Guazhou is about thirty li away from Yangzhou city, located at the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal. It is a strategic point connecting seven provinces south and north of the Yangtze River. In the Tang Dynasty, the eminent monk Jianzhen of Daming Temple in Yangzhou crossed to Japan from here, setting sail across the sea. The famous poem by Wang Anshi, a poet of the Northern Song Dynasty: "Between Jingkou and Gua Zhou there's but a river span, Zhongshan Mountain lies beyond a few more mountains. Spring breeze once again greens the southern bank of the Yangtze River, when will the bright moon shine on my return." was written at the ancient ferry of Gua Zhou. In the fourth year of Qian Dao in the Song Dynasty (1168), the city began to be built, known as the Baji City. In the Ming Dynasty, there were quite a number of government offices here, such as the Jiangfang Tongzhi Office, the Ministry of Works Sub-office, the Caoyunfu Office and more than ten other institutions, making it a major town. When Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty and Emperors Kangxi and Qianlong conducted southern inspections, they built grand temporary palaces not far from Gua Zhou in Baota Bay. Gua Zhou has always been a place fiercely contended by military strategists. From the Song and Yuan Dynasties to the Opium War and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the people of Gua Zhou wrote many magnificent chapters against national oppression and resisting foreign aggression, http://www.yzqiyuan.com/Web/. Gua Zhou was originally in the middle of the river, later due to siltation it became connected to the land, and the ferry between Zhenjiang and Yangzhou moved eastward to Liuwu. In 1978, after dredging the Gua Zhou ferry and setting up a car ferry across the river, it restored its former prosperous scene.