Jiangsu Travel Guide

Jiangsu Guide >> Zhenjiang City

Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, China

Meaning of the name of "Zhenjiang"
"Garrison (of the Yangzi) River"

Location
On the south bank of the Yangzi River (Chang Jiang), 200 km (120 miles) northwest of Shanghai and 60 km (40 miles) east of Nanjing.

Zhenjiang

History
Zhenjiang was the seat of feudal domains from the 8th century BC onwards. After it was captured by Qin, the first Chinese emperor, in 221 BC, it became a county town. After being conquered by the Sui in 581 AD, it was made a garrison to guard the entrance to the Yangzi River. Its importance grew with the building of a precursor to the Grand Canal, when it became the chief collection and forwarding center for tax grain paid by the Yangzi delta region.

The city reached its zenith under the Song dynasty (960-1279), when it produced fine silks, satins, and silverware for the emperors. In about 1300, a census reported that some Nestorian Christians were living in Zhenjiang.

Zhenjiang suffered from strife during the Opium War (1839-42) when it was bombarded by British warships, and again during the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864). Zhenjiang declined economically with the closure of the northern portion of the Grand Canal in the 1850s, and the obstruction of the entrance to the southern canal in the 20th century.

From 1928 to 1949, during the Nationalist (Guomindang) regime of Chiang Kaishek, Zhenjiang was made the capital of Jiangsu Province, while Nanjing (the present-day capital of Jiangsu) served as the capital of China.

Zhenjiang is still one of China's busiest ports for domestic commerce, serving as a hub for trade between northern Jiangsu and Anhui provinces, 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. It is famous among Chinese for its heroic resistance against the British (in 1842 and 1949) and the Japanese (in the Second World War).

Zhenjiang

Culture
In a park on the edge of Zhenjiang there is a spring which was described in the Tang dynasty (618-907 AD) as being the best in Jiangsu for the making of tea (Number One Lifespring Under Heaven).

The hilly scenery in Zhenjiang's southern suburbs was considered beautiful enough to be the theme of many landscapes by Chinese painters.

Near the Zhenjiang Museum in Boxian Park is the Shaozong Library, which among other documents contains a 100-volume collection of old sayings and proverbs, dating from the 7th to 11th centuries.

Pearl S. Buck (1892-1973) , the Nobel Prize-winning author of The Good Earth and other novels about China, lived in Zhenjiang with her missionary parents until the age of 15. Her childhood home is preserved on the grounds of a radio factory in Zhenjiang.

Zhenjiang is home to the Silkworm Raising Research Institute of the Academy of Agricultural Science of China.

Folklore
Because of its strategic location on the Yangzi River, Qin, the first Emperor of China, believed that the fengshui (magical earth powers) of Zhenjiang were too strong, so he ordered 3,000 prisoners to dig a tunnel through a hill to divert the powers away.

In the traditional Chinese story The Tale of the White Snake, a magical, 1000 year old snake who could take the form of a woman escapes through a cave in Gold Hill, to be reunited with her lover in the far-away city of Hangzhou.

• China Tour Package - China and Grand Canal Cruise