Formerly an important military base overseeing the Portuguese-administered enclave of Macao, it is now a Chinese manufacturing center, with particular emphasis on household appliances, airconditioners, and printing supplies.

Qiánshān is the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the subdistrict's Chinese name 前山, meaning "Front Hill".

[3] The same characters are pronounced Cin-saan or Tchin-Sán[4] in Cantonese; this was also formerly written "Tchin-shang"[5] or "Chin San" by Portuguese authorities on Macao.

[10] The location once overlooked the inner harbor of Macao, whose border wall lay 3 kilometers (2 mi) to its southwest[2] and main settlement about 3 km farther.

[11] With the Portuguese developing a permanent enclave there during the late Ming, Qianshan—being the Chinese settlement nearest to its peninsula's northern border—was turned into a military outpost in 1621.

[2] As part of these duties, he controlled the permits needed for pilots (引水人, yǐnshuǐrén) of the ships sailing north through the Humen ("Bocca Tigris" or "Bogue")[1] to the Huangpu Anchorage ("Whampoa", now Pazhou).

The three engraved granite archways were built by order of the Guangxu Emperor in 1886 and 1891 in honor of Chen Fang (t 陳芳, s 陈芳, Chén Fāng) or Chun Afong, a native of Meixi who served as China's first consul to Hawaii and became a prominent philanthropist.

Companies based in Qianshan enjoy preferential government policies, and some have grown into some of the largest firms in the world.

Performers construct a 1.7-meter (5.6 ft) bird costume out of bamboo and other materials that can turn its head and flap its wings.

His pupils Bao Liu and Li Shoushan continued the tradition, which is still celebrated at local cultural events.