Jiangyan

Jiangyan is a city in the prefecture of Taizhou in Jiangsu province, China.

Location

Located in the middle of Jiangsu province, Jiangyan (N 32°30; E 120°09) is neighbored by Hai'an city and Dongtai city to the east. To the west, there are Hailing city and Gaogang districts of Taizhou. Taixing city is situated to the south, while Xinghua city is to the north.

History

Jiangyan has a very long history. Formerly called Taixian (Chinese: 泰县, pinyin: tāixīan), it was set as a county at the end of Western Han Dynasty. It has relics from Zhou Dynasty, Budda statue from Tang Dynasty, and a town from Qing Dynasty. In July 1994, it was changed from Taixian County to Jiangyan City, current name, and also established as a city status. Other names Jiangyan had are Hailu (Chinese: 海陆), Wuling (Chinese: 吴陵), Taizhou (Chinese: 泰州) over the years.General Chen Yi had commanded the Battle of Huangqiao in Qujiang Tower, in downtown Jiangyan. Liu Jingting (Chinese: 柳敬亭, Master of Yangzhou Pingtan, a form of traditional Chinese opera)、Huang Longshi (Chinese :黄龙士, Master of go in Qing Dynasty), and Gao Ershi (Chinese: 高二适, modern time calligraphier) are among the well-known people from Jiangyan. The Qintong Boat Festival (Chinese: 溱潼会船) also has a long history since Ming Dynasty, and it is becoming an important tourist destination in the whole eastern China. The Baima Temple (Chinese: 白马庙, meaning white horse temple) in Jiangyan (now in Taizhou) is the birthplace of the Navy of the People's Liberation Army.

Culture

There have been so many well-known people from Jiangyan in its long history. Yue Fei (岳飞) and Wen Tianxiang (文天祥) in Song dynasty have both stationed in Jiangyan to fight again the Jin invaders. The Ming dynasty general, Tang Shunzhi (唐顺之) had been fighting Japanese in Jiangyan until his died here. The philosophy and one of the founders of 'Taizhou clique', Wang Dong (王栋) had been teaching in Jiangyan for decades, and his teaching place, Wanggong Temple ("王公祠") is now preserved as a museum. The artist in Ming dynasty, Tang Zhique (唐志契) and his brother Tang Zhiyi (唐志尹), nephew Tang Riyin (唐日艮), so called 'Three Tangs' were from Jiangyan. The go chess master in Qing dynasty, Huang Longshi (黄龙士) had leaded the go game to the highest peak in the old times. Lu Fubao (卢福保) was the consule of Taiwan. Liu Guorong (刘荣庆) and Liu Guoqing (刘国庆) brothers were the martial champain.

In the modern history, the artist master Mei Lanfang (梅兰芳) was born in Zhangmu (张沐) town (now in Baimi town), and he had visited Jiangyan for many times. Following the call from Chairman Mao Zedong, nodern poet and calligrapher Gao Ershi (高二适) had made a famous 'Lanting Argument' (兰亭论辩) with Guo Moruo (郭沫若). According to a preliminary statistics, there are over 200 professors, 600 county-level officials, and 5 military Sergents originated from Jiangyan as of 2000.Jiangyan also has made its special marks in the history of modern China. The first Soviet base in northern Jiangsu was founded in Jiangyan by No 14 red army. The Chinese navy was also born in Jiangyan Baima Temple (白马庙). The headquarter of Battle of Huangqiao, one of the major battles in the civil war between Kuomingtang and Communist Armies, was in Jiangyan Qujianglou (曲江楼).

Jiang Zefeng (江泽芬), a sister of Jiang Zemin, is also living in Jiangyan. Hu Jintao(胡锦涛）] , the current president of China is also born and raised in Jiangyan.Jiangyan has also actively engaged in a campaign to modernise the city by new technology and intense education. During 1992 and 1997, there are as many as 180 innovations and 155 new technologies were awarded and more than 70 patents were assigned. Jiangyan has been in Top 100 Counties since 1995.

Five townships were named Advanced Folk-cultural (群众文化先进乡镇) in 1997 by Jiangsu province. Many culture centers, libraries have been founded, and the Qintong Boat Festival is more and more famous and has become a big tourist attraction. Numous people have had access to cable TV and internet. Jiangyan has the tallest TV tower in the whole northern Jiangsu.

Transportation

The Nanjing-Jinjiang-Yancheng Highway passes through from south to north and National Highway 328 goes from west to east. All the townships are connected by well paved ways. The old and new Yangzhou Canal, Zhonggan river, Jiangyan-Qintong river, and east and west Jiangyan-Huangqiao rivers provide a very good river transportation system. It takes few than 3 hours to Nanjing or Shanghai. Out of the total 1044 km² area, large amount of them are low swamps, and the water area measures about 15%.

The routes to get to Jiangyan includes:
* Take buses from Shanghai or Nanjing through National Highway 328 or Nanjing-Jinjiang-Yancheng Highway.
* Take trains from Beijing through Xinyi-Changxing Railway (新长铁路) or Nanjing through Nanjing-Qidong Railway (宁启铁路).

Townships

In 1990, Heheng (Chinese: 河横) village in Shengao (Chinese: 沈高) town, Jiangyan city was awarded Global 500 Roll of Honor by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) because of its success in protecting the environment while increasing the grain yield and its wide use of marsh biogas ponds.

Notable people

* Hu Jintao, the President of the People's Republic of China.
* Mei Lanfang, a legend of modern Beijing Opera.

Tourism

Qintong Boat Festival

Qintong Boat Festival is held in Qingming Festival (around April 4-6) every year. During the festival boats from nearby villages and towns converge in Xique lake for a few days of rejoicing. Theatrical performances, dragon and lion dances, and other folk dances are staged right on board the boats. The whole festival was highlighted by the unique boating racing by using the long poles instead of paddles. The whole events now are used by the city government as a platform to attract tourists and foreign investiments.

Xique Lake

The lake located in Qintong town, 15 km north of Jiangyan city. The water was composed of Nanhu (南湖), Xique (喜鹊湖), and Beihu (北湖). It is part of Qintong Swamp. There are 7 districts: 溱潼风貌园区、溱东居住园区、江苏旅游产品生产基地、溱湖贸易园区、喜鹊湖度假区、麋鹿故乡园区、生态农业园区, 1 belt: 湖绿带与景路, and 1 center: 溱湖旅游接待服务中心.

Père David's Deer Reserve

Jiangyan is one of the few hometowns to Père David's Deers, and Jiangyan Père David's Deer Reserve is the biggest one outside of Dafeng (大丰). Located in the north of the industrial park, the reserve has an area of 72 acres, including 52 acres of forests and 12 acres of waterfront. There are two main parts, a fenced area and an open area for the deers. There is also an exhibit room for the systematic introduction of the deers.

houshen Temple

Heheng Agriculture Scenic Tour

Museums

*Hu Jintao Birthplace Museum, Jiangyan
*Gao Ershi Museum, Jiangyan
*Baima Temple, Chinese Army Navy Birthplace Museum (now in Shixiang, Taizhou)

chools

There are 233 kindergartens, 280 primary schools, 50 middle schools, and 2 provincial special high schools. Jiangyan High School was named model high school and promoted to provincial run schools.

* Jiangyan High School (江苏省姜堰中学)
* Jiangyan No. 2 High School（姜堰二中）
* Jiangyan Qintong High School (江苏省姜堰市溱潼中学)
* Shengao Career Training School（沈高职业中学）

External links

* [http://www.jys.gov.cn/ Official website of Jiangyan City, Jiangsu]
* [http://www.jiangsu.net/city/city.php?name=jiangyan Jiangyan City English guide] (Jiangsu.NET)
* [http://61.132.43.189/hcj/ Official website of Qintong Boat Festival]