Yancheng is located in the middle of the northen Jiangsu plain, bordering the Yellow Sea in the east, Huaiyin and Yangzhou in the west, Nantong in the south and Lianyungang in the north. In 1983 the city was founded to replace Yancheng Prefecture, governing two county-level cities of Dongtai and Dafeng, and five counties, namely,Jianhu,Sheyang,Funing,Binhai,Xiangshui.The city proper consists of Yandu Districts ,Tinghu District and Yancheng Economic Development Zone. The urban district occupies an area of 1,720 square kilometers with a population of 1,526,400. Yancheng spans 17,000 square kilometers, and its total population is 8,047,300. There are 138 townsships, 9 subdistrict offices, 1,954 villagers' committees, 483 residents' committees. It ranks the top in terms of area and the second in terms of population in Jiangsu province. It has the following basic features:
Ⅰ Famous for its great output of salt and a long history
Yancheng was set up as "Yandu county" in 119 B.C. "Yan" means salt and "du" means the river for salt transportation. In the year of 411, the name of "Yancheng" was put into use because the whole town was surrounded by salterns. The rich salt culture has been created during the past 2,000 years. In ancient times, it was once called "Home of Huai salt" for its great output of salt. In the Waring States Period, salt was made by heating the sea water and the historical masterpiece " Records of the Historians" accounted that the East Sea was rich in salt. In Qing and Han Dynasty Yancheng became a prosperous place of fishing and salt. In Tang Dynasty, in Yancheng alone there were 123 branch salterns which belonged to the famous and rich "Huainan Saltern". In the Baoying period of Tang Dynasty, Hailing Supervisors and Yancheng Supervisors were established and the annual salt output reached over 500,000 tons. Yancheng then became a major salt production center.
Yancheng is really a salt city worthy of the name. Even now many local places are still named as "Tuan" "Zao" "Zong" "Pie" "Cang", etc. which are mutually related to salt production and management. "Tuan" is a salt production organization. In a saltern there were several "Tuan"s which consisted of many salt farmers' families. In ancient times the place name of "Tuan" was taken mainly in Dongtai and Dafeng, such as Qijia Tuan, NanTuan, Xi Tuan, Xin Tuan, Bei Tuan, Bian Tuan ,etc. At present, a town with the name of Xi Tuan still exists in Dafeng city. There are 18 villages and 48 natural groups that take the name related to "Tuan". "Zao" was an important facility for the salt farmers to boil the sea water. Six towns take the names of Tou Zao,SanZao,Si Zao, Liu Zao, Shen Zao, Nan Shen Zao and 85 villages and 368 natural groups take the name of Zao. "Zong" was the salt farmer's residential place. At the beginning of Ming Dynasty, a lot of immigrants were diven to the deserted tidal land to boil salt. In order to govern the scattered salt farmers, "Zong"s were established and numbered in each salt farm. For instance, in Jiaqing period of Qing Dynasty, there were 30 ''Zong"s in Fu An salt farm of Dong Tai. Nowadays, the place names of Yi Zong, Er Zong, San Zong are still in use along the coastal line and there are 7 villages and 37 natural groups choose the name of Zong. "Cang" means salt warehouse. Biancang Town, which is well-known for the withered-branch peony, was once the salt warehouse of Wuyou saltern. At the moment, Sancang Town, 11 villages and 18 natural groups are given the name of Cang. "Pie" was a major salt-boiling utensil in later Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. It's similar to an iron cauldron with one meter's diameter and about 12 centimeters' depth. Two towns, such as Cao Pie in Dongtai city and Pan Pie in Dafeng city, 6 villages and 13 natural groups choose the place name of "Pie". In addition, the iron dishes used to dry the salt and Chinese honey locusts used to halogenate the salt, are also reflected in the place names in Yancheng, such as the natrual groups of Tieyangpan, Tianpan in Binhai County, Zaojiaoshu, Zaojiao in Xiangshui county.
Ⅱ Abundant resourses and unique ecological envirorment
Yancheng ranks the first in terms of area in Jiangsu Province. It spans 17,000 square kilometers. The arable land covers 7,782 square kilometers. The area of rivers and lakes is more than 1,300 square kilometers.
The sea and tidal land resourses are rich. The tidal land occupies an area of 4,550 square kilometers(including the radiation shoal). Among this tidal land, the area above the tide is 1,667 square kilometers and the area between the tides is 1,610 square kilometers.They respectively take 75%,64.6% and 60.8% of the total of Jiangsu Province.The area of tidal land that can be exloited in the very near future in Dongtai, Dafeng, Sheyang, Binhai, Xiangshui amounts to 1,300 square kilometers. At present, the area south of Sheyang river is extending into the sea at the rate of more than 10 square kilometers per year. This tract of land is reputed as "golden coast" and it is the largest land reserve in the province. Nature has specially favoured Yancheng with the coast line and the port resourses. Yancheng sea waters lies in the middle of Jiangsu coastal land. The city boasts 582 kilo-meters of coastline, taking 56% of the total in Jiangsu province. The sea waters covers 18,897 square kilometres that consists of 12,144 square kilometres of inland waters and 6,753 square kilometres of territorial sea. This coast territorial sea is China's only area where no red tide occurs. Chenjiagang Port is at a distance of 27 nautical miles away from Lianyungang port and 59 nautical miles from Rizhao Port. It is the second-class channel and the national second-class open port which gathers the advantages of collecting, discharging and transportation. Dafeng Port, the first class national open harbour, is only 210 nautical miles to Qingdao port and 120 nautical mile to Lianyungang port to the north, 460 nautical miles to Nagasaki Port of Japan , and 465 nautical miles to Pusan Port of Korea to the east, 620 nautical miles to Jilong Port in Taiwan and 280 nautical miles to Shanghai port to the south. Binhai port is located in the middle of Jiangsu coastal area and between Lianyungang port and the Yangtze delta, and opposite Japan and Korea accross the yellow sea. The line of 10 meters depth is only 1.215 nautical miles off the coast, and from 50,000 to 100,000 tons dock berth can be built. It is one of the best part for ports in Jiangsu coastal area. Now Sheyang port owns 5 thousand-ton docks, and the container transportation lines in inland rivers have been established. The annaul handling capacity reaches 5.3 million tons. At present, Sheyang port has been open to navigation with 24 other ports.
The natural gas deposit is huge. The proven volume amounts to 80 billion cubic metres and the estimate deposit could reach 200 billion cubic metres. It is the largest gas field in the eastern coastal district of China.There is a gas sendiment area which covers an area of 100,000 square kilometers along and near the coastal line. It ranks the second in China and there are great potentials for prospecting and exploiting.
The resources of agricultural products are very rich. Yancheng is the largest production base of agricultural products and by-products in Jiangsu province, having 8 counties of production base of national commercial grains, 1 county of production base of high-quality oil plants and 6 counties of production base of high-quality cotton. Its resources of sea products, animals and plants are also very rich. The main products are listed as the first in scale and quantity in the whole province, such as grains, cotton, oil, fruits, vegetables, fowl, eggs and fish. The pollution-free agricultural products were certified firstly in Jiangsu . Four counties in Yancheng have been listed in the certified province-level agricultural production bases. Two hundred and twelve planting bases have been certified as the places of provincial level pollution-free agricultural products with an area of 2.23 million mu. There are 87 provincial level production bases for stockbreeding which have a scale of 17.79 million head. There are 5 newly-built state-level and provincial level agricultural standardized demonstration areas, 6 provincial level foreign-oriented agricultural production bases. Two 102,000-mu organic food production bases and six 22,000-mu pollution-free food bases have been certified. There are 179 sorts of products which have won the reputation of organic food, green food and pollution-free food in our city.
Yancheng City ranks the second in terms of population in Jiangsu Province , and is rather abundant in human resource. Currently, the total supply of labor force in both urban and rural areas is 3,924,400, among which 2,850,800 are rural laborers. One million and 1,569,600 laborers have been transferred to embark on other jobs from the countryside, with 1,063,400 of them exported to other cities and 20,500 of them to foreign countries. Now the surplus of the labor force is 840,000, including 500,000 laborers exportable, and 210,000 skillful. Of the exportable labor force, 26,000 people have received high education, 265,000 have received the education of senior middle school (including technical academy, vocational school), 209,000 have received the education of middle school, 58,000 are intermediately skillful, and 148,000 are primary technicians.
The ecological tourism resources are special and unique here. There are more than 40 scenic spots open to public now, including 15 provincial level protections, 1 4A-class view spot, 3 3A-class spot, 9 2A-class spot, 1 provincial level famous view spot, 4 national agriculturre tourism model area and 2 state-level natural reserves. The coastal wetland situated in the east part of the city is the biggest wetland in both the west coast of the Pacific and the edge of the Asian Continent. It has been listed as a key protected wet-land of the world and there is a plan to establish a national park of ecological wet-land. The world's first natural reserve of wild David's deer and a national rare birds nature reserve are in the wetland.They are members of the UN Biosphere of Human and Nature. There are 1168 David's deers living in the Dafeng Wild David's Deer Natural Reserve. The amount of the animals, the rate of the propagation and survival are taking the first place in the world. In the national rare birds nature reserve, there are 13 varieties of animals of first-class protections and 67 varieties of second-class protections. The number of red-crowned cranes that spend the winter in the reserve reaches over 1200, and it occupies more than 60% of the total red-crowned cranes of the world. The west part of the city locates in the hinterland of the Lixia River. The Dazong Lake, the Jiulongkou Lake and the Majiadang Lake are typical lake wetland, take an area of nearly a hundred square kilometers. There are plain and pure social custom, aged social culture, and well-protected environment in this area, and it is thus called "Golden swamp and silver lake". Yancheng boasts 453,000 hectare coastal wet land which is the largest one along the both sides of the Pacific Ocean, 210,000 hectare coastal forest and vast grasslands. In this vast coastal shore area, there are great varieties of vegitations, animals and other resources which present a beautiful landscape.
Apart from rich resources and unique entironment, Yancheng has its lots of distinct folk-custom. The city is the cradle of Huai Opera, sharing a reputation of 'The Cradle of Huai Opera', 'the Cradle of Short Drama' and 'the Cradle of Modern Drama'. Yancheng is also one of the "three and a half cradles of national acrobatics" with its unique advantages in acrobatic resources, educational training and teams of talents. There are many historic and notable persons and sites of interests. Some human scenic spots are in the downtown areas such as the Temple of Lu Xiufu (prime minister of the South Song Dynasty), Song Cao's former residence (Calligraphist of the Ming Dynasty) etc. The Baiju Town of Dafeng city is the hometown of Mr. Shi Naian, the author of . The Prime Minister of Northern Song Dynasty, Mr. Fan Zhongyan, used to study in the Reading Temple, which is located in Dongtai Lixi. The peony on the withered branches started to be planted in Tinghu's Biancang by Mr. Bianji, the Prime Minister of Northern Song Dynasty.In terms of modern times, both Mr. Qiao Guanhua, a famous diplomatist and Mr. Hu Qiaomu, a celebrated theorist of Marxism, had Yancheng as their hometown.
Ⅲ Tranditional Revolutionary Area and a New City with Hundreds of Rivers
Yancheng is an old revolutionary area. After the Southern Anhui Incident, the CPC Central Committee immediately decided to rebuild in Yancheng the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army. Then, many organizations were built up in succession, such as Mid-China Branch of CPC, Branch of New Fourth Army of Central Military Committee, Party School of Mid-China, the Fifth Branch Institute of Anti-Japanese Union, Mid-china Branch of Luxun Art Institute and Bank of Jiang-Huai. Therefore, Yancheng had become the political, economic and cultural center of the Mid-China enemies rear area.There was once a saying that goes "There is a Yancheng in Northern Jiangsu as Yan'an in Northern Shanxi" . Many famous proletarin revolutionaries used to fight here, such as Liu Shaoqi, Chen Yi, Huang Kecheng, Su Yu, Ye Fei, Zhang Aiping, Hong Xuezhi, Zeng Shan and many others. Yancheng has the most representative facilities in memory of the New Fourth Army with the biggest scale and the most complete materials. Now, there are the Memorial Hall and Monument of the New Fourth Army and Taishan Temple (site of the rebuilt headquarters) in the downtown areas. Also in Baiju town of Dafeng builds a monument in commemoration of the joining of force of the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army.
Yancheng is located in the region of Lixia Rivier of Northern Jiangsu, with many small rivers winding forward and crisscrossing each other, forming a notable character of water city , and is so-called 'a City with hundreds of rivers'. The main rivers running cross the city are: Xinyanggang River, Python River, Chuanchang River, Picha River, Xiaoyang River, Tongyu River and so on. They are regarded as ecological water line and an ecological corridor. Besides, a forest park and a water park are now being programmed in the tourist region of Dayang Bay, which lies near the city center in Tinghu District. According to the new blueprint of city planning, Yancheng will be divided into 6 zones by main roads and rivers and become a typical city of rivers. The development of river regions and the scenic construction will increase the number of close water areas.The human beings, the water area and the whole city will develop and grow together.
At present Yancheng is at the acceleration period of industrialization and urbanization. It's crucial for the city to upgrade its economic position in Jiangsu province. The new goal of "Building a relatively well-off society and establishing a new Yancheng" was put forward at the 5th CPC Yancheng Committee Congress. In the next five years, the tactics of new type industrialization, agriculture industrialization, urbanization, economic globalization, market internationalization will be carried out and a well-off society in all-round way will be realized. By the year of 2011, the comprehensive economic strength will be enhanced. GDP will surpass 200 billion Yuan, per capita GDP will double every five years and reach US&3,000,00. The financial income will double every four years and surpass 10 billion Yuan. The economic structure will be upgraded and the proportion of the industries in the economy as a whole will be 10:50:40. The whole fixed assests investment and value-added of large-scale industrial enterprises will double every three years. An important production base in Jiangsu province of automobile, textile, clean energy will be erected. The people will live relatively well-off lives. The per capita net annual income of urban citizens and the farmers will reach 16,000.00 Yuan and 8,000.00 Yuan.
Tranditional Revolutionary Area and a New City with Hundreds of Rivers
Yancheng is an old revolutionary area. After the Southern Anhui Incident, the CPC Central Committee immediately decided to rebuild in Yancheng the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army. Then, many organizations were built up in succession, such as Mid-China Branch of CPC, Branch of New Fourth Army of Central Military Committee, Party School of Mid-China, the Fifth Branch Institute of Anti-Japanese Union, Mid-china Branch of Luxun Art Institute and Bank of Jiang-Huai. Therefore, Yancheng had become the political, economic and cultural center of the Mid-China enemies rear area.There was once a saying that goes "There is a Yancheng in Northern Jiangsu as Yan'an in Northern Shanxi" . Many famous proletarin revolutionaries used to fight here, such as Liu Shaoqi, Chen Yi, Huang Kecheng, Su Yu, Ye Fei, Zhang Aiping, Hong Xuezhi, Zeng Shan and many others. Yancheng has the most representative facilities in memory of the New Fourth Army with the biggest scale and the most complete materials. Now, there are the Memorial Hall and Monument of the New Fourth Army and Taishan Temple (site of the rebuilt headquarters) in the downtown areas. Also in Baiju town of Dafeng builds a monument in commemoration of the joining of force of the New Fourth Army and the Eighth Route Army. Yancheng is located in the region of Lixia Rivier of Northern Jiangsu, with many small rivers winding forward and crisscrossing each other, forming a notable character of water city , and is so-called 'a City with hundreds of rivers'. The main rivers running cross the city are: Xinyanggang River, Python River, Chuanchang River, Picha River, Xiaoyang River, Tongyu River and so on. They are regarded as ecological water line and an ecological corridor. Besides, a forest park and a water park are now being programmed in the tourist region of Dayang Bay, which lies near the city center in Tinghu District. According to the new blueprint of city planning, Yancheng will be divided into 6 zones by main roads and rivers and become a typical city of rivers. The development of river regions and the scenic construction will increase the number of close water areas.The human beings, the water area and the whole city will develop and grow together. At present Yancheng is at the acceleration period of industrialization and urbanization. It's crucial for the city to upgrade its economic position in Jiangsu province. The new goal of "Building a relatively well-off society and establishing a new Yancheng" was put forward at the 5th CPC Yancheng Committee Congress. In the next five years, the tactics of new type industrialization, agriculture industrialization, urbanization, economic globalization, market internationalization will be carried out and a well-off society in all-round way will be realized. By the year of 2011, the comprehensive economic strength will be enhanced. GDP will surpass 200 billion Yuan, per capita GDP will double every five years and reach US&3,000,00. The financial income will double every four years and surpass 10 billion Yuan. The economic structure will be upgraded and the proportion of the industries in the economy as a whole will be 10:50:40. The whole fixed assests investment and value-added of large-scale industrial enterprises will double every three years. An important production base in Jiangsu province of automobile, textile, clean energy will be erected. The people will live relatively well-off lives. The per capita net annual income of urban citizens and the farmers will reach 16,000.00 Yuan and 8,000.00 Yuan.
