The metro project was started as the Preparation Office of Guangzhou Metro. It was created in 1979 to try and restart Project Nine. The project was going to help reduce the traffic in Guangzhou. Before the 1980s, most underground projects in China were to prepare for war. This was the first time that something like the Guangzhou Metro was focused on traffic. China and France worked together to design the metro. Four designs were released in the Guangzhou Daily on 14 March 1988. One of the designs were chosen after getting feedback from other people. It showed a design that would become Line 1 and Line 2.