Pinghu is a

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

in the east of

Jiaxing Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the p ...

's administrative area, in the northeast of

Zhejiang Province ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

, bordering

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

to the northeast. It sits next to the

East China Sea The East China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean, located directly offshore from East China. China names the body of water along its eastern coast as "East Sea" (, ) due to direction, the name of "East China Sea" is otherwise ...

and the north shore of

Hangzhou Bay Hangzhou Bay is a funnel-shaped inlet of the East China Sea on the middle eastern coast of Mainland China, bordered by the province of Zhejiang to the west and south, and the municipality of Shanghai to north. The bay extends westwards to its ...

. Prior to the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

, Pinghu was part of Haiyan County. In 1430 Pinghu County was established. In 1991 Pinghu became a county-level city under the administration of the

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

History

Du Halde - Description de la Chine - Villes de Kiu tcheou fou - Pinghou hien

Zhapu, the site of a deepwater harbor, was the principal site of China's foreign trade with

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

during the 18th and 19th century.

Economy

Pinghu dominates the Chinese down jacket industry; over half of down jackets sold in China are produced in Pinghu, and it is home to a major down jacket wholesale market. This industry started in the 1980s. An estimated 300 million garments are produced in Pinghu yearly.

Administration

3 neighborhoods ( subdistricts), 7

towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

*neighborhood committee and offices ** Zhongdai neighborhood ** Danghu neighborhood ** Caoqiao neighborhood *towns ** Zhapu ** Xindai ** Xincang ** Huanggu ** Quantang ** Guangchen ** Lindai

Geography and climate

Pinghu is located on a low and flat plain and is laced with a network of rivers. A number of islands, such as Wangpan Shan are located offshore. The municipality's average yearly temperature is , with average precipitation of . Agricultural production is marked by its amount of aquatic products. Important crops are rice, wheat, Chinese cabbage,

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...

s, and bird eggs. Specialties include pickled eggs and watermelons. Due to its proximity to Shanghai, Pinghu also attracts investment from many multinational enterprises. Industry includes

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, garments, dress, apparel, or attire) is any item worn on a human human body, body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin s ...

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a coo ...

machinery A machine is a physical system that uses power to apply forces and control movement to perform an action. The term is commonly applied to artificial devices, such as those employing engines or motors, but also to natural biological macromolec ...

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

and others. Clothing production is especially high, with the value of Pinghu's total clothing exports the greatest in China. It has been placed as one of China's one hundred most productive areas. Zhapu harbor in the municipality's southwest is an important deep water harbor along

. A port has been located here since the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, and it is still an important transshipment point. Next to the harbor is one of China's most important large thermal power plants, Jiaxing Powerplant, with a capacity of 3,000,000 kilowatts. In modern China many famous monks, educators and artists (music, calligraphy, painting, seals, poetry) have come from Pinghu. The city's downtown contains a large memorial to

Li Shutong Hong Yi (23 October 1880 – 13 October 1942; , also romanized ''Hong-it''), or Yan Yin () was a Chinese Buddhist monk of the Nanshan Vinaya school (''Nanshanlü-zong''). He was also an artist, and a musician. Born Li Shutong (李叔同 and � ...

and a number of other attractions and scenic spots.

References

{{Authority control County-level cities in Zhejiang Port cities and towns in China Jiaxing National Civilized City