Canton was, for centuries, the most important point of contact between China and the West. The Canton System, in place from 1757 to 1842, restricted all Western trade to the port of Canton. European merchants lived there, traded there, and learned their first Chinese words there. The name Canton became synonymous with China itself in the European imagination.
The Chinese name is Guǎngzhōu. In pinyin, it is Guangzhou. The name Canton is believed to derive from a Portuguese transliteration of the provincial name Guangdong, which Europeans conflated with the city. The error was repeated for so long that it became standard. By the time anyone noticed, Canton was baked into maps, treaties, and the English language.
Today, Guangzhou is a megacity of over fifteen million people. It is one of the most important economic centers in China. Every English-language news report, business article, and travel guide published in the last forty years calls it Guangzhou. But Cantonese—the language named after the city—remains Cantonese, not Guangzhounese. Canton fair—the largest trade fair in China—remains the Canton Fair, not the Guangzhou Fair.
The persistence of Canton in these compound forms creates a permanent confusion. A businessperson attending the Canton Fair may not realize it is held in Guangzhou. A student learning Cantonese may not connect the language name to the city of Guangzhou. The old name and the new name orbit each other without touching.
This is fixable. Guangzhou is the internationally recognized name. The compound forms can follow.
Our Recommendation: Guangzhou. And let the language and the trade fair follow.