Everything about Zhenjiang totally explained
Zhenjiang is a
prefecture-level city in the southwestern
Jiangsu province,
People's Republic of China. Sitting on the southern bank of the
Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of
Nanjing to the west,
Changzhou to the east, and
Yangzhou across the river to the north.
Once known as
Jingjiang (京江, Wade-Giles
Chingkiang) or
Jingkou (京口 Wade-Giles
Chingk'ou), Zhenjiang is today an important transportation hub owing to its location near the intersection of the Yangtze River and the
Grand Canal.
Administration
The
prefecture-level city of Zhenjiang administers 6
county-level divisions, including 3
districts and 3
county-level cities.
These are further divided into 77
township-level divisions, including 66
towns, 1
township and 10
subdistricts.
History
Zhenjiang was the seat of feudal domains from the 8th century BC onwards. After it was captured by
Qin Shi Huang, the first Chinese emperor, in 221 BC, it became a county town. 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 [ofthe] River". 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 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
Opium War (1839-42) when it was bombarded by British warships, 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 1949) and the Japanese (in the
Second World War).
Culture and folklore
Zhenjiang natives speak a dialect of Lower Yangtze (Jianghuai)
Mandarin Chinese, at the edge of a linguistic border with the
Wu language.
In a park on the edge of Zhenjiang there's 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, pork, and pickles.
Because of its strategic location on the Yangzi River,
Qin Shi Huang, 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 (Jin Shan), to be reunited with her lover in the far-away city of
Hangzhou.
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).
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 15. Her childhood 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.Further Information
Get more info on 'Zhenjiang'.
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