided by Tencent Research Institute. In Guangzhou, an average of 386 new enterprises are registered per day.

Rao Jiaxin and her boyfriend Zhang Fan were among those passionate young startup entrepreneurs in the city. They chose Guangzhou to operate their own brand of fitness apparel, and initiate their film and photography production base at the same time. 

"In this city there are so many opportunities before you but you have to act faster than others to seize your chance," she said.