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 British traders from the area.

Geological evidence suggests that before the 2 < sup > nd </ sup > millennium BC, the area Zhongshan now occupies was mostly on the floor of the South China Sea.

The city government directly administers five district officescorresponding to the urban area of Zhongshan proper ), 18 towns and a development zone:

The area centres on a section of Zhongshan Road ( East-1 Zhongshan Road ) within the former Shanghai International Settlement, which runs along the western bank of the Huangpu River, facing Pudong, in the eastern part of Huangpu District.

The area of today's Ding County was part of the Zhongshan Commandery during the Han Dynasty.

This makes Shenyang-Fushun the 8th built up area in China after Pearl River Delta city ( including Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Foshan, Jiangmen, Zhongshan and Huizhou built up areas ), Shanghai-Suzhou, Beijing, Tianjin, Hangzhou-Shaoxing, Wuhan and Nanjing.

Its southern part made of Huiyang district is now part of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen built up area, the biggest built up area in the world with more than 40 million inhabitants encompassing the whole Shenzhen, Dongguan cities and main part of Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhongshan and small parts of Jiangmen and Huizhou cities.

Although Wang succeeded Sun as Chairman of the National Government, Chiang's relatively low position in the party's internal hierarchy was bolstered by his military backing and adept political maneuvering following the Zhongshan Warship Incident.

By adopting the name Chung-cheng (" central uprightness "), he was choosing a name very similar to the name of Sun Yat-sen, who was ( and still is ) known among Chinese as Zhongshan ( 中山 — meaning " central mountain "), thus establishing a link between the two.

The first gate reached by Japanese troops was Guanghua Gate, situated between Zhongshan Gate ( East Gate ) and Zhonghua Gate ( South Gate ).

... Zhongshan North Road was soon filled with vehicles and soldiers, which stormed Yijiang Gate.

Xiangshan, Sun's hometown in Guangdong, was renamed Zhongshan in his honor, and there is a hall dedicated to his memory at the Temple of Azure Clouds in Beijing.

* Between the states of Zhao and Yan was the state of Zhongshan, which was eventually annexed by Zhao in 296 BC.

In the process of expanding the campus of Lingnan University ( formerly Canton Christian College and now Zhongshan University ) it came to light that his original grave was on property purchased for the expansion.

At the same time, the First United Front between KMT and Communist Party of China ( CPC ) was questioned after the Zhongshan Warship Incident in March 1926, and the following events in effect made Chiang Kai-shek the paramount military leader of the KMT.

Zhongshan, one of the few cities in China with an eponymous name, is named after Dr. Sun Yat-sen ( 1866 – 1925 ) who was also known as Sun Zhongshan.

After his death in 1925, Xiangshan was renamed Zhongshan in his honor.

Prior to the 20 < sup > th </ sup > century, Zhongshan was generally known as Xiangshan or Heung-san (), in reference to the many flowers that grew in the mountains nearby.

The city was renamed in honor of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who often went by the name Zhongshan / Zungsaan.

Sun is considered by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China to be the " Father of Modern China ", and was from Cuiheng village – now part of Nanlang Town – just outside of downtown Zhongshan.

Zhongshan was historically inhabited by the Yue peoples, a large family of non-Han tribes that once possessed most of southern China.

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, Zhongshan was occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army which implemented Unit 8604 or Nami Unit, a secret military medical unit, related to Unit 731, that researched biological warfare and other topics through human experimentation.

It was headquartered at Zhongshan Medical University ( Hal Gold, Unit 731 Testimony, 2003, p. 50 ).

In 1983, Zhongshan was elevated in administrative status from a county to a county-level city and again in 1988 to a prefecture-level city.

In recognition of his contributions, Liu Bei was appointed Prefect of Anxi ( 安喜令 ) in Zhongshan Commandery ( 中山郡 ).

* Wujiang Long ( 毋將隆 ), the governor of the Nan Commandery ( roughly modern Hubei ), who had rejected Wang Mang's advances to serve as a political ally, was falsely accused of having falsely accused the innocent Princess Dowager Feng Yuan of Zhongshan of witchcraft in 6 BC, and he, along with the real coconspirators against Princess Dowager Feng, were exiled.

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.

The northern-most part of Zhongshan District is known as Dazhi.

Founded in 1927 by Fuqing Yan, as National Fourth Zhongshan University Medical College, it was the earliest medical school in China established by a national ( public ) Chinese university, comprising part of Fourth Zhongshan University.

* 1927 Founded by the Yale-educated public health expert Dr. Yan Fuqing ( 颜福庆 ) as National Fourth Zhongshan University Medical College, it was the earliest medical school in China established as a national ( public ) Chinese university, comprising part of Fourth Zhongshan University.

* In the Spring month of the third year ( 1663 ) of Kangxi, the inhabitants of five counties — Panyu, Shunde, Xinhui, Dongguan, Zhongshan — were moved again.

Under the initial stage of the scheme, residents of Beijing, Shanghai, and 8 Guangdong provincial cities ( Dongguan, Foshan, Guangzhou, Huizhou, Jiangmen, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and Zhuhai ) could apply for visas to visit the two Special Administrative Regions individually.

* July 28, 2003: Dongguan, Foshan, Zhongshan, Jiangmen

Also during this period, a nomadic people known as Dí ( 狄 ) invaded the plains of northern China and established Zhongshan ( 中山 ) in central Hebei.

The Kuomintang Chinese Muslim General Ma Bufang, the Governor of Qinghai, and other high ranking Qinghai and Chinese government officials attended the Kokonuur Lake Ceremony where the God of the Lake was worshipped, and during the ritual, the Chinese national Anthem was sung, all participants bowed to a Portrait of Kuomintang party founder Dr. Sun Zhongshan, and the God of the Lake was also bowed to, and offerings were given to him by the participants, which included the Muslims.

Zhongshan (, c. 6th century BC – c. 296 BC ) was a Di state created by the nomadic Xianyu tribe in China during the later Zhou Dynasty.

It reached the peak of its power during the reign of King Cuo of Zhongshan ( 323-309 ) who had proclaimed himself king in 323 BC.

Although small businesses along the line ( most notably in Zhongshan and Datong, two older districts ) have benefited from increased business during the free trial period, analysts noted that the initial business boon may only be short-lived and it may be years before these areas see real benefits as a result of the new line.

In 923, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the prefecture was renamed Zhengding Prefecture, which was later rearranged into the Zhengding Prefecture and Zhongshan County.

The commandery capital, Zhongshan, was an economic center from the Eastern Han Dynasty until the Tang Dynasty.

* Zhongshan ( state ), of the Zhou Dynasty located in modern Ding County, Hebei