两个世纪前，还是乔治华盛顿当总统的时候，美国驻广州领事馆就已经是美国在中国甚至是在远东地区最早的一个外交机构，在推进中美两国关系中有不可或缺的重要性。今天，美国驻广州总领事馆更是与中国有多层次多领域的交流，主要包括促进贸易商务往来，全方位推进美国对华政策，通过互访推动公众外交等。美国驻广州总领事馆也是在中国唯一处理美国领养和移民签证的机构，领事部的工作量之大居美国国务院全球使领馆前列。

美国与广州的外交往来可以追溯到美利坚合众国刚建立的年代。1784年，美国商船“中国皇后”载着人参来到广州的口岸，以交易中国出产的红茶。这艘船的舰长是29岁的Samuel Shaw，曾在美国解放战争中当炮兵将领，他是首位来到“中央之国”的美国商人。后来他写信给外交部国务卿John Jay，建议美国委派领事和副领事到广州，有利于加强美国这一新生国家的外交实力。他写到：“这些官员将会获得一定的社会地位和影响力，这是他们从一般个人经历中难以获得的，他们也有义务为国人提供优质服务。”后来，Shaw少校被任命为美国驻华的第一任领事，尽管他在任期内“没有工资也没有津贴，但代表了美国人的自信和尊严”。
当时，中国政府的闭关政策使广州只能有限地对外进行经贸活动，所有的外国商人都被限制在珠江两岸的楼房和工厂里居住和工作。尽管在相当长的时间里没有美国领事进驻广州，而且后来在领事馆工作的美国人也不懂中文，但是在十九世纪初中美之间的贸易往来还是不断地发展。中英鸦片战争之后，中国政府被迫开放若干通商口岸，广东获得了空前的商机。中美双方经过一轮相互对立后，美国前国会议员Caleb Cushing担任了正式的首任美国驻华大使，他代表美国在1844年签定了中美望厦条约，保证了美国商人贸易特权和允许美国船舶进入新开放的中国口岸。根据美国国会规定，美国领事除了有责任保护美国商人利益以外，还有更多的权责。比如在1848年，领事馆享有控告触犯中国法律的美国公民的权力。1856年，美国驻广州领事馆被烧毁，但随后的半个世纪里，美国外交官们仍致力扩大美国在该地区的影响力。

除了广州以外，华南地区的其它开放港口如福州和厦门也设有美国领事馆，但是由于当时美国国会并不慷慨而且有半隔绝的思想，这些领事馆通常都没有外交官进驻，有时由美国驻广州领事馆代表美国在华利益，有时甚至还让英国和德国的官员代表美国在华利益。直到19世纪80年代中期，美国驻上海总领事馆设立并统管所有驻华领事事务的时候，这种情况才得以改变。
1873年，随着英国政府在广州沙面岛设立设立领事馆，美国也在沙面岛设立了领事馆。当时的沙面是一片沙地，横跨一公里，由十年前开挖的人工河为界把沙面岛隔开。和欧洲的驻外人员一道，美国驻外人员尝试在这里塑造西方的生活方式。他们建立了基督教和天主教教堂，网球场，室内游泳池和散步长廊。今天，在沙面还可以看到十八世纪和十九世纪西方生活的传统。
当时在沙面的生活是和平安稳的，但在沙面岛以外的中国人却不是那样。由于对清政府的不满愈演愈烈，革命起义时有发生，最终导致清王朝的覆灭。受第二次中日战争的影响，1934年美国驻福州领事馆撤馆，1938年美国驻广州领事馆撤馆。日本投降后，美国驻华的多个领事馆复馆。1949年初，国民党政府从南京迁移到广州，沙面的美国领事馆升格为“大使级办公室”。由于国民党军队和解放军之间的国内战争全面爆发，国民党政府再次迁移，转至重庆，美国驻华大使办公室也随之前往重庆。1949年8月，美国驻广州领事馆闭馆，中国大陆的共产党政权与美国的外交关系随之停止。
随着美国国务卿基辛格和总统尼克逊的标志性访华，美中双方在1979年1月1日正式重新恢复了外交关系。根据条约，双方可以在对方设立两个领事馆，美国选择了上海和广州（中国选择了三藩市和休斯顿）作为馆址。经过漫长的三十多年闭馆后，1979年8月31日，美国驻广州领事馆终于由副总统曼德拉解封，新的领事馆落成在广州流花路120号东方宾馆11楼。Richard L. Williams成为了自1949年闭馆以来的第一任总领事，时至今日，已经共有11位总领事先后任职。1990年，珠江边填海地上建成了领事馆楼，与白天鹅宾馆比邻，即目前所在的沙面南街1号。4月，美国领事馆重新搬回了沙面，在该领事馆楼办公。

随着美国驻广州领事馆的不断发展和成长，在2013年7月，使用最新技术建造的美国领事馆新馆在广州珠江新城落成。其设计意在将中美两国的文化联系最大化，尤其是中国南部沿海的“临岸文化”，把树木、河边植物以及公共场所的利用紧密地联系在一起。美国国务院在设计新馆时特别着重于能源效率和可持续性，所以都使用高质且回收成本低的原材料进行建造。新馆对大量自然光的集中利用为领事馆减少了能源开支，也为馆内工作人员提供良好宽敞的工作环境。由于新馆使用的是凹状的外墙玻璃以及木质的百叶窗，所以在日常的工作中，工作人员们可以得到充足的日光，与此同时又不会增加热量。雨水也将被收集，并且在一系列的生物池中过滤，或被存储在种植着树木和草丛的花园中。另外，充满着植物的“绿色屋顶”、能够反射阳光的白色屋顶以及拥有最先进技术的机械系统，更是体现了美国对环境保护的重视和决心。
自1980年起，珠三角地区（环珠江地区包括深圳和珠海）的国民生产总值以每年16%的速度增长。当时，在这片只有3500万人口的地方，出口额占中国总出口量的三分之一。今天，根据美国领事馆的政治经济部官员报告，该领区（广东，广西，福建，海南）已有两亿中国人和33,000美国人。
华南地区是著名的侨乡，大部分移民美国的华人都来自华南地区。在20世纪80年代初，美国驻广州领事馆成为了中国内唯一处理赴美移民签证的地方。到1992年，美国在华所有领养签证也由驻广州领事馆统一处理。迄今为止，美国人在中国共收养了90,000个小孩。过去的30年里，移民和非移民申请人的人数也不断增加，申请量从1979年的27,000人（包括移民和非移民申请人）上升到现在每年超过100万份申请。
今天的广州已与过去大不相同。在这个既古老又年轻的城市里，一方面古塔、名胜保存良好，另一方面现代化高楼大厦，高速公路不断建起，使这里成为一个经济中心也是一个政治中心。今天美国在广州所进行的外交活动已与过去大不相同，但美国驻广州领事馆仍将继续为美国公民、美国企业提供高效优质的服务，同时也为推进美国外交不懈努力。如果说世界通过广州来了解中国这个人口大国，那美国驻广州总领事馆也将继续起着桥梁的作用，促进美国与中国华南地区相互了解。
(2016年9月更新)

Throughout the past two centuries, dating back to the presidency of George Washington, Consulate Guangzhou (Canton), as America’s oldest diplomatic post in China and one of America’s oldest posts in the Far East, has played a pivotal role in promoting America’s relationship with China.  Today, the Consulate promotes trade and commercial ties, engages China across-the board on key American policy objectives, and promotes public diplomacy through visitor exchanges.  The Consulate General is the only U.S. mission in China to process American adoptions and immigrant visas, making it one of the U.S. Department of State’s busiest consular-related posts.
United States diplomatic presence in the Guangzhou area dates back to the founding years of the American republic.  In 1784, the American merchant ship Empress of China reached what was then known as the port of Canton transporting ginseng to trade for Chinese black tea.  The ship also carried on it Major Samuel Shaw, a 29-year old former Revolutionary War artillery officer, who served as the business agent for this first American trade effort to the “Middle Kingdom.”  Shaw wrote to Secretary of Foreign Affairs John Jay, recommending that the young United States appoint a consul and vice consul to Canton.  “Such officers,” he noted, “would have a degree of weight and respect which private adventurers cannot readily acquire, and which would enable them to render essential services to their countrymen.”  Major Shaw was appointed the first American consul to China, although he would serve “with neither salary nor perquisites but with the confidence and esteem of the United States.”
At that time, Chinese authorities limited trade with the outside world to the port of Canton.  All foreign traders were further restricted to living and working on factory compounds established on the banks of the Pearl River.  American trade with China increased steadily throughout the early decades of the nineteenth century, although there were long periods during which the office of the U.S. Consul at Canton was unoccupied, and Americans serving at the consulate typically did not speak Chinese.  In the wake of the Opium War between China and Great Britain, however, the Chinese government was compelled to expand trading opportunities beyond Canton.  After the conclusion of the hostilities, the first U.S. formal mission to China, led by former Congressman Caleb Cushing, brokered the 1844 Treaty of Wangxia, an agreement which secured trading privileges for American merchants and opened new Chinese ports to American vessels.  In addition to protecting the interests of United States merchants, American consuls enjoyed greater authority granted by Congress; in 1848 the Consulate was allowed to arraign U.S. citizens charged with offenses against the laws of China.  The Canton consulate was burned down in 1856, but U.S. diplomats continued to support an expanding American presence in the region throughout the nineteenth century.
Aside from Guangzhou, U.S. Consulates were present in South China in the other opened ports of Fuzhou and Xiamen.  However, due to a parsimonious and semi-isolationist U.S. Congress, these consulates frequently remained unoccupied. In fact, British and German officials were often asked to represent U.S. interests. This continued until the mid-1880s when the Shanghai Consul General began administering all consular services in China. At other times, the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou also shared this responsibility.
With the concurrence of the British government, the U.S., in 1873, built a consulate on Shamian Island, a sandy one kilometer long strip of land around which a man-made canal had been dug ten years before to separate it from the rest of the city.  Along with their European counterparts, foreign diplomatic personnel tried to recreate a Western lifestyle.  They built Anglican and Catholic churches, tennis courts, an indoor swimming pool, and long promenades. Today, visitors to Shamian Island can still see the vestiges of late eighteenth century and nineteenth century Western life.
While life on Shamian was peaceful and stable, life off of the island for the Chinese was not. Increasing dissatisfaction with the Qing Dynasty led to protests and its eventual overthrow. The Second Sino-Japanese War precipitated the withdrawal of consulate personnel in Fuzhou in 1934 and Canton in 1938.  Subsequent to Japan’s surrender to the Allies, many U.S. Consulates in China reopened.  For several months in 1949, after the Chinese Nationalist government moved its headquarters from Nanjing to Guangzhou, Shamian Island served as the site of the State Department’s “Office of Embassy.”  As the civil war raged between Chinese Nationalist and Communist forces, the Nationalist government decided once again to move the seat of government to Chungking (Chongqing) and the Office of Embassy followed.  Consulate Canton itself was closed in August, 1949, and diplomatic relations between the communist government of mainland China and the United States ceased shortly thereafter.
In the wake of the landmark visits of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon, the United States and China formally re-established diplomatic relations on January 1, 1979.  According to an agreement, each country was allowed to set up two consulates.  The United States chose Shanghai and Guangzhou (China chose San Francisco and Houston).  On August 31, 1979, almost 30 years to the day that Consulate Canton had been closed, Vice-President Walter Mondale unveiled the seal for the new U.S. Consulate Guangzhou on the 11th floor of the Dongfang Hotel at 120 Liu Hua Road.  Richard L. Williams was appointed the first Consul General in China since 1949.  There have been 11 Consul Generals since then.  In April 1990, the Consulate returned to Shamian Island when the current Consulate Tower, built on reclaimed land near the Pearl River, was completed at 1 Shamian South Street, next to the White Swan Hotel.
It did not take long to outgrow the Consulate building on Shamian Island and in July 2013, a new state-of-the-art building was opened in Zhujiang New Town. The buildings and compound were designed to maximize the connection with Chinese culture specifically that of China’s southern coastal Lin’an culture in which trees, riparian plant materials, and public spaces are seamlessly woven together.  The Department of State emphasized energy efficiency and sustainability when designing the new Consulate. It was constructed with materials known to have low life-cycle costs and high quality.  The use of extensive natural light keeps energy costs down while providing efficient work areas for employees.  Daylight is provided without heat gain through the use of recessed exterior glazing and wooden louvers.  Storm water is retained on site and filtered through a series of “bio basins” or sunken gardens filled with indigenous grasses and plantings.  In addition, “Green” roofs with growing plants and white, sunlight-reflecting roofs, along with state-of-the-art mechanical systems demonstrate the United States commitment to the environment.
China, and particularly the Pearl River Delta (or PRD, the region surrounding the Pearl River from Shenzhen to Zhuhai) has been extraordinary.  Since 1980, the GDP of the Pearl River Delta region has grown annually at 16 percent and about 1/3 of all of China’s global exports originate from this area of 35 million people.  Today the Consulate’s economic and political officers report on the developments of the Consulate district (Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Hainan provinces), comprising more than 200 million Chinese people and 33,000 U.S. citizens.
As South China has historically been the home for most Chinese immigrants to America, Guangzhou was designated as the sole immigrant visa processing post for all of China in the early 1980s.  Additionally, in 1992 all adoption processing was assigned to Guangzhou. To date, Americans have adopted more than 90,000 children from China. Immigrant and non-immigrant visa numbers have also risen in the past 30 years. Whereas in 1979 the Consulate processed about 27,000 visa applicants (both nonimmigrant and immigrant visas), today it adjudicates annually over 1 million applications.
The city of Guangzhou today barely resembles old Canton of generations past.  While many ancient pagodas and historical sites remain, modern high rises and expressways dominate this still-vital commercial port and provincial capital.  The current nature and character of America’s diplomatic presence is also in dramatic contrast to earlier efforts.  The U.S. Consulate continues to strive to more effectively meet the needs of American citizens and U.S. companies, as well as promote the diplomatic goals of the United States government.  Much as Guangzhou has acted as the world’s window into its most populous country, so the Consulate will continue to serve as America’s link to South China.
(Updated by September 2016)