Changzhou
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Administration Type | Prefecture-level city |
| City Seat | Yunlong District () |
| Area - Total - Urban center |
4,375 km² 1,864 km² |
| Population - Total - Urban center |
3,489,000 (2004) |
| GDP - Total - Per Capita |
¥110.06 billion (2004) ¥31,665 (2004) |
| Major Nationalities | Han |
| County-level divisions | 7 |
| Township-level divisions | |
| CPC Committee Secretary | |
| Mayor | Wang Weicheng (王伟成) (interim) |
| Area code | 519 |
| Postal Code | 213000, 213100 (Urban center) 213200, 213300 (Other areas) |
| License Plate Prefix | 苏D |
Changzhou (Chinese: 常州; pinyin: Chángzhōu; formerly known in English as Chang-chou, Changchow) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, 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.
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[edit] 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)
[edit] Transportation
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. Changzhou also has its own airport approximately 15km from the city centre. There are flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shenyang, Kunming, Harbin and Dalian.
[edit] Tourism
Changzhou is famous for the China Dinosaur Park located in the new North district of the city. The Dinosaur Park contains dinosaur bones and fossils from all over China.
The city is also home to the Tianning Temple— a Buddhist temple and monastery. The city is presently building a new pagoda on the Temple grounds, which are adjacent to Hongmei Park. The pagoda, called Tianning Baota, has now reached its full height of 153.79 m (504.56 ft). This makes it the tallest pagoda in the world. Both the Hongmei Park and Tianning Temple are located just to the east of the city center.
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.
[edit] Education
Changzhou is an educational hub and is home to several universities (including Ho Hai University, Changzhou Campus and Jiangsu University of Science and Technology) and middle schools (including Changzhou Middle School and Changzhou International School).
[edit] 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 1850's, 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 1920's, Changzhou started to attract cotton mills. The cotton industry got a boost in the late 1930's 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.
In 1982, Changzhou was made a "Model Town" for China's one-child policy. In that year, officials in Changzhou reported that nearly 100% of married couples had pledged to have only one child.
[edit] 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.
- Hong Shen (1894-1955), pioneering dramatist and filmmaker was born here.
- Qu Qiubai (1899–1935), former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China and prominent Marxist thinker and writer.
- Hua Luogeng (1910–1985), prominent mathematician.
- Zhao Yuanren (1892-1982), prominent linguist.
[edit] Culture and Folklore
Changzhou belongs to the Northern Wu Chinese language region so the native dialect is close to Shanghai dialect; but it is very near to the border of the Mandarin Chinese language region and is said to have some characteristics of Mandarin.
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 Dried Radish ("aromatic, sweet, crisp and tender") Sesame Candy ("fragrant, sweet, soft and crispy") Sweet Glutinous Rice Flour Dumpling With Fermented Glutinous Rice, and Silver Thread-like Noodles.
Some notable restaurant dishes are: Steamed Bread with Pork and Crab Meat, Vegetable and Meat Dumpling in Chicken Soup, and Three Delicacy Dumpling (shrimp, carp and pork), Fried Eel and Frog Stew.
A good-natured rivalry exists between Changzhou and the neighboring city of Wuxi. People from Wuxi have the following saying: "Wuxi smart - Changzhou stubborn".
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- Government website of Changzhou (available in Chinese and English)
Prefecture-level divisions of Jiangsu
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| List of Jiangsu County-level divisions |
