Zhenjiang

For other uses, see Zhenjiang District.

Zhenjiang 镇江市
Prefecture-level city
Jinshan
Location of Zhenjiang City (yellow) in Jiangsu
Zhenjiang Location in China
Coordinates:
Country	China
Province	Jiangsu
Government
• Party Secretary	Yang Xingshi (杨省世)
Area
• Prefecture-level city	3,799 km2 (1,467 sq mi)
• Urban	1,059 km2 (409 sq mi)
Population (2010 census)
• Prefecture-level city	3,113,384
• Urban	1,189,320
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	212000, 212100 (Urban center) 212200-212400 (Other areas)
Area code(s)	511
GDP (2013)	¥292.8 billion ($41.69 billion)
GDP per capita	¥92,782 ($14,981)
Major Nationalities	Han - 99.43% Hui Uyghur Kazakh Tatar
County-level divisions	6
Township-level divisions	77
License Plate Prefix	苏L
Website	http://www.zhenjiang.gov.cn

Zhenjiang
Simplified Chinese	镇江
Traditional Chinese	鎮江
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhènjiāng Wade–Giles Chen4-chiang1 IPA [ʈʂə̂ntɕi̯áŋ]

Zhenjiang (Chinese: 镇江) is a city in Jiangsu province, in eastern China. Sitting on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Zhenjiang is governed as a prefecture-level city and was formally the provincial capital of Jiangsu before being replaced by Nanjing. It borders Nanjing to the west, Changzhou to the east, and Yangzhou across the river to the north.

Once known as "Jingjiang" (Chinese: 京江; postal: "Kingkiang") or "Jingkou" (Chinese: 京口; Chinese Postal Map Romanisation: "Kingkow"), Zhenjiang is today an important transportation hub, owing to its location near the intersection of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal.

History

Zhenjiang was the seat of feudal domains from the 8th century BC onwards, known first as Yi and later as Zhufang and Guyang. After it was captured by Qin Shi Huang, the first Chinese emperor, in 221 BC, it became a county town and was given the name Dantu. It became the seat of a higher administrative division during the middle of the 3rd Century BC. Conquered by the Sui dynasty in 581 AD, it was made a garrison to guard the entrance to the Yangtze River, hence its name which means "Garrison [of the] River". In 595 it became a full county or jun (郡). Its importance grew with the building of a precursor to the Grand Canal, when it became the chief collection and forwarding center for tax grain paid by residents of the Yangtse delta region.

The city reached its zenith under the Song dynasty (960-1279), when it produced fine silks, satins, and silverware for the emperors. In a garden estate on the outskirts of Zhenjiang, the scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031-1095 AD) lived the rest of his days in isolation, where he wrote his famous Dream Pool Essays (1088). In about 1300, a census reported that some Nestorian Christians were living in Zhenjiang.

Zhenjiang suffered from strife during the First Opium War (1839–42) when it was captured by the British at the Battle of Chinkiang on 21 July 1842, and again during the Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864). Zhenjiang declined economically with the closure of the northern portion of the Grand Canal in the 1850s, and the obstruction of the entrance to the southern canal in the 20th century.

From 1928 to 1949, during the Nationalist (Guomindang) regime of Chiang Kaishek, Zhenjiang was made the capital of Jiangsu Province, while Nanjing (the present-day capital of Jiangsu) served as the capital of China.

Zhenjiang is still one of China's busiest ports for domestic commerce, serving as a hub for trade between northern Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, and Shanghai. The trade mostly consists of grain, cotton, oils, and lumber. The other main industries are mostly in the field of food processing and paper pulp manufacturing. It is famous among Chinese for its heroic resistance against the British (in 1842) and the Japanese (in the Second World War).

Culture and folklore

The Jinshan Temple

The roof of Longchang Temple

Coolie labourer in Zhenjiang, circa 1900

Zhenjiang dialect is a form of Eastern Mandarin related to Nanjing dialect. It is incomprehensible to speakers of the Taihu dialect used in neighboring Changzhou.

In a park on the edge of Zhenjiang there is a spring which was described in the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) as being the best in Jiangsu for the making of tea, now famous as "Number One Lifespring Under Heaven".

The hilly scenery in Zhenjiang's southern suburbs was considered beautiful enough to be the theme of many landscapes by Chinese painters.

Near the Zhenjiang Museum in Boxian Park is the Shaozong Library, which among other documents contains a 100-volume collection of old sayings and proverbs, dating from the 7th to 11th centuries.

Zhenjiang is home to the Silkworm Raising Research Institute of the Academy of Agricultural Science of China.

A local specialty is a steamed meat pastry called Crab Cream Bun. Other famous special products include fragrant black vinegar (鎮江香醋), Chinkiang pork (镇江肴肉), and pickles.

Because of its strategic location on the Yangtze River, Shi Huangdi, the first Emperor of China, believed that the power of fengshui in Zhenjiang was too strong, so he ordered 3,000 prisoners to dig a tunnel through a hill to divert the power away.

In the traditional Chinese story Madame White Snake, a magical, 1000-year-old snake who could take the form of a woman escapes through a cave in Gold Hill (金山, Jinshan), to be reunited with her lover in the far-away city of Hangzhou.

Administration

See also: List of administrative divisions of Jiangsu

The prefecture-level city of Zhenjiang administers 6 county-level divisions, including three districts and three county-level cities.

These are further divided into 77 township-level divisions, including 66 towns, 1 township and 10subdistricts.

Map	Subdivision	Hanzi	Pinyin	Population (2010)	Area (km2)	Density
Jingkou Runzhou Dantu Yangzhong (city) Danyang (city) Jurong (city)
	City Proper
	Jingkou District	京口区	Jīngkǒu Qū	601,671	115	5,231.92
	Runzhou District	润州区	Rùnzhōu Qū	296,453	133	2,228.96
	Suburban
	Dantu District	丹徒区	Dāntú Qū	302,276	749	403.57
	Satellite cities (County-level cities)
	Danyang	丹阳市	Dānyáng Shì	960,418	1,059	906.91
	Jurong	句容市	Jùróng Shì	617,680	1,387	445.33
	Yangzhong	扬中市	Yángzhōng Shì	334,886	332	1,008.69
	Total			3,113,384	3,799	819.52

Transport

The new Zhenjiang Railway Station

Zhenjiang is located in the convenient Yangtze River Delta transport corridor, at the crossroads of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze, and between the Shanghai and Nanjing economic regions. The Port of Zhenjiang is the third largest port on the Yangtze. The city has two Yangtze River crossings. The Runyang Yangtze River Bridge complex, which has one of the one of the longest suspension bridge spans in the world, connects to Yangzhou. The Taizhou Yangtze River Bridge, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, connects Yongzhong with Taizhou.

Rail

Zhenjiang has been connected by rail since 1906, at the completion of the Nanjing-Shanghai Railway. The railway was extended to Beijing after the completion of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in 1960, connecting Zhenjiang to China's political and commercial hubs. The primary railway station was Zhenjiang West Railway Station, which was demolished in 2004 due to congestion it caused in the city centre. Since then Zhenjiang Railway Station has served as the city's principal railway station. Since April 2010, Zhenjiang has been on the route of the Shanghai-Nanjing Intercity Rail, the first high-speed rail with a design speed of over 300 km/h (186 mph) to serve the city. In 2011, the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway was completed. Trains on the line stop at Zhenjiang South Railway Station. The two high-speed lines have reduced travel time between Zhenjiang and Shanghai to under an hour, and travel time to Beijing to under five hours. Rail service to Shanghai is frequent - averaging one train in less than half an hour.

Air

Zhenjiang does not have a commercial airport within its city limits, although there is a military airfield, Zhenjiang Dalu Airport (镇江大路机场), which may open for regional flights in the future. Zhenjiang city centre is 62 km (39 mi) away from Changzhou Benniu Airport, about one-hour drive (80 km) away from Nanjing Lukou International Airport via Nanjing Provincial Highway 243, and approximately two-hour (143 km) drive away from Sunan Shuofang International Airport. Check-in facilities are available for Lukou Airport in the New Zhenjiang Bus Station (镇江汽车新站).

Roadways

Zhenjiang is on the route of Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, and China National Highway 312.

Public transport

As of 2014, Zhenjiang had an extensive number of bus routes - numbering nearly one hundred. Since 2012 the city's entire fleet of city buses are equipped with GPS and are managed centrally through a "smart transport network system."

Industry

Zhenjiang Export Processing Zone was approved by the State Council on March 10, 2003 with a total planned area of 2.53 square kilometres (0.98 square miles). The first-phrase project completed in December 2003 covers 0.91 square kilometres (0.35 square miles) and was certified by the Customs General Administration and other seven ministries for operation on Dec.24, 2003. Zhenjiang Export Processing Zone is located close to Changzhou Airport and Zhenjiang Port.

Education

Public institutions having full-time Bachelor's degree programs include Jiangsu University (江苏大学) and the Jiangsu University of Science and Technology (江苏科技大学).

Senior high schools having Jiangsu Provincial Zhenjiang No.1 High School(江苏省镇江第一中学)and the Zhenjiang High School of Jiangsu Province(江苏省镇江中学).

Notable people

• Liu E (1848–1909), late Qing Dynasty writer
• Pearl S. Buck (1892–1973), Nobel Prize-winning author of The Good Earth and other novels about China, lived in Zhenjiang with her missionary parents until the age of 18. Her parents' home is preserved on the grounds of a semiconductor factory in Zhenjiang; nearby is Zhengiang Number 2 Middle School at which she studied and taught.
• Li Lanqing (born 1932), former vice premier of China.
• Shen Kuo (1031–1095), Song Dynasty Scientist.
• Hudson Taylor (1832–1905) Missionary, Buried in Zhenjiang, formerly known as Chen-Chiang
• Wei Wei (born 1922), film actress
• Si Guo (1918-2004), English name Frederick Tsai, renowned essayist & translator who worked in Hong Kong for most of his career

Twin towns – Sister cities

• Kiskőrös, Hungary
• Kuching, Malaysia
• Stavropol, Russia
• Tsu, Mie, Japan
• Tempe, Arizona, United States

See also

• List of twin towns and sister cities in China

External links

• Zhenjiang travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Government website of Zhenjiang (available in Chinese and English)
• Tempe Sister Cities