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Changzhou ( Changzhounese: ''Zaon Tsei'', ) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling and Jinling. 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. Changzhou is located in the highly developed Yangtze Delta region of China extending from Shanghai going northwest. The population of Changzhou city was 4,592,431 at the 2010 census.Linked from the OEC
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The city is the birthplace of Zhou Youguang who created the pinyin romanization system.

History

"The Ruins of Yancheng" (), comprise the remains of a walled city located in the Wujin district of Changzhou that was 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 as a commandery founded in 221 BC at the beginning of the Qin Dynasty. During the interregnum between the Sui and Tang, the city of Piling () was the capital of Shen Faxing's short-lived Kingdom of Liang (AD 619 to 620). Changzhou got its present name meaning "ordinary prefecture" in 589. Following construction of the Grand Canal in 609, 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 five 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.

Historical changes

On January 1, 1953, Changzhou was set as provincially administrated municipality.

In 1958, Zhenjiang Prefecture was renamed as Changzhou Prefecture, and the administration office was moved from Zhenjiang to Changzhou. Changzhou was incorporated by Changzhou Prefecture.

In 1959, Changzhou Prefecture was changed into Zhenjiang Prefecture, and the administration office was moved from Changzhou to Zhenjiang. Changzhou was incorporated by Zhenjiang Prefecture.

In 1960, Wujin County of Zhenjiang Prefecture was incorporated into Changzhou.

In 1962, Changzhou was changed into provincially administrated municipality and Wujin County was incorporated into Zhenjiang Prefecture.

In 1983, when the municipally affiliated county system was carried out, Wujin County, Jintan County and Liyang County of Zhenjiang were incorporated into Changzhou. The urban area was divided into five municipally administrated districts, Guanghua, Tianning, Zhonglou, Qishuyan and Jiaoqu. At that time, Changzhou administrated three counties and five districts.

From September 1986, as approved by State Council, Guanghua District was revoked and the previous administrative area was incorporated into Zhonglou District and Tianning Districrt. Liyang County was changed into Liyang City (county level). At that time, Changzhou administrated one city, two counties and four districts.

In 1993, Jintan County was changed into Jintan City.

In 1995, Longhutang Town, Xinqiao Town, Baizhang Town and Weitang Town of Wujin County were incorporated into Jiaoqu District. As approved by State Council on June 8 of 1995, Wujin County was promoted to Wujin City, with the government set in Hutang Town.

In 1999, as approved by the provincial government, Taixiang Town of Jiaoqu District was revoked and incorporated into Xueyan Town of Wujin City.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Changzhou administers seven county-level divisions, including five districts and one county-level city.

Demographics

Its total population was 4,592,431 inhabitants at the 2010 census, an average 2% per year increase since the previous census, and 3,290,918 lived in the built-up area made up of 5 urban districts.

Education

Changzhou is an educational hub and is home to several universities, including Changzhou University, Hohai University (Changzhou campus), Jiangsu Teachers' University of Science and Technology, Jiangsu Teachers' University of Technology, and Changzhou Institute of Technology. The city also has a number of prominent secondary schools, including the Changzhou Senior High School of Jiangsu Province.

As the first education park taking higher vocational education as its distinguishing feature in China, Changzhou Higher Vocational Education Base was called the “cradle of silver-collar workers”. Every year, it cultivated 20,000 technological talents to the Yangtze River Delta area. 100% of the graduates signed employment contracts and the one-off employment rate was higher than 98%. There are 5 higher vocational colleges and an undergraduate college in the park, which have realized the cross-school study, common credit and resource sharing. A large number of highly qualified vocational talents were cultivated here. Based on this, Changzhou Scientific Education Town was founded. It cooperates with foreign universities in America, Canada, Britain and Germany, etc., domestic universities like Nanjing University, scientific institutes and hi-tech enterprises in constructing nearly 100 laboratory, practice, training, and technological R&D centers. Presently, it is marching towards the national sample vocational education area, experimental area of production, teaching and research, and the cluster area of scientific innovation. Many central leaders such as Hu Jintao, Jia Qinglin and Luo Gan have paid inspection visits here and spoke highly of it.

Economy

Changzhou's traditional role has been that of a commercial center and in particular a distribution center for agricultural produce, which was shipped by canal to the north and later, to Shanghai. The city 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 and the most important location in Jiangsu Province for weaving. It also has large food-processing plants as well as flour-milling, rice-polishing, and oil-pressing industries. After 1949 it also developed as a centre of the engineering industry. Qishuyan, some 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 along with agricultural and textile machinery. At the time of the Great Leap Forward in 1958 a steel plant was also built to provide raw material for heavy industry.

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

Up until now, Changzhou has remained one of the most developed cities in Jiangsu, ranked third after Suzhou and Wuxi. The city's 2009 GDP per capita of ¥70,103 in 2009, less than that of Suzhou and Wuxi but more than the capital city Nanjing, ranked the city third in Jiangsu.

Changzhou is also one of the top business cities in China. According to Forbes ranking, Changzhou was the 9th best business city in mainland China in 2008. Changzhou data was reported at 662.228 RMB bn in Dec 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 577.386 RMB bn for Dec 2016. China's CN: GDP: Jiangsu: Changzhou data is updated yearly, averaging 130.818 RMB bn from Dec 1991 to 2017, with 25 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 662.228 RMB bn in 2017 and a record low of 10.545 RMB bn in 1991. China's CN: GDP: Jiangsu: Changzhou data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under China Premium Database's National Accounts – Table CN.AE: Gross Domestic Product: Prefecture Level City.

Industrial zones

* Changzhou Export Processing Zone
Approval for the establishment of Changzhou Export Processing Zone was given in June 2005 with a planned area of . Near to Shanghai and Nanjing via convenient transportation links, the zone began operation in October 2006. Investors enjoy a series of preferential policies whilst all handle export procedures are handled inside the export processing zone. The zone focuses on electronic information, electromechanical integration and new materials.

* Changzhou National Hi-Tech District
Changzhou National Hi-Tech District (CND) is a state-level high-tech industrial development zone. It is located in the northern part of Changzhou city. With a population of 500,000 and an area of 439 square km, the district is from Shanghai to the east and from Nanjing to the west. The district represents the highest-level and most sophisticated industrial park in Changzhou. More than 1,300 foreign companies and over 5,000 local industrial enterprises have been registered within the district of which around 40% are from European and American countries. Industries encouraged include engineering machinery, transformer & transmission equipment, automotive, locomotive & locomotive components, parts, precision machinery, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, photo-voltaic (PV) and new materials, chemicals, garment and textiles production, computer software and research & development. Some major investors include Terex, Komatsu, Ashland Chemical, Johnson, Caltex Oil Corp., Disa, +GF+, Rieter and General Electronics.

　Changzhou used to be one of the birthplaces of the national modern industry in China. Sheng Xuanhuai, who was honored as the “Father of China's Industry”, bent all his efforts in the modern factory and mine communications. He created 11 “No.1” in China, including the first telecommunication enterprise. In the end of Qing Dynasty and the early days of the Republic of China, the textile, mechanical and food industries of Changzhou were rapidly developing. In 1906, the first capitalist manufacturing factory, Jinyu Textile Factory appeared. In 1932, the famous industrialist, Liu Guojun, founded the integration mode of spinning, weaving and dyeing. It had a pioneer meaning in the 1930s. During the 1980s, Changzhou became the star industrial city that was famous all over China, and created the “South Jiangsu Mode” with the characteristics of the times, the developed town industry. As the traditional and advantageous industry of Changzhou, the equipment manufacturing industry has been developing in recent years. Changzhou has formed 6 great national characterized industrial bases, that is, agricultural implement and machinery manufacturing, power transmission and transforming manufacturing, automobile and accessories manufacturing, new textile, track traffic and new coating. Presently, the power transmission and transforming manufacturing industry is the first in China, and the track traffic vehicle and accessories manufacturing base is famous in East China and all over the country. The engineering machinery and vehicle industry has shown its strong growth momentum. By the end of 2010, Changzhou has had 26 national famous brands, 175 provincial famous brands and 327 municipal brands. The number of national famous brands is the third in Jiangsu. The good pattern of multi-level development and echelon improvement, which takes the national brand as the orienting role, the provincial brand as the body and the municipal brand as the reserve, has been initially formed.
　　Changzhou is becoming a modern equipment manufacturing city with prominent domestic advantages and large potential.

Climate

The climate is Humid Subtropical ''Cfa'', with cool winters and hot and humid summers.
Changzhou has a wide range of temperature differences throughout the year.

Transportation

Metro

The Line 1 of the Changzhou Metro opened on 21 September 2019.
The Line 2 opened on 28 June 2021.

Railway

Located just south of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River), Changzhou station is situated on the original Beijing–Shanghai railway. Changzhou North station was completed in 2011 and is located in the north of Changzhou in the Xinbei district on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway. Changzhou is also one of the main stops on the busy Shanghai–Nanjing intercity railway, with two stations located in Changzhou ( Changzhou station and Qishuyan station).

Air travel

Changzhou Benniu International Airport