Changzhou

Changzhou
—  Prefecture-level city  —
Chinese transcription(s)
- Chinese	常州市
- Pinyin	Chángzhōu Shì
Changzhou is highlighted on this map
Changzhou Location in China
Coordinates: 31°47′N 119°58′E / 31.783°N 119.967°E / 31.783; 119.967
Country	China
Province	Jiangsu
Government
- Mayor	Wang Weicheng (王伟成)
Area
- Prefecture-level city	4,375 km2 (1,689.2 sq mi)
- Urban	1,864 km2 (719.7 sq mi)
Population (2004)
- Prefecture-level city	3,489,000
- Density	797.5/km2 (2,065.5/sq mi)
- Urban	2,085,500
- Urban Density	1,118.8/km2 (2,897.8/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	213000, 213100 (Urban center) 213200, 213300 (Other areas)
Area code(s)	519
GDP	¥220.2 billion (2008)
GDP per capita	¥63,037 (2008)
Major Nationalities	Han
County-level divisions	7
License Plate Prefix	苏D
Local Dialect	Wu Chinese
Website	http://www.changzhou.gov.cn

Changzhou (Chinese: 常州; pinyin: Chángzhōu; Wade-Giles: Ch'ang-chou; Gwoyeu Romatzyh: Charng jou; formerly romanized as Changchow) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It was also known as Yanling, Lanling, Jinling, and Wujin previously. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhenjiang to the northwest, Wuxi to the east, and the province of Zhejiang to the south. The city is situated in the affluent Yangtze Delta region of China.

History

Only 8 km from Changzhou City are the remains of an ancient walled town, founded over 3000 years ago at the beginning of the Western Zhou dynasty. The earliest record of a settlement on the site of modern Changzhou is of a commandery (a district under the control of a commander) founded in 221 BC. Changzhou got its present name, which means "ordinary prefecture", in 589 AD. After the Grand Canal was constructed in 609 AD, Changzhou became a canal port and transshipment point for locally-grown grain, and has maintained these roles ever since. The rural counties surrounding Changzhou are noted for the production of rice, fish, tea, silk, bamboo and fruit.

During the Taiping Rebellion of the 1850s, one of 5 palaces housing the leaders of the so-called "Kingdom of Celestial Peace" was constructed in Changzhou. Today the ruins of the "King's Palace" can be found near the People's No.1 Hospital.

In the 1920s, Changzhou started to attract cotton mills. The cotton industry got a boost in the late 1930s when businesses began relocating outside of Shanghai due to the Japanese occupation. Unlike many Chinese cities, Changzhou continued to prosper even during the upheavals of the cultural revolution of 1966-76. Today it is an important industrial center for textiles, food processing, engineering (diesel engines, generators, transformers and other machinery), and high technology.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Changzhou administers 7 county-level divisions, including 5 districts and 2 county-level cities.

• Zhonglou District (钟楼区)
• Tianning District (天宁区)
• Qishuyan District (戚墅堰区)
• Xinbei District (新北区)
• Wujin District (武进区)
• Jintan City (金坛市)
• Liyang City (溧阳市)

Education

Changzhou is an educational hub and is home to several universities, including Jiangsu Polytechnic University, Hohai University(Changzhou Campus), Jiangsu teachers University of Science and Technology, Jiangsu Teacher's University of Technology, and Changzhou Institute of Technology. The city also has a number of prominent middle schools, including Changzhou Middle School and Changzhou International School.

Economy

Night in urban Changzhou

Changzhou's traditional role has been that of a commercial center, particularly a collecting center for agricultural produce, which was shipped by canal to the north and, later, to Shanghai. It began to develop a cotton textile industry in the 1920s, and cotton mills were established in the late 1930s, when Japanese attacks drove many Chinese businesses to invest outside Shanghai.

The city has remained a textile center, the most important in Jiangsu for weaving. It also has large food-processing plants and flour-milling, rice-polishing, and oil-pressing industries. After 1949 it also developed as a center of engineering industry. Qishuyan, some 10 km southeast of Changzhou, has one of the largest locomotive and rolling stock plants in China. Other engineering works in Changzhou produce diesel engines, generators, transformers, and agricultural and textile machinery. At the time of the Great Leap Forward in 1958 a steel plant was also built there to provide raw material for heavy industry.

Since 1908, Changzhou has been linked by rail with Shanghai and Nanjing (see below for transportation).

Until now, Changzhou is one of the most developed cities in Jiangsu, ranking after Suzhou and Wuxi.The GDP per capita was ¥63,037 in 2008, ranked no.3 in Jiangsu Province, less than Suzhou and Wuxi but more than the capital city Nanjing.

Changzhou is also one of the top business cities in China. According to Forbes ranking, Changzhou is in the 9th position for best business cities in Mainland China in 2008.

Changzhou High-Tech Zone

As of 2008, Changzhou High-tech Zone has been open for 15 years and it is the home of 7,636 domestic and overseas companies, 18 of which are on Fortune Global 500 list. There are many automobile parts manufacturers in Changzhou High-tech Zone. Changzhou High-tech Zone features infrastructure services, including water, electricity, heating, sewage disposal and telecommunications, with a logistic network, including road, railway and water carriage.

Transportation

Railway

Located just south of Chang Jiang (Yangtze River), Changzhou is situated on the main Shanghai-Beijing rail line and is one of the main stops on the busy Shanghai-Nanjing route.

Air Transport

Changzhou also has its own airport approximately 15km from the city centre. There are flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shenyang, Kunming, Harbin and Dalian.

Expressway and Highway

• China National Highway 312
• Shanghai-Nanjing Highway
• Yanjiang Highway
• Changzhou-Nanjing Highway

BRT

The BRT (China Bus Rapid Transit) costs 1 yuan (or, if a Changzhou Bus Card is used, 3 or 6 Jiao, depending on the type of card used) and provides access throughout Changzhou. The BRT has the following specifications: segregated busways or bus-only roadways, high capacity buses, network of routes and corridors, enhanced station environment (more than just a bus shelter), passenger volume greater than a mixed traffic lane (-3000 pphpd), pre-board fare collection and fare verification, at-level boarding and alighting, buses operating both outside and inside bus corridor, low emission vehicle technology (Euro III or higher), automated fare collection and fare verification system, weather protection on station platforms, system control centre, real-time next bus information displays, distinctive, marketing identity system, distinctive BRT buses, high-quality passenger information at stations, segregated bike lanes along main corridor(s), and disabled access to stations. The BRT is also located in the following cities: Beijing, Chongqing, Dalian, Hangzhou, Jinan, Hangzhou, Kunming, and Xiamen.^[1]

The Elevated Road

Changzhou had built its first elevated road since 2007. It has been put into use after one year in 2008. It is named 'Outer Ring Road Elevated Road'. This year, the plan of the second elevated road has been made into the scheme.

Culture and folklore

Tianning Temple with the pagoda behind

Changzhou belongs to the Taihu Wu Chinese language region so the native dialect is very similar to Shanghai dialect; but such as Jintan and Liyang city, they are in close proximity to the border of the Mandarin Chinese language region and is said to have some characteristics of Mandarin. The dialect is referred to locals as Changzhou dialect

Comb Lane in Changzhou is the scene of the last farewell of Jia Baoyu with his father in the classic novel A Dream of Red Mansions.

Other famous handicrafts of Changzhou are the "crisscross" style of silk embroidery and carvings made from green bamboo.

Famous snacks made in Changzhou include pickled Radish, Sesame Candy, Sweet Glutinous Rice Flour Dumpling With Fermented Glutinous Rice, and Silver Thread-like Noodles.

A good-natured rivalry exists between Changzhou and the neighboring city of Wuxi.

Tourism

Comb Lane

Changzhou is famous for the China Dinosaur Park (Chinese: 常州恐龙园; pinyin: Chángzhōu Kǒnglóng Yuán;) located in the new North district of the city. The Dinosaur Park contains dinosaur bones and fossils from all over China. The park has 50 various fossils and more than 30 amusement programs including but not limited to: The Brontosaurus Roller Coaster and The Whirling Dinosaur Carriage. The fossils are located in a museum housed in a single building and the amusement rides are spread throughout the park which is categorized into 6 themed areas. Besides fossils and family oriented rides, Dinosaur Park is home to a giant panda and sea lions.^[2]

The city is also home to the Tianning Temple— one of the largest Zen Buddhist temple and monastery in China. The city has recently rebuilt the Tianning pagoda on the Temple grounds, which are adjacent to Hongmei Park. The pagoda, called Tianning Baota, was first built during the Tang Dynasty. It has since been destroyed and rebuilt five times. The current reconstruction is built to the height specification of 153.79 meter (504.56 ft). This makes it the tallest pagoda in China and perhaps also the world. Both the Hongmei Park and Tianning Temple are located just to the east of the city center.^[3]

As Changzhou is famous for its combs, the city has reconstructed its Bamboo Comb Lane area with period architecture. Certainly, Changzhou combs can be purchased in most places in the city.

Another site in Changzhou worth mention is Hong Mei Park, which includes a small children's amusement park, a zoo, a rose garden and many scenic waterways. Of historical interest in the park is a historical pavilion with exhibits related to the famous Changzhou comb industry. In addition to this, there is another pavilion which displays locally produced root carvings. The park is a big attraction on holidays and is often dotted with a variety of vendors.

Other sites include Changzhou's sunken city and area of archaeological ruins from the Spring and Autumn Period.

Changzhou also has attractive gardens such as WeiYuan.

Notable people

A Qing dynasty poet declared "there are none such under heaven as Changzhou, where famous persons come from." Numerous memorial halls in Changzhou and the surrounding area commemorate its famous citizens, including soldiers, scholars, revolutionaries, industrialists, physicians, artists and writers.

• Su Dongpo (also known as Su Shi; 1036-1101), poet and essayist lived and died here.
• Sheng Xuanhuai (1844–1916), late Qing Dynasty bureaucrat and reformer.
• Zhao Yuanren (1892-1982), prominent linguist.
• Hong Shen (1894-1955), pioneering dramatist and filmmaker was born here.
• Liu Haisu (1896-1994), prominent artist.
• Lu Lan (1987-), Olympic athlete and badminton player. Won the woman's championship at the 2009 BWF World Championships.
• Lu Simian (1884-1957), historian and member of the Doubting Antiquity School
• Qu Qiubai (1899–1935), former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and prominent Marxist thinker and writer. Named "Changzhou San Jie" together with Yun Daiying and Zhang Tailei.
• Yun Daiying (1895-1931), revolutioner and pioneer of early Communist Youth activities.
• Zhang Tailei (1898-1927), one of the founders of Chinese Communist Party, first Chinese ever working in Communist International.
• Hua Luogeng (1910–1985), prominent mathematician.

References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ Xinhua (2007-04-30). "Buddhists gather to inaugurate world's tallest pagoda". China Daily. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-04/30/content_864654.htm. Retrieved 2007-04-30. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Changzhou

• Government website of Changzhou (available in Chinese and English)
• Changzhou city guide with open directory (Jiangsu.NET)

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