Zhenjiang Medical College
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Zhenjiang, alternately
romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
as Chinkiang, is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province, China. It lies on the southern bank of the Yangtze River near its intersection with the Grand Canal. It is opposite Yangzhou (to its north) and between Nanjing (to its west) and Changzhou (to its east). Zhenjiang was formerly the provincial capital of Jiangsu and remains as an important transportation hub. As of the 2020 census, its total population was 3,210,418 inhabitants whom 1,266,790 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of the 3 urban districts. The town is best known both in China and abroad for its fragrant black vinegar, a staple of Chinese cooking.


Names

Prior to the adoption of
Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
, the city's name was typically
romanized Romanization or romanisation, in linguistics, is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and ...
as or Former names include Jingkou and Runzhou.


History

A part of Zhenjiang was the possession of Ce, who was created the Marquess of Yi in the early Western Zhou. Then the region was renamed Zhufang and Guyang, supposedly. After it was captured by the
First Emperor Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of "king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Emperor ( ...
of the
Qin Qin may refer to: Dynasties and states * Qin (state) (秦), a major state during the Zhou Dynasty of ancient China * Qin dynasty (秦), founded by the Qin state in 221 BC and ended in 206 BC * Daqin (大秦), ancient Chinese name for the Roman Emp ...
in 221 BC, it became a county seat and was given the name Dantu. A Chinese legend holds that the site's fengshui was so advantageous that the First Emperor ordered 3000 prisoners to dig a tunnel through one of Zhenjiang's hills to dissipate its qi. It became a prefectural seat during the middle of the 3rd century BC. The Sui took the city in AD581 and made it an important garrison on the lower Yangtze, the source of its present name. In 595, it was made a commandery seat. Its importance grew with the construction of the Grand Canal, after which it served as the chief collection and transit center for the grain tax paid by the farmers of the Yangtze delta. The city flourished from the 10th to 13th centuries, when it produced fine silks, satins, and silverware for the Song emperors. The 11th-century scientist and statesman
Shen Kuo Shen Kuo (; 1031–1095) or Shen Gua, courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁),Yao (2003), 544. was a Chinese polymathic scientist and statesman of the Song dynasty (960–1279). Shen wa ...
composed his 1088 ''
Dream Pool Essays ''The Dream Pool Essays'' (or ''Dream Torrent Essays'') was an extensive book written by the Chinese polymath and statesman Shen Kuo (1031–1095), published in 1088 during the Song dynasty (960–1279) of China. Shen compiled this encycloped ...
'' during his retirement in a garden estate on the outskirts of the city. It was taken by the Mongolians during their 1275 campaign against the Song capital at Hangzhou. Under the Yuan, some Nestorian Christians were reported living in the city. The city fell to Xu Da on 17 March 1356. According to Odoric of Pordenone, Zhenjiang had a vast amount of shipping, more so than any other city in the world. The ships which worked the city were all painted white and doubled as businesses such as taverns or other gathering spots The Southern Ming placed the town under
Zheng Zhifeng Zheng may refer to: *Zheng (surname), Chinese surname (鄭, 郑, ''Zhèng'') *Zheng County, former name of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, China *Guzheng (), a Chinese zither with bridges *Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC), emperor of the Qin Dynasty, ...
, brother of Zheng Zhilong and favorite uncle of
Koxinga Zheng Chenggong, Prince of Yanping (; 27 August 1624 – 23 June 1662), better known internationally as Koxinga (), was a Ming loyalist general who resisted the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century, fighting them on China's southeastern ...
, although he was fooled into wasting most of his ammunition against a feint and abandoned the city to the Qing on 1 June 1645. Under the
Qing 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-speaki ...
, Zhenjiang was a city of half a million surrounded by a series of brick
city walls A defensive wall is a fortification usually used to protect a city, town or other settlement from potential aggressors. The walls can range from simple palisades or earthworks to extensive military fortifications with towers, bastions and gates ...
up to high. It was captured by the British on 21 July 1842 during the
First Opium War The First Opium War (), also known as the Opium War or the Anglo-Sino War was a series of military engagements fought between Britain and the Qing dynasty of China between 1839 and 1842. The immediate issue was the Chinese enforcement of the ...
and after a fierce resistance, leaving the path open to Nanjing and prompting a concessionary treaty to avoid its loss. A decade later, massive floods of the Yellow River altered its course north of
Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...
and closed the northern path of the Grand Canal. Soon after, the town was sacked by the
Taiping rebels The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a massive rebellion and civil war that was waged in China between the Manchu-led Qing dynasty and the Han, Hakka-led Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. It lasted f ...
in 1853. It was recaptured by the Qing in 1858 and opened as a treaty port in 1861. Into the 1870s,
Chaozhou Chaozhou (), alternatively Chiuchow, Chaochow or Teochew, is a city in the eastern Guangdong province of China. It borders Shantou to the south, Jieyang to the southwest, Meizhou to the northwest, the province of Fujian to the east, and the Sou ...
merchants used their connections in Zhenjiang to make it a regional distribution center for
opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
purchased from the foreign merchants in Shanghai; when
David Sassoon David Sassoon may refer to: *David Sassoon (designer) (born 1932), British fashion designer *David Sassoon (treasurer) (1792–1864), Iraqi-Jewish treasurer *David Solomon Sassoon (1880–1942), Iraqi bibliophile See also *Sassoon family *Albert A ...
attempted to avoid taxation by delivering his cargoes directly to the opium merchants in Zhenjiang, the Chinese organized to intimidate his customers and then bought out his failed organization. The population was estimated at 168,000 in 1904. The southern part of the Grand Canal was obstructed in the early 20th century, although by that point the city was connected by rail to Shanghai and Nanjing. The Kuomintang government revoked the British concession at Zhenjiang in 1929. From 1928 to 1949, while Nanjing served as the capital of 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 northeast ...
, Zhenjiang served as the provincial capital for Jiangsu. During World War II, the city fell to
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
's Shanghai Expeditionary Army in the morning of 8 December 1937, shortly before the capture of Nanjing, but local resistance to the Japanese is still celebrated among the Chinese. When the Communists won the Chinese Civil War and relocated the capital to Beijing, Nanjing resumed its role as Jiangsu's capital. Zhenjiang is still one of China's busiest ports for domestic commerce, serving as a hub for trade among Jiangsu, Anhui, and Shanghai. The trade mostly consists of grain, cotton, oils, and lumber. The other main industries are mostly in the field of food processing and paper pulp manufacturing.


Geography


Climate


Administration

The prefecture-level city of Zhenjiang administers 6 county-level divisions, including three
districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
and three county-level cities. These are further divided into 77 township-level divisions, including 66
towns 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 ori ...
, 1 township and 10
subdistrict A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, In ...
s.


Demographics

As in Nanjing, Zhenjiang's old Wu dialects have been entirely supplanted by a dialect of Lower Yangtze Mandarin. It is incomprehensible to the residents of neighboring Changzhou, whose dialect remains a form of Taihu Wu.


Culture

Zhenjiang is most famous for its fragrant black vinegar, called Zhenjiang vinegar. Chinese legend traces it to
Heita has been the governor of Shizuoka Prefecture since 2009 and is currently serving his fourth term. He completed his D.Phil at wolfson college, Oxford, under Professor Peter Mathias and was Professor of Economics History at Waseda University, Tokyo ...
, the son of Dukang, the supposed inventor of alcoholic beverages. Having forgotten about a vat of wine for 21 days, he found it had spoiled but now possessed a pleasant sour taste that could be used to complement foods. The present recipe is said to date back 1400 years, with its major modern manufacturer—the Jiangsu Hengshun Vinegar Industry Co.—dating to 1840. Other local specialties include crab cream bun, Chinkiang pork (, akin to head cheese), and pickled vegetables. Formerly, households in Zhenjiang would prepare for the new year by eating a red-bean dish and avoiding rice. One bowl of beans was left on the table to feed the home's flies, from the belief that they would then avoid disturbing the family during the new year festivities. A
natural spring A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fresh w ...
in a park on the edge of Zhenjiang has been famed since the
Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...
(7th–9th century) as the best in Jiangsu for making tea. It is now marketed as the "First Spring under Heaven". The hilly scenery in Zhenjiang's southern suburbs was considered beautiful enough to be the theme of many landscapes by
Chinese painters This is a list of Chinese painters: See also * Chinese calligraphy * Chinese painting * List of calligraphers * Lists of painters {{Asian artists Painters Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese p ...
. The 15th-century Japanese ink-wash master Sesshū Tōyō studied in Zhenjiang., translated in 1999 as The local Jinshan temple appears in the tale of ''
Madame White Snake The Legend of the White Snake is a Chinese legend. It has since been presented in a number of major Chinese operas, films, and television series. The earliest attempt to fictionalize the story in printed form appears to be ''The White Maiden L ...
'' and inspired a replica in the Kangxi Emperor's garden at Chengde.


Transport

Zhenjiang is located in the convenient Yangtze River Delta transport corridor, at the crossroads of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze, and between the Shanghai and Nanjing economic regions. The
Port of Zhenjiang The Port of Zhenjiang is a natural inland river port located on Zhengjiang Prefectural Level city, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China. It is one of the succession of large shipping hubs lining the estuary and lower course of the Yangtze. The Por ...
is the third largest port on the Yangtze. The city has two Yangtze River crossings. The Runyang Yangtze River Bridge complex, which has one of the longest suspension bridge spans in the world, connects to Yangzhou. The
Taizhou Yangtze River Bridge The Taizhou Yangtze River Bridge is a bridge complex over the Lower Yangtze River in Jiangsu Province in eastern China. The bridge connects Taizhou on the north bank, Yangzhong on an island in the river, and Yaoqiao Village of Zhenjiang Munici ...
, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, connects Yongzhong with Taizhou.


Rail

Zhenjiang has been connected by rail since 1906, at the completion of the Nanjing-Shanghai Railway. The railway was extended to Beijing after the completion of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in 1968, connecting Zhenjiang to China's political and commercial hubs. The primary railway station was Zhenjiang West Railway Station, which was demolished in 2004 due to congestion it caused in the city center. Since then Zhenjiang Railway Station has served as the city's principal railway station.


High-speed rail

Since April 2010, Zhenjiang has been on the route of the Shanghai-Nanjing Intercity Rail, the first high-speed rail with a design speed of over to serve the city. In 2011, the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway was completed. Trains on the line stop at Zhenjiang South Railway Station. The two high-speed lines have reduced travel time between Zhenjiang and Shanghai to under an hour, and travel time to Beijing to under five hours. Rail service to Shanghai is frequent - averaging one train in less than half an hour.


Air

Zhenjiang does not have a commercial airport within its city limits, although there is a military airfield,
Zhenjiang Dalu Airport Zhenjiang, alternately romanized as Chinkiang, is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province, China. It lies on the southern bank of the Yangtze River near its intersection with the Grand Canal. It is opposite Yangzhou (to its north) and ...
(), which may open to regional flights in the future. Zhenjiang city center is away from
Changzhou Benniu Airport Changzhou Benniu International Airport is an airport in Changzhou, Jiangsu, China. Airlines and destinations