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Yangtze River Delta
The Yangtze River Delta (Chinese 长江三角洲/長江三角洲 chángjiāng sānjiǎozhōu) or Yangtze Delta, generally comprises the triangular-shaped territory of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu province and northern Zhejiang province. The area lies at the heart of the region traditionally called Jiangnan (literally: "south of the Yangtze River"). The Yangtze drains into the East China Sea.
History
Since the Tang Dynasty, the Yangtze Delta has been an area of intense agrarian agriculture and high population density. It is criss-crossed with canals for transportation and irrigation.
transportation
Population
The delta is one of the most densely populated regions on earth, and includes one of the world's largest cities on its banks—Shanghai, with a density of 2,700 inhabitants/km². Because of the large population of the delta, and factories, farms, and other cities upriver, the World Wildlife Fund says the Yangtze Delta is the biggest cause of marine pollution in the Pacific Ocean.
Climate
The Yangtze Delta has a marine monsoon subtropical climate, and the weather is generally warm and humid. Winter temperatures can drop as low as -10°C (a record), however, and even in springtime, large temperature fluctuations can occur.
subtropical
Fishing and agriculture
The Yangtze River Delta contains the most fertile soils in all of China. Rice is the dominant crop of the delta, but further inland fishing rivals rice as the dominant crop. In Qing Pu, 50 ponds containing five different species of fish produce 29,000 tons each year. One of the biggest fears of fish farmers in this region is that toxic water will seep into their man-made lagoons and threaten their livelihood.
See also
- Pearl River Delta
References
- Asia Times Online, June 2, 2005 - [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/GF02Ad01.html]
- PBS.org, Journey to Planet Earth, Yangtze River Delta, China - [http://www.pbs.org/journeytoplanetearth/hope/yangtze.html]
- United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) - [http://www.unescap.org/esid/psis/population/database/chinadata/shanghai.htm]
Category:Metropolitan areas of China
Category:River deltas
Jiangsu
Jiangsu (; Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsu) is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country.
The name "Jiangsu" comes from Jiang, short for the city of Jiangning (now Nanjing), and Su, for the city of Suzhou. The abbreviation for this province is 苏 (Hanyu Pinyin: Sū), the second character of its name.
Jiangsu borders Shandong in the north, Anhui to the west, and Zhejiang and Shanghai to the south. Jiangsu has a coastline of over 1,000 km along the Yellow Sea, and the Yangtze River passes through its southern parts.
History
The province of Jiangsu was formed in the 17th century. Before then, the northern and southern parts of Jiangsu had little to do with each other. South Jiangsu is currently the dominant part, being much wealthier and more influential than the north, and has been so for centuries; it is also firmly a part of southern Chinese culture. North Jiangsu, on the other hand, is at the juncture between North China and South China. Culturally it is of North China, but it has influences from South China, and is indeed still a part of a province that is based in the south.
During the earliest of the Chinese dynasties, Jiangsu was far removed from the center of Chinese civilization, which were to the northwest in Henan; it was home to the Huai Yi (淮夷), an ancient ethnic group. During the Zhou Dynasty more contact was made, and eventually a state of Wu (centered at Gusu, now Suzhou) appeared as a vassal to the Zhou Dynasty in south Jiangsu, one of the many hundreds of states that existed across north and central China at the time. Near the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, Wu became a great power under King Helu of Wu, and was able to defeat in 484 BC the state of Qi, a major power to the north in modern-day Shandong province, and contest for the position of overlord over all the states of China. The state of Wu was subjugated in 473 BC by the state of Yue, another state that had emerged to the south in modern-day Zhejiang province. Yue was in turn subjugated by the powerful state of Chu from the west in 333 BC. Eventually the state of Qin swept away all the other states of China, and established China as a unified nation in 221 BC.
Under the reign of the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), which brought China to its first golden age, Jiangsu was a relative backwater, far removed from the centers of civilization in the North China Plain. Jiangsu was at the time administered under two zhou (provinces): Xuzhou Province in the north, and Yangzhou Province in the south. Although south Jiangsu was eventually the base for the kingdom of Wu (one of the Three Kingdoms from 222 to 280), it did not become significant until the invasion of northern nomads during the Western Jin Dynasty, starting from the 4th century. As northern nomadic groups established kingdoms across the north, ethnic Han Chinese aristocracy fled southwards and set up a refugee Eastern Jin Dynasty in 317, in Jiankang (modern day Nanjing). From then until 581 (a period known as the Southern and Northern Dynasties), Nanjing in south Jiangsu was to be the base of four more ethnic Han Chinese dynasties facing off with northern barbarian (but increasingly sinicized) dynasties. In the meantime, north Jiangsu was a buffer of sorts between north and south; it initially started as a part of southern dynasties, but as northern dynasties gained more ground, it became part of northern dynasties.
In 581 unity was reestablished again, and under the Tang Dynasty (618 – 907) China once more went through a golden age, though Jiangsu at this point was still rather unremarkable among the different parts of China. It was during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), which saw the development of a wealthy mercantile class and emergent market economy in China, that south Jiangsu emerged as a center of trade. From then onwards, south Jiangsu, especially major cities like Suzhou or Yangzhou, would be synonymous with opulence and luxury in China. Today south Jiangsu remains one of the richest parts of China, and Shanghai, arguably the wealthiest and most cosmopolitan of mainland China cities, is a direct extension of south Jiangsu culture.
The Jurchen Jin Dynasty gained control of North China in 1127, and the river Huai He, which used to cut through north Jiangsu to reach the Yellow Sea, was the border between the north, under the Jin, and the south, under the Southern Song Dynasty. The Mongols took control of China in the 13th century. The Ming Dynasty, which was established in 1368 after driving out the Mongols who had occupied China, initially put its capital in Nanjing. Following a coup by Zhu Di (later Yongle Emperor), however, the capital was moved to Beijing, far to the north. (The naming of the two cities continue to reflect this: "Nanjing" literally means "southern capital", "Beijing" literally means "northern capital.) The entirety of modern day Jiangsu as well as neighbouring Anhui province kept their special status, however, as territory-governed directly by the central government, and were called Nanzhili (南直隸 "Southern directly-governed"). Meanwhile, South Jiangsu continued to be an important center of trade in China; some historians see in the flourishing textiles industry at the time incipient industrialization and capitalism, a trend that was however aborted, several centuries before similar trends took hold in the West.
The Qing Dynasty changed this situation by establishing Nanzhili as Jiangnan province; in 1666 Jiangsu and Anhui were split apart as separate provinces, and Jiangsu was given borders approximately the same as today. With the start of the Western incursion into China in the 1840s, the rich and mercantile south Jiangsu was increasingly exposed to Western influence; Shanghai, originally an unremarkable little town of Jiangsu, quickly developed into a metropolis of trade, banking, and cosmopolitanism, and was split out later as an independent municipality. South Jiangsu also figures strongly in the Taiping Rebellion (1851 – 1864), a massive and deadly rebellion that attempted to set up a Christian theocracy in China; it started far to the south in Guangdong province, swept through much of South China, and by 1853 had established Nanjing as its capital, renamed as Tianjing (天京 "Heavenly Capital").
The Republic of China was established in 1912, and China was soon torn apart by warlords. Jiangsu changed hands several times, but in April 1927 Chiang Kai-Shek established a government at Nanjing; he was soon able to bring most of China under his control. This was however interrupted by the second Sino-Japanese War, which began full-scale in 1937; on December 13, 1937, Nanjing fell, and the combined atrocities of the occupying Japanese for the next 3 months would come to be known as the Nanjing Massacre. Nanjing was the seat of the collaborationist government of East China under Wang Jingwei, and Jiangsu remained under occupation until the end of the war in 1945.
After the war, Nanjing was once again the capital of the Republic of China, though now the Chinese Civil War had broken out between the Kuomintang government and Communist forces, based further north, mostly in Manchuria. The decisive Huaihai Campaign was fought in northern Jiangsu; it resulted in Kuomintang defeat, and the communists were soon able to cross the Yangtze River and take Nanjing. The Kuomintang fled southwards, and eventually ended up in Taipei, from which the Republic of China government continues to administer Taiwan and its neighbouring islands, though it also continues to claim (technically, at least) Nanjing as its rightful capital.
After communist takeover, Beijing was made capital of China and Nanjing was demoted to be the provincial capital of Jiangsu. The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping initially focused on the south coast of China, in Guangdong province, which soon left Jiangsu behind; starting from the 1990s they were applied more evenly to the rest of China. Suzhou and Wuxi, two southern cities of Jiangsu in close proximity to neighbouring Shanghai Municipality, have since become particularly prosperous, being among the top 10 cities in China in gross domestic product and outstripping the provincial capital of Nanjing. The income disparity between north Jiangsu and south Jiangsu however remains large.
Geography
Nanjing
Jiangsu is very flat and low-lying, with plains covering 68 percent of its total area (water covers another 18 percent), and most of the province not more than 50 m above sea level. Jiangsu is also laced with a well-developed irrigation system, which earned it (especially the southern half) the moniker of 水乡 (shuǐxiāng "land of water"); the southern city of Suzhou is so crisscrossed with canals that it has been dubbed "Venice of the East". The Grand Canal of China cuts through Jiangsu from north to south, traversing all the east-west river systems. Jiangsu also borders the Yellow Sea. The Yangtze River, the longest river of China, cuts through the province in the south and reaches the East China Sea. Mount Yuntai near the city of Lianyungang is the highest point in this province, with an altitude of 625 m. Large lakes in Jiangsu include Lake Taihu (the largest), Lake Hongze, Lake Gaoyou, Lake Luoma, and Lake Yangcheng.
Historically, the river Huai He, a major river in central China and the traditional border between North China and South China, cut through north Jiangsu to reach the Yellow Sea. However, starting from 1194 AD, the Yellow River further to the north changed its course several times, running into the Huai He in north Jiangsu each time instead of its other usual path northwards into Bohai Bay. The silting caused by the Yellow River was so heavy that after its last episode of "hijacking" the Huai He ended in 1855, the Huai He was no longer able to go through its usual path into the sea. Instead it flooded, pooled up (thereby forming and enlarging Lake Hongze and Lake Gaoyou), and flowed southwards through the Grand Canal into the Yangtze. The old path of the Huai He is now marked by a series of irrigation channels, the most significant of which is the North Jiangsu Irrigation Main Channel (苏北灌溉总渠), which channels a small amount of the water of the Huai He along its old path into the sea.
Jiangsu Province spans the warm-temperate/humid and subtropical/humid climate zones, and has clear-cut seasonal changes, with temperatures at an average of -2 - 4 °C in January and 26 - 30 °C in July. There are frequently "plum rains" between spring and summer, typhoons with rainstorms in late summer and early autumn. The annual average rainfall is 800 - 1200 mm, concentrated mostly in summer when the southeast monsoon carries rainwater into the province.
Major cities:
Administrative divisions
monsoon
Jiangsu is divided into 13 prefecture-level divisions, all of them prefecture-level cities:
- Nanjing (Simplified Chinese: 南京市, Hanyu Pinyin: Nánjīng Shì)
- Xuzhou (徐州市 Xúzhōu Shì)
- Lianyungang (连云港市 Liányúngǎng Shì)
- Suqian (宿迁市 Sùqiān Shì)
- Huai'an (淮安市 Huái'ān Shì)
- Yancheng (盐城市 Yánchéng Shì)
- Yangzhou (扬州市 Yángzhōu Shì)
- Taizhou (泰州市 Tàizhōu Shì)
- Nantong (南通市 Nántōng Shì)
- Zhenjiang (镇江市 Zhènjiāng Shì)
- Changzhou (常州市 Chángzhōu Shì)
- Wuxi (无锡市 Wúxī Shì)
- Suzhou (苏州市 Sūzhōu Shì)
The 13 prefecture-level divisions of Jiangsu are subdivided into 106 county-level divisions (54 districts, 27 county-level cities, and 25 counties). Those are in turn divided into 1488 township-level divisions (1078 towns, 122 townships, 1 ethnic township, and 287 subdistricts).
See List of administrative divisions of Jiangsu for a complete list of county-level divisions.
Economy
county-level divisions
Jiangsu has an extensive irrigation system supporting its agriculture, which is based primarily on rice and wheat, followed by maize and sorghum. Main cash crops include cotton, soybeans, peanuts, rape, sesame, ambary hemp, and tea. Other products include peppermint, spearmint, bamboo, medicinal herbs, apples, pears, peaches, loquats, ginkgo. Silkworms also form an important part of Jiangsu's agriculture, with the Lake Taihu region to the south a major base of silk production in China. Jiangsu is also an important producer of freshwater fish and other aquatic products.
Jiangsu has coal, petroleum, and natural gas deposits, but its most significant mineral produces are non-metal minerals such as halite (rock salt), sulfur, phosphorus, as well as marble. The salt mines of Huaiyin have more than 0.4 trillion tonnes of deposits, one of the highest in China.
Jiangsu is historically oriented towards light industries such as textiles and food industry. Since 1949 Jiangsu has also developed heavy industries such as chemical industry and construction materials. The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping has greatly benefited southern cities, especially Suzhou and Wuxi, which outstrip the provincial capital Nanjing in total output. In the eastern outskirts of Suzhou, Singapore has built the Suzhou Industrial Park, a flagship of China-Singapore cooperation and the only industrial park in China that is in its entirety the investment of one single foreign country.
Jiangsu is very wealthy among the provinces of China, with the second highest total gross domestic product (after Guangdong Province). Its GDP per capita was 14500 Renminbi in 2002, but geographical disparity is great, and southern cities like Suzhou and Wuxi have GDP per capita around twice of the provincial average, making south Jiangsu one of the most prosperous regions in China.
Economic indicators in 2003:
Gross domestic product: 1245.18 billion Renminbi
Gross domestic product per capita: 16796 Renminbi
Gross domestic product growth rate: 13.5%
Gross domestic product share by sector (primary/secondary/tertiary): 8.9% / 54.5% / 36.6%
Gross domestic product share by sector (public/private): 49.0% / 51.0%
Demographics
The majority of Jiangsu residents are ethnic Han Chinese. Other minorities include the Hui and the Manchus.
Demographic indicators in 2000:
Population: 74.058 million (urban: 34.637 million; rural: 39.421 million) (2003)
Birth rate: 9.04 per 1000 (2003)
Death rate: 7.03 per 1000 (2003)
Sex ratio: 102.55 males per 100 females
Average family size: 3.25
Han Chinese proportion: 99.64%
Illiteracy rate: 7.88%
Culture
There are wide disparities in culture in Jiangsu. North Jiangsu is closer to Shandong and Henan provinces in culture while south Jiangsu is more similar to Zhejiang and Shanghai.
Two main subdivisions of the Chinese language, Mandarin and Wu, are spoken in different parts of Jiangsu. Dialects of Mandarin are spoken over most of northern Jiangsu and central Jiangsu, as well as parts of southern Jiangsu, such as in the provincial capital, Nanjing; a more detailed classification would put dialects of northern Jiangsu (such as in Xuzhou) under "Zhongyuan dialects" and those of central and southern Jiangsu (such as in Yangzhou or Nanjing) under "Jianghuai dialects". Dialects of Wu are spoken in the southernmost parts of Jiangsu, such as in Suzhou, Wuxi, and Changzhou. Mandarin and Wu are not mutually intelligible and the dividing line is sharp and well-defined. (See also: Nanjing dialect, Xuzhou dialect, Yangzhou dialect, Suzhou dialect, Wuxi dialect, Changzhou dialect.)
Changzhou dialect]
Jiangsu is rich in cultural traditions. Kunqu, originating in Kunshan, is one of the most renowned and prestigious forms of Chinese opera. Pingtan, a form of storytelling accompanied by music, is also popular: it can be subdivided into types by origin: Suzhou Pingtan (of Suzhou), Yangzhou Pingtan (of Yangzhou), and Nanjing Pingtan (of Nanjing). Xiju, a form of traditional Chinese opera, is popular in Wuxi, while Huaiju is popular further north, around Yancheng. Jiangsu cuisine is one of the eight great traditions of the cuisine of China.
Suzhou is also famous for its silk, embroidery art, jasmine tea, stone bridges, pagodas, and its classical gardens. Nearby Yixing is famous for its teaware, and Yangzhou is famous for its lacquerware and jadeware. Nanjing's yunjin is a famous form of woven silk, while Wuxi is famous for its peaches.
Since ancient times, south Jiangsu has been famed for its prosperity and opulence, and simply inserting south Jiangsu place names (Suzhou, Yangzhou, etc.) into poetry gave an effect of dreaminess, as was indeed done by many famous poets. In particular, the fame of Suzhou (as well as Hangzhou in neighbouring Zhejiang province) has led to the popular saying: 上有天堂，下有蘇杭 (above there is heaven; below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou), a saying that continues to be a source of pride for the people of these two still prosperous cities. Similarly, the prosperity of Yangzhou has led poets to dream of: 腰纏十萬貫，騎鶴下揚州 (with a hundred thousand strings of coins wrapped around the waist, riding a crane down to Yangzhou).
Famous people
This is a list of famous people from Jiangsu in chronological order. Note that modern-day Jiangsu province dates from the 17th century, so most of the people in this list would not know what "Jiangsu" is.
- King Helu of Wu (? - 496 BC), king of the state of Wu
- Gan Jiang
- Mo Xie
- Xiang Yu (232 BC - 202 BC), warlord at the end of Qin Dynasty
- Emperor Gao of Han (256 BC - 195 BC), first emperor of Han Dynasty
- Han Xin, Han Dynasty general
- Xiao He, Han Dynasty general
- Cao Shen, Han Dynasty general
- Zhang Zhao, Three Kingdoms era strategist
- Lu Xun, Three Kingdoms era strategist and general
- Ge Hong
- Tao Hongjing
- Gu Kaizhi (348 - 409), painter
- Lu Ji
- Lu Yun
- Emperor Wu of Song (363 - 422), first emperor of Song Dynasty (420-479)
- Zhang Xu (? - ?), Tang Dynasty calligrapher
- Li Houzhu (937 - 978), last emperor of Later Tang Dynasty, poet
- Fan Zhongyan (989 - 1052), Song Dynasty politician, poet
- Fan Chengda
- Gu Xiancheng
- Xu Xiake (1586 - 1641), travel writer
- Shen Zhou
- Wen Zhengming
- Dong Qichang
- Zhu Yunming
- Wu Cheng'en (? - 1582), author of Journey to the West
- Gui Youguang
- Feng Menglong
- Zheng Banqiao (1693 - 1765), poet, painter, scholar
- Jin Shengtan (1608 - 1661), writer, critic
- Gu Yanwu
- Zhao Yi
- Liu E
- Xu Beihong (1895 - 1953), painter
- Mei Lanfang (1894 - 1961), Beijing opera actor
- Jiang Zemin (1926 - ), President of the People's Republic of China
Tourism
Nanjing was the capital of several Chinese dynasties and contain a variety of historic sites, such as Purple Mountain, Purple Mountain Observatory, the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Ming Dynasty city wall and gates, Ming Xiao Ling, Lake Xuanwu, Jiming Temple, the Nanjing Massacre Memorial, Nanjing Confucius Temple, Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, and Nanjing Zoo, with circus. Suzhou is renowned for its classical gardens (designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site), as well as Hanshan Temple, and Huqiu Hill. Yangzhou is known for Thin West Lake.
- Chaotian Palace
- Gulin Park
- Jiangxin Island
- Night Markets
- Qixia Temple in Qixia Mountains
- Swallow Rock in Yanziji
- Tombs of Southern Tang Emperor
Miscellaneous topics
Sports
Professional sports teams in Jiangsu include:
- Chinese Football Association Jia League
- Jiangsu Shuntian
- Nanjing Youyou
- Chinese Basketball Association
- Jiangsu Nan'gang Dragons
Colleges and Universities
- Nanjing Aeronautics and Astronautics University (Nanjing)
- Nanjing Agricultural University (Nanjing)
- Nanjing Normal University (Nanjing)
- Nanjing University (Nanjing)
- Nanjing University of Science and Technology (Nanjing)
- Southeast University (Nanjing)
- Suzhou Medical College (Suzhou)
- Suzhou University (Suzhou)
External links
- [http://www.jiangsu.gov.cn/ The Provincial Government of Jiangsu]
- [http://www.muztagh.com/images/map/map-of-jiangsu-large.jpg Large map of Jiangsu]
Category:Provinces of the People's Republic of China
ko:장쑤 성
ja:江蘇省
Zhejiang
Zhejiang (; Postal System Pinyin: Chehkiang or Chekiang) is a eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang (crooked river) was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital. The name of the province is often abbreviated to "Zhe".
Zhejiang borders Jiangsu province and Shanghai municipality to the north, Anhui province to the northwest, Jiangxi province to the west, and Fujian province to the south; to the east is the East China Sea, beyond which lie the Ryukyu Islands of Japan.
History
Zhejiang was outside the sphere of influence of early Chinese civilization during the Shang Dynasty (16th century BC - 11th century BC). Instead it was populated by peoples collectively known as the Yue, such as the Dongyue and the Ouyue. Starting from the Spring and Autumn Period, a state of Yue emerged in northern Zhejiang that was heavily influenced by Chinese civilization further north, and under King Goujian of Yue it reached its zenith and was able to wipe out, in 473 BC, the state of Wu further north, a major power at the time. In 333 BC, this state was in turn conquered by the state of Chu further west; and the state of Qin in turn subjugated all the states of China under its control in 221 BC, thereby establishing a unified Chinese empire.
Throughout the Qin Dynasty (221 BC - 206 BC) and Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD), Zhejiang was under the control of the unified Chinese state, though it was a frontier area at best, and southern Zhejiang was not under anything more than nominal control, it being still inhabited by Yue peoples with their own political and social structures. Near the end of the Han Dynasty Zhejiang was home to minor warlords Yan Baihu and Wang Lang, who fell in turn to Sun Ce and Sun Quan, who eventually established the Kingdom of Wu (222 - 280), one of the Three Kingdoms.
From the 4th century onwards China began to be invaded from the north by nomadic peoples, who conquered all of North China and established the Sixteen Kingdoms (though "16" is a symbolic figure and there were more) and the Northern Dynasties. As a result, massive numbers of refugees arrived from the north and poured into South China, which hosted the refugee Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern Dynasties; this accelerated the sinicization of South China, including Zhejiang.
The Sui Dynasty reestablished unity and built the Grand Canal of China, which linked Hangzhou to the North China Plain, providing Zhejiang with a vital link to the centers of Chinese civilization. The Tang Dynasty (618 - 907) presided over a golden age of China. Zhejiang was, at this time, part of the Jiangnandong Circuit, and there began to appear references to its prosperity. Later on, as the Tang Dynasty disintegrated, Zhejiang constituted most of the territory of the regional kingdom of Wuyue.
The Northern Song Dynasty re-established unity in around 960. Under the Song Dynasty, the prosperity of South China began to overtake North China. After the north was lost to the Jurchens in 1127, Zhejiang had its heyday: the modern provincial capital, Hangzhou, was the capital of the Han Chinese Southern Song Dynasty which held on to South China. Renowned for its prosperity and beauty, it may have been the largest city in the world at the time. [http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa011201a.htm] Ever since then all the way to the present day, north Zhejiang has, together with neighbouring south Jiangsu, been synonymous with luxury and opulence in Chinese culture. Mongol conquest and the establishment of the Yuan Dynasty in 1279 ended Hangzhou's political clout, though Hangzhou continued to prosper; Marco Polo visited the city, which he called "Kinsay", and called the "finest and noblest city" in the world". [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/polo-kinsay.html]
Marco Polo in Washington, D.C.]]
The Ming Dynasty which drove out the Mongols in 1368 were the first to establish Zhejiang Province, and the borders of the province have since changed little.
After the People's Republic of China took control of Mainland China in 1949, the Republic of China government based in Taiwan continued to control the Dachen Islands off the coast of Zhejiang until 1955, even establishing a rival Zhejiang provincial government there, creating a situation similar to Fujian province today.
South Zhejiang is mountainous and ill-suited for farming, and has traditionally been poor and underdeveloped. The economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping, however, have brought change to that region unparalleled across the rest of China. Driven by hard work, an entrepreneuring spirit, low labour costs, and an eye for the world market, south Zhejiang (especially cities such as Wenzhou and Yiwu) has become a major center of export. This, together with the traditional prosperity of north Zhejiang, has allowed Zhejiang to leapfrog over several other provinces and become one of the richer provinces of China.
Geography
Yiwu from the mountains to the north-west]]
Zhejiang consists mostly of hills, which account for about 70% of its total area. Altitudes tend to be highest to the south and west, and the highest peak of the province, Huangyajian Peak (1921 m), is found in the southwest. Mountain ranges include the Yandang Mountains, Tianmu Mountains, Tiantai Mountains, and Mogan Mountains, which traverse the province at altitudes of about 200 - 1000 m.
Valleys and plains are found along the coastline and rivers. The north of the province is just south of the Yangtze delta, and consists of plains around the cities of Hangzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou, where the Grand Canal of China enters from the northern border to end at Hangzhou; another relatively flat area is found along the Qujiang River, around the cities of Quzhou and Jinhua. Major rivers include the Qiantang River and the Oujiang River. Most rivers carve out valleys in the highlands, with plenty of rapids and other features associated with such topography. Famous lakes include the West Lake of Hangzhou and the South Lake of Jiaxing.
There are over 3000 islands along the ragged coastline of Zhejiang. The largest, Zhoushan Island, is the third largest island of Mainland China, after Hainan and Chongming. There are also many bays, which Hangzhou Bay being the largest.
Zhejiang has a humid subtropical climate with four distinct seasons. Spring starts in March and is rainy and weather is changeable. Summer, from June to September is long, hot and humid. Fall is generally dry, warm and sunny. Winters are short but cold except in the far south. Average annual temperature is around 15 - 19 °C, average January temperature is around 2 - 8 °C, and average July temperature is around 27 - 30 °C. Annual precipation is at about 1000 - 1900 mm. There is plenty of rainfall in early summer, and by late summer Zhejiang is directly threatened by typhoons forming in the Pacific.
typhoon]
Major cities:
- Hangzhou
- Ningbo
- Jiaxing
- Huzhou
- Wenzhou
- Shaoxing
- Zhoushan
- Yiwu
- Taizhou
Administrative divisions
Zhejiang is divided into 11 prefecture-level divisions, all of them prefecture-level cities:
- Hangzhou (Simplified Chinese: 杭州市, Hanyu Pinyin: Hángzhōu Shì)
- Huzhou (湖州市 Húzhōu Shì)
- Jiaxing (嘉兴市 Jiāxīng Shì)
- Zhoushan (舟山市 Zhōushān Shì)
- Ningbo (宁波市 Níngbō Shì)
- Shaoxing (绍兴市 Shàoxīng Shì)
- Quzhou (衢州市 Qúzhōu Shì)
- Jinhua (金华市 Jīnhuá Shì)
- Taizhou (台州市 Tāizhōu Shì) not tái
- Wenzhou (温州市 Wēnzhōu Shì)
- Lishui (丽水市 Líshuǐ Shì) not lì
The 11 prefecture-level divisions of Zhejiang are subdivided into 90 county-level divisions (32 districts, 22 county-level cities, 35 counties, and 1 autonomous county). Those are in turn divided into 1570 township-level divisions (761 towns, 505 townships, 14 ethnic townships, and 290 subdistricts).
See List of administrative divisions of Zhejiang for a complete list of county-level divisions.
Economy
The province is traditionally known as the "Land of Fish and Rice". True to its name, Rice is the main crop, followed by wheat; North Zhejiang is also a center of aquaculture in China, and the Zhoushan fishery is the largest fishery in the country. Main cash crops include jute and cotton, and the province also leads the provinces of China in tea production (The renowned Longjing tea is a product of Hangzhou). Zhejiang is also a producer of silk, for which it is ranked second among the provinces.
Zhejiang's manufacturing is centered upon electromechanical industries, textiles, chemical industries, food, and construction materials. In recent years Zhejiang has followed its own development model, dubbed the "Zhejiang model", which is based on prioritizing and encouraging entrepreneurship, an emphasis on small businesses responsive to the whims of the market, large public investments into infrastructure, and the production of low cost goods in bulk for both domestic consumption and export. As a result, Zhejiang has made itself one of the richest provinces, and the "Zhejiang spirit" has become something of a legend within China. However, some economists are now worrying that this model is not sustainable, in that it is inefficient and places unreasonable demands on raw materials and public utilities, and also a dead end, in that the myriad small businesses of Zhejiang producing cheap goods in bulk are unable to move to more sophisticated or technologically-oriented industries.
Ningbo, Wenzhou, Taizhou and Zhoushan are important commercial ports. The Hangzhou Bay Bridge is being constructed between Haiyan County and Cixi; once complete, it will be the longest sea-crossing bridge in the world.
Zhejiang's economy is the 4th largest in the PRC. Its nominal GDP for 2003 was 939.5 billion RMB (113.5 billion USD) and an annual per capita of 20,100 RMB (2,427 USD).
Demographics
Han Chinese make up the vast majority of the population. The She and Hui nationalities are the two largest minorities.
Culture
minorities
Zhejiang is mountainous and has therefore fostered the development of many individual localized cultures. Linguistically speaking, Zhejiang is extremely diverse. The inhabitants of Zhejiang speak Wu, a subdivision of spoken Chinese, but the Wu dialects are very diverse, especially in the south, where one valley may speak a dialect completely unintelligible to another valley a few kilometers away. Non-Wu dialects are spoken as well, mostly along the borders; Mandarin and Hui dialects are spoken on the border with Anhui, while Min dialects are spoken on the border with Fujian. (See Hangzhou dialect, Ningbo dialect, Wenzhou dialect, Taizhou (Zhejiang) dialect, Jinhua dialect, Quzhou dialect for more information.)
Zhejiang is the home of Yueju, one of the most prominent forms of Chinese opera. Yueju originated in Shengzhou and is traditionally performed by actresses only, in both male and female roles. Other important opera traditions include Yongju (of Ningbo), Shaoju (of Shaoxing), Ouju (of Wenzhou), Wuju (of Jinhua), Taizhou Luantan (of Taizhou) and Zhuji Luantan (of Zhuji).
Longjing is one of the most prestigious, if not the most prestigious Chinese tea, originating in Hangzhou. Hangzhou is also renowned for its silk umbrellas and folding fans. Zhejiang cuisine (itself subdivided into many traditions, including Hangzhou cuisine) is one of the eight great traditions of Chinese cuisine.
Since ancient times, north Zhejiang and neighbouring south Jiangsu have been famed for their prosperity and opulence, and simply inserting north Zhejiang place names (Hangzhou, Jiaxing, etc.) into poetry gave an effect of dreaminess, as was indeed done by many famous poets. In particular, the fame of Hangzhou (as well as Suzhou in neighbouring Jiangsu province) has led to the popular saying: 上有天堂，下有蘇杭 (above there is heaven; below there is Suzhou and Hangzhou), a saying that continues to be a source of pride for the people of these two still prosperous cities.
Famous people
The following are famous people with their heritage in Zhejiang; they may not necessarily be born in the province.
- Zhang Binglin (1868-1936), linguist
- Cai Yuanpei (1868-1940), educator
- Lu Xun (1881-1936), prominent writer, founder of modern Chinese literature
- Chiang Kai-Shek (1887-1975), President of the Republic of China
- Xu Zhimo (1893-1931), poet
- Mao Dun (1896-1981), novelist
- Chen Cheng (1897-1965), Premier of the Republic of China on Taiwan
- Zhou Enlai (1898-1976), Premier of the People's Republic of China
- Zhu Ziqing (1898-1948), writer and poet
- Ba Jin (1904- 2005), writer
- Chiang Ching-kuo (1910-1988), President of the Republic of China on Taiwan
- Tsien Hsue-shen (b. 1911), the "Father of Chinese Rocketry")
- Jinyong (b. 1924), Wuxia writer
Stereotypes
People from Zhejiang are stereotyped to be characters with a poor grasp of Standard Mandarin but an incredible inclination for entrepreneurship and hard work.
Tourism
Tourist destinations in Zhejiang include:
- Baoguo Temple, the oldest intact wooden structure in Southern China, 15km north of Ningbo.
- Putuo Shan, one of the most famous Buddhist mountains of China. Chinese Buddhists associate it with Guan Yin.
- Qita Temple, Ningbo.
- Shaoxing, Wuzhen and other waterway towns.
- The ancient capital of Hangzhou.
- Tiantai Shan, a mountain important to Zen Buddhism.
- West Lake, in Hangzhou
- Yandang Shan, a mountainous scenic area north of Wenzhou.
Miscellaneous topics
Professional sports teams based in Zhejiang include:
- Chinese Football Association Jia League
- Zhejiang Lücheng
- Chinese Basketball Association
- Zhejiang Cyclones
- Bayi Rockets (in Ningbo)
Colleges and universities
- University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China (Ningbo)
- Zhejiang University (Hangzhou)
External links
- [http://www.zhejiang.gov.cn 中国浙江省人民政府门户网站 Zhejiang Provincial Government]
- [http://www.muztagh.com/images/map/map-of-zhejiang-large.jpg Large map of Zhejiang]
Category:Provinces of the People's Republic of China
ko:저장 성
ja:浙江省
Yangtze River
The Yangtze River () is the longest river in Asia and the third longest in the world after the Amazon in South America and the Nile in Africa. The name Yangzi Jiang, although more well known to non-Chinese, is the more historical or poetic name for the river. The more vernacular and modern Chinese name for the river is Chang Jiang (), and this name is also found on many modern maps in English.
The name Yangzi (transliterated as Yangtze) was originally used by local people to refer to the lower reaches of the river. However, because this was the name first heard by missionaries and traders, it has been applied in English to the entire river. This name is found in many forms, including Yangtse River, Yangtze Kiang, etc. At its source the river is known in Chinese as Dangqu (当曲/當曲). Downstream it is called the Tuotuo River (沱沱河) and then the Tongtian River (通天河). Where it runs through deep gorges in parallel to the Mekong and the Salween before emerging onto the plains of Sichuan it is known as the Jinsha River (金沙江 Jīnshā-jiāng or 'Golden Sands River'). The Tibetan name for the river is Vbri-chu (འབྲི་ཆུ་ 'river of the female yak'). The Yangtze is sometimes referred to as the Golden Waterway.
The river is about 6,380 km long and flows from its source in the western part of China (Qinghai Province) eastwards into the East China Sea. It has traditionally been considered a dividing point between northern and southern China, although the Huai River also shares the claim.
Characteristics
Huai River
The Yangtze flows into the East China Sea and was navigable by ocean-going vessels up to a thousand miles from its mouth even before the Three Gorges Dam was built. As of June 2003, the Three Gorges Dam now spans the river, flooding Fengjie, the first of a number of towns affected by the massive flood control and power generation project. The project is the largest comprehensive irrigation project in the world. It will free people living along the river from floods that have repeatedly threatened them in the past, and will also offer them electricity and water transport - though at the expense of permanently flooding many existing towns and causing large-scale changes in local ecology.
The river is the sole habitat of the critically endangered Chinese River Dolphin and Chinese paddlefish.
The river is a major transportation artery for China connecting the interior with the coast. River traffic includes commercial traffic transporting bulk goods such as coal as well as manufactured goods and passengers. River cruises of several days duration especially through the beautiful and scenic Three Gorges area are becoming popular as a tourism industry grows in China.
Flooding along the river has been a major problem, most recently in 1998, but more disastrously the 1954 Yangtze river floods killed around 30,000 people. Other severe floods include those of 1911 which killed around 100,000, 1931 (145,000 dead) and 1935 (142,000 dead).
Major cities along the river
1935
1935
- Panzhihua
- Yibin
- Luzhou
- Chongqing
- Yichang
- Jingzhou
- Shishou
- Yueyang
- Xianning
- Wuhan
- Ezhou
- Huangshi
- Huanggang
- Chaohu
- Chizhou
- Jiujiang
- Anqing
- Tongling
- Wuhu
- Hefei
- Chuzhou
- Maanshan
- Taizhou
- Yangzhou
- Zhenjiang
- Nanjing
- Nantong
- Shanghai
Tributaries
Shanghai
- Xiangjiang
- Lishui (Li)
- Zijiang (Zi)
- Yuanjiang (Yuan)
- Han River
- Ya-Lung River
Trivia
- Chang Jiang (Cantonese: Cheung Kong), named after this river, is also the name of the holding company controlled by Li Ka-Shing, one of Asia's richest tycoons.
- In 2004 Martin Strel from Slovenia swam the river from the Tiger Leaping Gorge to Shanghai (4600 km, 2860 miles).
- Xiangjiang is also the name of a motorcycle brand [http://dmoz.org/Recreation/Motorcycles/Makes_and_Models/Xiangjiang/].
- The Yangtze is home to (at least) two critically endangered species: The Chinese River Dolphin and the Chinese Alligator.
Related topics
- Yangtze River Delta
- List of rivers in China
- Three Gorges Dam
- Geography of China
- Yangtze Service Medal
- Dragon Boat
Dragon Boat
Further reading
- Van Slyke, Lyman P. 1988. Yangtze: nature, history, and the river. A Portable Stanford Book. ISBN 0-201-08894-0
- Winchester, Simon. 1996. The River at the Center of the World:A Journey up the Yangtze & Back in Chinese Time, Holt, Henry & Company, 1996, hardcover, ISBN 0805038884; trade paperback, Owl Publishing, 1997, ISBN 0805055088; trade paperback, St. Martins, 2004, 432 pages, ISBN 0312423373
External links
- [http://hk.geocities.com/flooding1998/index2.html 1998 Changjiang Flooding]
- [http://www.discoveryangtze.com/Yangtzediscovery/index.htm Discovery of Yangtze River and Three Gorges ]
- [http://earthtrends.wri.org/maps_spatial/maps_detail_static.cfm?map_select=376&theme=2 Information and a map of the Yangtze River's watershed]
- [http://www.chinaodysseytours.com/yangtzecruise/maps.htm Maps of the Yangtze River and the Three Gorges]
- [http://www.ianandwendy.com/slideshow.htm?files=OtherTrips/ChinaVietnamCambodia/China/Yangtze Pictures from a cruise through the Three Gorges]
Category:Rivers of China
ko:양쯔 강
ja:長江
East China Sea
The East China Sea is a marginal sea and part of the Pacific Ocean. It covers an area of 1,249,000 km². In China, the sea is called the East Sea. In Korea, South Sea sometimes refers to this entire sea, but more often denotes only the area near Korea's southern coast.
Geography
The East China Sea is bounded on the East by the Kyushu and Ryukyu islands, on the South by Taiwan, and on the West by Mainland China. It is connected with the South China Sea by the Taiwan Strait and with the Sea of Japan by the Korea Strait; it opens in the North to the Yellow Sea.
Territories with borders on the sea (clockwise from north) include: South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Mainland China.
Rivers
The Yangtze River (Chang Jiang) is the largest river flowing into the East China Sea.
Islands
See also: List of islands in the East China Sea
Resources
The People's Republic of China (PRC) recently discovered that there exists an undersea natural gas field in the East China Sea, part of the field lies within the Chinese EEZ while the remaining lies on the disputed EEZ between Japan and the PRC. The PRC has set up the Chunxiao gas field in its own EEZ (located 4 km inside the Chinese side of the EEZ boundary claimed by Japan) to tap up the natural gas. Japan also seeks a share in the natural gas resource because part of the field lies on the disputed EEZ.
Territorial Dispute
The East China Sea is a place of territorial disputes between the PRC and Japan, notably for undersea natural gas resources. Under the United Nation's Law of the Sea, PRC claims the disputed ocean territory as its own Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) due to its being part of PRC's natural extension of its continental shelf, while Japan claims the disputed ocean territory as its own EEZ because it is within 200 nautical miles (370 km) from Japan's coast.
In October to November 2004, Japan identified that a PRC submarine entered Japanese territorial waters. Japanese coast guards tried to force the submarine to surface, but it eventually escaped and returned to the Chinese seaport of Qingdao.
:See also: Senkaku Islands, Xihu Trough, Geography of China
External links
- Kosuke Takahashi. [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/FG27Dh03.html Gas and oil rivalry in the East China Sea] Asia Times Online. July 27, 2004.
- [http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?Story_ID=4489650 Oil and gas in troubled waters] The Economist. October 6, 2005.
- J Sean Curtin. [http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Japan/GJ19Dh01.html Stakes rise in Japan, China gas dispute] Asia Times Online. October 19, 2005.
Category:Geography of Asia
Category:Geography of China
Category:Geography of Japan
Category:Geography of Taiwan
Category:Seas
ko:동중국해
ja:東シナ海
Tang Dynasty
:Also the name of a rock band. See Tang Dynasty (band).
The Tang Dynasty (唐朝 pinyin: tángcháo) (June 18, 618 – June 4, 907) followed the Sui Dynasty and preceded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China. The dynasty was interrupted by the Second Zhou Dynasty (October 16, 690 – March 3, 705) when Empress Wu Zetian seized the throne. The dynasty was founded by the Lee family.
The Tang Dynasty, with its capital at Chang'an (modern-day suburb of Xi'an), the most populous city in the world at the time, is regarded by historians as a high point in Chinese civilization — equal, or even superior, to the Han period. Its territory, acquired through the military exploits of its early rulers, was greater than that of the Han. Stimulated by contact with India and the Middle East, the Empire saw a flowering of creativity in many fields. Buddhism, originating in India around the time of Confucius, continued to flourish during the Tang period and was adopted by the imperial family, becoming thoroughly sinicized and a permanent part of Chinese traditional culture. However, the emperor feared the power of the Buddhist monasteries and began enforcing measures against them during the 8th century. Buddhism never returned to its former height in China. Block printing made the written word available to vastly greater audiences.
Block printing
The Tang period was the golden age of Chinese literature and art (see Tang Dynasty art). A government system supported by a large class of Confucian literati selected through civil service examinations was perfected under Tang rule. This competitive procedure was designed to draw the best talents into government. But perhaps an even greater consideration for the Tang rulers, aware that imperial dependence on powerful aristocratic families and warlords would have destabilizing consequences, was to create a body of career officials having no autonomous territorial or functional power base. As it turned out, these scholar-officials acquired status in their local communities, family ties, and shared values that connected them to the imperial court. From Tang times until the closing days of the Qing Empire in 1911, scholar officials functioned often as intermediaries between the grassroots level and the government.
Lee Yuan founded the Tang Dynasty but only ruled for a few years before being deposed by his son, Lee Shimin, later known as "Tang Taizong". Taizong then set out to solve internal problems within the government. Internal problems have constantly plagued past dynasties. The Emperor had three administrations (省, shěng): Military Affairs, Censorate, and Council of State. Each administration had its own job. It was also during the Tang dynasty that the only female ruler of China Empress Wu Zetian made her mark. Her rule would be only a handful of examples where women seized power and ruled China and the only one in Chinese history to rule in her own right.
The early decades of the seventh century was ultimately considered the zenith point of the Tang dynasty if not the whole Chinese civilization. Emperor Tang Xuan Zong brought China to its golden age and Tang influences reached all the way to Japan and Korea in the east, Vietnam in the south and central and western Asia in the west. China was for a few years the protector of Kashmir, master of the Pamirs and even controlled Kabul in Afghanistan. China's authority reached as far west as Tokmak west of Lake Issyk Kul.
The turning point came in 755 during the closing years of Xuanzong's reign, where the An Lushan rebellion all but destroyed the Tang dynasty and the prosperity that took years to buildup. It left the dynasty weakened and for the remaining 150 years the Tang never regained its glory days of the 7th and 8th century. The Tang were driven out of Central Asia, and China did not regain ground in that region for 1000 years, until the Manchu regime reconquered Xinjiang.
Near the end of the Tang Dynasty, regional military governors (jiedushi) became increasingly powerful, and began to function more like independent regimes on their own right. In 907, after almost 300 years in power, the dynasty was ended when one of the military governors, Zhu Wen, deposed the last emperor and took the throne for himself, thereby beginning the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period.
Rulers of the Tang Dynasty
References
- Benn, Charles. 2002. China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-517665-0.
- Schafer, Edward H. 1963. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A study of T’ang Exotics. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles. 1st paperback edition: 1985. ISBN 0520054628.
- Schafer, Edward H. 1967. The Vermilion Bird: T’ang Images of the South. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles.
6536666
See also
- Chinese sovereign
- History of Korea
- History of Japan
- Manchuria
- Mongols
- Yunnan
- History of Vietnam
- History of Tibet
- Gokturks
- Uyghurs
- Khitan
- An Lushan rebellion
- warlordism
- eunuch
- Jiedushi
- Battle of Talas
Category:History of China
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ko:당나라
ja:唐
Transportation:For other article subjects named transport, see Transport (disambiguation). Transportation redirects here, for other uses, see Transportation (disambiguation).
Transport or transportation is the movement of people, goods, signals and information from one place to another. The term is derived from the Latin trans ("across") and portare ("to carry").
Aspects of transport
The field of transport has several aspects: loosely they can be divided into a triad of infrastructure, vehicles, and operations. Infrastructure includes the transport networks (roads, railways, airways, canals, pipelines, etc.) that are used, as well as the nodes or terminals (such as airports, railway stations, bus stations and seaports). The vehicles generally ride on the networks, such as automobiles, bicycles, buses, trains, airplanes. The operations deal with the control of the system, such as traffic signals and ramp meters, railroad switches, air traffic control, etc, as well as policies, such as how to finance the system (for example, the use of tolls or gasoline taxes).
Broadly speaking, the design of networks are the domain of civil engineering and urban planning, the design of vehicles of mechanical engineering and specialized subfields such as nautical engineering and aerospace engineering, and the operations are usually specialized, though might appropriately belong to operations research or systems engineering.
Modes of transport
Modes are combinations of networks, vehicles, and operations, and include walking, the road transport system, rail transport, ship transport and modern aviation.
Categories of transport
- (Non-human) Animal-powered transport
- Aviation
- Cable transport
- Conveyor transport
- Human-powered transport
- Hybrid transport
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