On the sixth of the second lunar month， after the Yuan army's destruction of the last Song fortress， Song military commander Zhang Shijie sent his army to Xiangshan， fighting a fierce battle with the Yuan army. Many Song ships were lost at sea. Zhang Shijie recognized that hope had been lost， forced his family to throw themselves into the sea， and gave his life for his country by jumping into the sea with the seven-year-old emperor on his back. The great Song Dynasty ended here， with the death of young emperor Zhao Bing.
The ruthless Mongol invaders brutally murdered and enslaved the Han people by taking them to the north， leading to a massive decline in the population of Xiangshan. According to taxation office records， the working population comprised merely 8，459 people. Twenty years later， in 1304， an influx of central Chinese immigrants raised the population to 11，379 households. Population growth led to the development of xihai shibasha， an alluvial plain in northwestern Xiangshan County. The county's agricultural land in use subsequently increased to an area of some 5，107 acres.
During the Mongol occupation， the people's resistance in Xiangshan remained unsilenced. In 1282， the third year of the occupation， local farmers revolted. In 1361， an even more spectacular revolt not only captured the county， but also led to the retreat of Mongolian officials. Mongolian soldiers then took to the mountains， enclosing themselves within the safety of a "city wall" for seven years until the fall of the Yuan Dynasty in 1368.
Further inland， the chaos of the Yuan decline sparked largescale migration to the coastal region. Sun Yat-sen's ancestor Sun Sheung-tak (Sun Changde) was one of them. He left Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province for Nanxiong in Guangdong Province， where later generations of the Sun family would spread to surrounding regions， including Xiangshan.
In the later years of the Yuan and the beginning of the Ming， central China experienced a period of resistance， turmoil and great hardships. Seeking refuge， Sun Changde and his family settled in the Zhuji Alley of Nanxiong， Guangdong. This was the meeting place and point of arrival of inland migrants， accumulating a large population of migrants. After the fall of the Yuan in 1368， Sun Changde and his family moved to Dongguan with his appointment as an tutor at an old-style private school. Sun Changde's later generations gradually split into two groups： the Suns of Dongguan， and the Suns of Xiangshan.
The migration history of the Sun family is a reflection of the migrants' gradual journey toward the coastal area of Guangdong in pursuit of a better life.
For ordinary people， migration is simply the search for a new life. But for a nation， large-scale migration is a necessary and forced reconstruction of the country's development path. This particular push to the south would have a profound impact on China's development. It provided a stepping stone and meeting point for the Western civilization that would soon arrive on China's doorstep， and eventually， it would give birth to the culture of Xiangshan that would be so pivotal in modern China's development.
The collision of different cultures ignites an explosion of lifechanging development.
In 1393， the 26th year during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty， Huang Liangdu (today's Doumen District in Zhuhai)， resident Wu Jintian ignored the court shipping order， forming a resistance on the islands of Sanzao. From that point onward， there was a strong military presence on the island， and even agriculture was banned. This state of autarky was viable for a temporary period， but ultimately was not a viable obstruction to history's unfolding.
In the early 16th century， migrants along the coastal region of Guangdong established a channel of "mutual exchange" with European missionaries and businesspeople through the ocean trade route Vasco da Gama opened up. On the soil of Xiangshan， two completely different civilizations historically met.
On the streets of Macao， to this very day stands the statue of Jorge álvares， the first European arriving in China.
Macao has been known by many names throughout history. Supposedly， the Chinese settlement on the Macao Peninsula was at the fall of the Southern Song about 1279. By the Yuan Dynasty， migrant settlement at places like Povoa？？o de Mong-Há had become commonplace. After the Ming Dynasty， fishermen gradually built a village community on the South Bay.
The Portuguese arrived at what is now the New Territories of Hong Hong in 1514. Despite the Chinese not permitting them to land， they were able to make several successful trades from sea. Chinese businesspeople， however， welcomed the arrival of the Portuguese， publicly agreeing to the restriction but privately in favor of free trade. In commemoration of the voyage's success， Jorge álvares secretly snuck onto the coast of Tun Men in Hong Kong and erected the mark of Portuguese explorers. This stone would later become the gravesite of Jorge álvares and his son. His son died of disease there， and was buried at the site by his father. In 1521， Jorge álvares with his friends once again arrived there by sea， meeting an unfortunate fate after a month， dying of sickness. One of his friends later buried him at the same site.
This stone is a symbol. It is the resting place of father and son， explorers alike. But it is also the first meeting point of Europe and China. Over the next few centuries， their exchange in trade， diplomacy， religion， culture， technology and military would burst through the floodgates of China， dawning on an unprecedented new age for China.
