As trade was an important source of wealth for the Baiyue peoples of coastal southern China, the region south of the Yangtze attracted the attention of Emperor Qin Shi Huang, and he undertook a series of military campaigns to conquer it.

Lured by its temperate climate, fertile fields, maritime trade routes, relative security from warring factions to the west and northwest, and access to luxury tropical products from Southeast Asia, the emperor sent armies to conquer the Yue kingdoms in 221 BC.

[11][12] On another account, one hundred thousand people in armies were the maximum including those transporting provisions and maintaining road pavement as parts of combat service support.

[11] At that time, southern China was known for its vast fertile land, rich in rice cultivation, elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns, kingfisher feathers, pearls, jade production, and maritime trade routes with Southeast Asia.

[20] Nanhai was a site of strategic attraction for the Qin as it provided an outstanding opening for maritime trade with Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Near East, and the European Roman Mediterranean.

[33][38] By the end of the Qin dynasty, many peasant rebellions led Zhao Tuo to claim independence from the imperial government and declared himself the emperor of Nanyue in 207 BC.

[39] With dynastic changes, geopolitical upheavals, famines, wars, and foreign invasions, Han Chinese living within the confines of Northern and Central China were forced to venture out and expand into the unknown regions of the south.

For a long time, what are now designated as the southern parts of contemporary China and Northern Vietnam were considered barbarian, as it was populated by numerous non-Han minorities unaccustomed to Chinese peculiarities that were regarded by the Han migrants as alien and unfamiliar.

[40][41][42] Zhao opened up Guangxi and southern China to the immigration of hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese and the kingdom of Nanyue was established after the collapse of the Qin dynasty in 204 BC.

[2] Zhao established his capital at Panyu (modern-day Guangzhou) and divided his empire into seven provinces, which were administered by a mix of Han Chinese and Yue feudal lords.