Haimen (, Qihai dialect: ,

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

: ) is a district of

Nantong Nantong (; alternate names: Nan-t'ung, Nantung, Tongzhou, or Tungchow; Qihai dialect: ) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province, China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. Nantong is a vit ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with it ...

province, with a population of approximately 1 million. It is located at the opposite side of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

and is directly north of

Chongming Island Chongming, formerly known as Chungming, is an alluvial island at the mouth of the Yangtze River in eastern China covering as of 2010. Together with the islands Changxing and Hengsha, it forms Chongming District, the northernmost area of the ...

except for a small portion that forms Haimen District's Haiyong Town. Haimen is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Haimen. Haimen is located in the poorer north Jiangsu region and together with

Qidong City Qidong is a county-level city under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Nantong in southeastern Jiangsu province, China. It is located on the north side of the Yangtze River opposite Shanghai and forms a peninsula jutting out into ...

, traditionally has one of the highest rates of liver cancer in China and in the world, with upwards of 1 out of every 10 adults in the rural areas dying from liver cancer.

History

The area that is now Haimen was formed from

silt deposit Silt is granular material of a size between sand and clay and composed mostly of broken grains of quartz. Silt may occur as a soil (often mixed with sand or clay) or as sediment mixed in suspension with water. Silt usually has a floury feel when ...

s from the

. Several sandbanks, including Dongzhou () and Buzhou (), joined with the mainland in the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

. In 958 CE, during the

Later Zhou Zhou, known as the Later Zhou (; ) in historiography, was a short-lived Chinese imperial dynasty and the last of the Five Dynasties that controlled most of northern China during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Founded by Guo Wei ( ...

dynasty in the

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period (), from 907 to 979, was an era of political upheaval and division in 10th-century Imperial China. Five dynastic states quickly succeeded one another in the Central Plain, and more than a dozen conc ...

, Haimen County was established with the county seat at Dongzhou Town. At this time, Haimen and Jinghai District () were merged into the newly formed Tongzhou District (). Because the mouth of the Yangtze River moved northward during the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

, Haimen has dealt with flooding that destroyed parts of the county, including Lüsi (), Yudong (), and Sijia (). In 1672, under the

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to ...

of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, the seat moved to

Jinghai Township Jinghai District () is a district of the municipality of Tianjin, People's Republic of China, located in the southwest portion of the municipality, bordering Hebei province to the south and west, Xiqing District to the north and northeast, and Bi ...

(). Starting from 1701, the river's course moved south, creating more than 40 new sandbanks. In 1768, the county became an

independent subprefecture Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

with the seat moving to Maojia Town (). In 1912, one year after the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeas ...

was founded, Haimen once again became a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. However, in 1949, when the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

was founded, Haimen became governed under Nantong Prefecture. Once county-level governments started to reappear in 1983, Haimen was reinstated as a county, and in June 1994, Haimen became a

county-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

. In 2020, Haimen became a district of Nantong.

Geography

Climate

According to the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

system, Haimen has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(''Cwa''). This means that Haimen experiences four distinct seasons; the summers are hot and the winters are cold. The summers are rainier than the other seasons, and the summer rains usually bring flooding. The average temperature is in Haimen. January is the coldest month, and July is the hottest month. The hottest temperature recorded in Haimen was , occurring on both August 7, 1966 and July 31, 1992. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on January 31, 1977. The average yearly rainfall is . The wettest year was 1975 with , and the driest year was 1978 with .

Administrative divisions

Haimen is divided into twenty-one

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

s and one

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

, the pene-exclave of Haiyong on Chongming. These towns are further divided into 231

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

s and three fish villages. ;21 towns ;1 township * Haiyong () - It is only township and its area is 9 km2 (3.5 sq mi). It is pene-enclave on Chongming Island, most of which belongs to Shanghai.

Transport

With easy access to the Sea and Yangtze River, transportation is very convenient. Less than 2 hours driving distance to

Shanghai Pudong International Airport Shanghai Pudong International Airport is one of two international airports serving Shanghai and a major aviation hub of East Asia. Pudong Airport serves both international flights and a smaller number of domestic fights, while the city's oth ...

, about 40 mins driving distance to

Nantong Xingdong Airport Nantong Xingdong International Airport is an airport serving the city of Nantong in Jiangsu Province. It is located in the town of Xingdong in Tongzhou District, northeast of Nantong and from Shanghai. Construction started in 1990 and flight ...

and Nantong Railway Station, which has high speed bullet train. There are multiple entries to the national Highway system, e.g. G40 Expressway. Close to Port of Nantong, Haimen is currently developing its own county level sea port in DongZaoGang town. There is an easy access to

Sutong Yangtze River Bridge The Sutong Yangtze Bridge (; , ) is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the Yangtze in China between Nantong and Changshu, a satellite city of Suzhou, in Jiangsu province. Design and construction The Sutong Yangtze River Bridge was designed by Dr. ...

to cross the Yangtze, as well as ferry service. Haimen railway station opened in 2019 as an intermediate stop on the

Nanjing–Qidong railway The Nanjing–Qidong railway (), commonly referred to in short as the Ningqi railway (), is a higher-speed rail line in Jiangsu Province, China. Its common name is derived from ''Ning'', the one-character abbreviation for Nanjing and ''Qi'', which ...

References

External links

Regional topographical map

行政区划 (Administrative Divisions of Haimen)

地理位置 (Geography of Haimen)Haimen City English guide
(Jiangsu.NET)
"Illustrated Album of Yangzhou Prefecture"
from 1573 to 1620, has illustrations of Haimen {{Major cities along the Yangtze River Cities in Jiangsu 958 establishments Populated places on the Yangtze River Nantong 10th-century establishments in China