Nantong
City in China
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nantong[a] is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jiangsu province, China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north; Taizhou to the west; Suzhou, Wuxi and Shanghai to the south across the river; and the East China Sea to the east. Its population was 7,726,635 as of the 2020 census, 3,766,534 of whom lived in the built-up area made up of three urban districts.
Nantong
南通市 Nantung | |
|---|---|
Skyline of Nantong CBD Nantong Bell Tower Tianning Temple | |
 Location of Nantong City jurisdiction in Jiangsu | |
  Nantong Location of the city center in Jiangsu  Nantong Nantong (Eastern China)  Nantong Nantong (China) | |
| Coordinates (Nantong municipal government): 31°58′52″N 120°53′38″E | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Province | Jiangsu |
| Municipal seat | Chongchuan District |
| Government | |
| • CPC Municipal Secretary | Lu Zhipeng (陆志鹏) |
| • Mayor | Han Liming (韩立明) |
| Area | |
| 8,544.1 km2 (3,298.9 sq mi) | |
| • Urban | 2,840 km2 (1,100 sq mi) |
| • Metro | 2,840 km2 (1,100 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 2 m (6.6 ft) |
| Population (2020 census)[1] | |
| 7,726,635 | |
| • Density | 904.32/km2 (2,342.2/sq mi) |
| • Urban | 3,766,534 |
| • Urban density | 1,330/km2 (3,430/sq mi) |
| • Metro | 3,766,534 |
| • Metro density | 1,330/km2 (3,430/sq mi) |
| GDP[2] | |
| • Prefecture-level city | CN¥ 1.103 trillion US$ 164 billion |
| • Per capita | CN¥ 142,642 US$ 21,211 |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
| Postal code | 226000 (Urban centre) 226100-226600 (Other areas) |
| Area code | 513 |
| ISO 3166 code | CN-JS-06 |
| Major Ethnicity | Han |
| County-level divisions | 8 |
| Township-level divisions | 146 |
| Licence Plate Prefixes | 苏F |
| Website | www |
On September 26, 2004, the first World Metropolitan Development Forum was held in Nantong. In 2005, Nantong had a GDP growth of 15.4%, the highest growth rate in Jiangsu province, and in 2016 Nantong's GDP had a total of about 675 billion yuan, ranking 21st in the whole country.[citation needed]
Although the city took a blow from the economic depression of the 1930s, as well as the Japanese occupation of the 1930s and 40s, Nantong has remained an important center for the textile industry. Because of its deepwater harbor and connections to inland navigational canals, it was one of 14 port cities opened to foreign investment in recent Chinese economic reforms.
History
The landmass of Nantong is a geologically recent formation, created over centuries by alluvial accretion at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The territory emerged from a landscape of coastal shoals, and its coastline progressively expanded southeastward as the river's main channel shifted. This process was highly unstable; the area of modern Haimen was submerged for extended periods before re-emerging from the water. The region's present landform did not fully stabilize until the late 19th century.[3]
Imperial era
By the 9th century, Langshan—then an offshore island—had emerged as a strategic military outpost along the lower Yangtze River. In 875, a mutiny was launched there by Wang Ying, a junior officer under the Zhenhai Military Governor. His forces rapidly grew to about 10,000 men, who used ships to raid southeastern coastal regions.[4][5][6]
Following the rebellion's suppression, the area became the base of the Yao clan, who commanded a local population engaged in fishing and salt production. The clan maintained a considerable private army and established a fortified settlement. The Yao leader accepted the Southern Tang title: Military Commissioner (制置使) of Jinghai (靜海). In 956, he led thousands of followers across the Yangtze to submit to the Wuyue.[7]
The area was elevated to the status of a military prefecture later, and was reorganized as Tongzhou in 960. Between 1023 and 1032, the prefecture was briefly renamed Chongzhou (崇州) before reverting to its original name. During the Song period, the government established the Lifeng Salt Directorate there, while Langshan developed into a regional center for Buddhist activities centered around the Guangjiao Temple.[7]
In the mid-16th century, the Ming dynasty stationed a deputy regional commander at Langshan to defend against wokou pirates.[8] During the Qing dynasty, this post was elevated to a regional commander (zongbing). As a senior military officer, he led the Langshan Garrison and commanded a naval fleet responsible for the coastal defense of northern Jiangsu.[9]
For most of its imperial history, Tongzhou was administratively under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou. It was elevated to an independent department (zhilizhou) in 1725. Following the re-emergence of its southern coastal territory, Haimen was formally re-established as an independent sub-prefecture (zhiliting) in 1768.[10] In 1912, following the administrative reforms of the Republic of China, the county was officially renamed Nantong to distinguish it from its namesake near Beijing.[11]
Modern era
Historically a major center for salt production, the Nantong region underwent a profound economic transformation in the nineteenth century as the salt trade declined due to fiscal reforms and coastal environmental changes. Large areas of coastal silt and abandoned salt fields were gradually reclaimed for agriculture. Cotton cultivation proved particularly well suited to local conditions, and by the early twentieth century Nantong had become one of the principal producers of high-quality cotton in Jiangsu province.
In 1895, local scholar-official Zhang Jian founded the Dasheng (Dah Sun) Cotton Mill, initiating the region's industrialization. Lacking private capital, Zhang secured government machinery and loans for over half the enterprise's funding. Despite this state dependence, he maintained Dasheng as a merchant-managed (shangban) firm, successfully resisting direct bureaucratic control.[12]
In the early 20th century, Nantong emerged as one of the three major urban industrial centers in the Yangtze River Delta, alongside Shanghai and Wuxi. By 1913, it ranked third nationally in the number of cotton mill spindles, surpassing Tianjin and Qingdao.[13] The region's modernization, spearheaded by Zhang Jian and centered on the Dasheng enterprises system, produced a distinctive "mixed" industrial model.[14]
Large-scale machine spinning was concentrated in urban factories, while weaving remained largely in the hands of rural households using traditional looms. This pattern has been described by scholars as a form of economic "involution" (neijuan): modernization in the urban core coexisted with persistent subsistence farming and labor‑intensive handicraft production in the surrounding countryside.[15] Nantong's modern industrial system was therefore heavily dependent on rural handweaving.
In 1901 Zhang obtained official permission to bypass restrictions on private coastal reclamation and founded the Tonghai Land Reclamation Company. By 1905 the company had expanded to 8,382 hectares (20,710 acres) across large parts of Nantong and Haimen counties.[16] At the same time, farmland became increasingly fragmented. Surveys show that the average plot cultivated by tenant farmers in Nantong county declined from about 1.27 hectares (3.1 acres) in 1905 to 1.00 hectare (2.5 acres) in 1914 and 0.79 hectares (2.0 acres) by 1924.[17]
By around 1910, the regional economy revolved around the Dasheng enterprise system of cotton mills, steamship companies, and processing plants. In parallel with this industrial expansion, Zhang Jian developed a comprehensive local educational system, from kindergartens to the multi-disciplinary Nantong College, and founded social service institutions including a hospital, an orphanage, and facilities for the disabled. Public infrastructure expanded to encompass a library, a museum, and several parks, helping to establish Nantong as an early model of planned urban modernization.[18]
Following the Shanghai massacre of 1927, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) became active in the Tongzhou-Haimen-Rugao-Taixing area, which encompassed present-day Nantong, Haimen, Rugao, and Taizhou. In April 1928, the 14th Army of the Chinese Red Army began guerrilla operations in the region. In February 1929, the CCP established a local soviet in Nantong, followed in 1930 by the creation of several additional soviets under the leadership of the 14th Army.[19]
Before the Mukden Incident of 1931, rural households in the Nantong region (including present-day Nantong, Haimen, and Chongming) sold about 200,000 bolts of handwoven cloth (tubu) each year to the Northeast China (then "Manchuria"). After the Japanese occupation of the Northeast and the dumping of cheap machine-woven textiles, Nantong's share of this market fell to nearly zero by 1932.[20] The collapse of this export trade pushed tens of thousands of rural weavers into poverty and set off a crisis for the urban cotton mills. Facing a shrinking domestic market and strong competition from Japanese cloth, Nantong's once-dominant textile industry was in deep slump by the mid-1930s.
On 17 August 1937, Japanese naval aircraft bombed Nantong. One of the targets was the Nantungchow Christian Hospital, of the United Christian Missionary Society, where 24 Chinese were killed.[21] Despite sworn testimony that Japanese aircraft flew low and machine-gunned the mission compound, the Japanese government, in response to American protests, expressed regret while insisting that the bombing had not been "deliberate".[22] After occupying Nantong on 17 March 1938,[19] Japanese troops carried out "mopping-up" operations, burning dwellings and targeting civilians, including children.[23]
Local CCP forces began covertly resisting Japanese occupation in August 1938.[19] Forces belonging to the New Fourth Army crossed from south of the Yangtze river near the end of 1939, entering nearby Jiangdu in present-day Yangzhou.[19] Following an attack from Kuomintang general Han Deqin on New Fourth Army forces south of the Yangtze in early October, CCP forces shifted their focus north of the river, including in present-day Nantong.[19] Japanese occupation came to an end in Rugao on September 21, 1945.[19]
The Chinese Civil War in Nantong resumed in July 1946, when the New Fourth Army's Central China Field Army (simplified Chinese: 华中野战军; traditional Chinese: 華中野戰軍; pinyin: Huázhōng Yězhàn Jūn) and Kuomintang forces engaged in the Battle of Suzhong, which CCP forces won in August.[19] Despite the CCP victory, Kuomintang forces went into the winter of 1946 occupying a larger portion of Nantong, both in terms of population and area.[19] Large-scale fighting resumed in the area during the autumn of 1948 with the Huaihai campaign.[19] Towards the end of the campaign, the CCP forces (now re-organized as the People's Liberation Army) moved south towards the Yangtze, conquering a number of towns in Nantong's periphery throughout January 1949 into February 1949, before ultimately taking Nantong's urban core on February 2, 1949.[19]
Contemporary Development
In 1958, Nantong City was placed under the jurisdiction of the Nantong Prefecture, while Chongming County was transferred from the prefecture to Shanghai. Nantong City became a province-administered city in 1962, and with the subsequent abolition of the Nantong Region in 1983, its six counties were incorporated into the municipality.[24]
In 1984, the State Council designated Nantong as one of China's fourteen open coastal cities. Historically, Nantong adopted the Township and Village Enterprise (TVE) model; by 1983, its number of TVEs was second only to Suzhou within Jiangsu. By 1996, the city had developed a substantial textile industry and a significant foreign-invested sector.[25]
Nantong joined the Shanghai Economic Belt (later the Yangtze River Delta) in 1982 as part of the "outer core." Before the 2000s, no direct land transport linked the city to Shanghai; ferry travel from downtown Nantong took around 3 hours.[25] The completion of the Sutong Yangtze River Bridge and the Shanghai–Chongming–Nantong Bridge (Tunnel) subsequently reduced minimum travel times from Qidong, Haimen, and downtown Nantong to Shanghai within 1.5 hours. This infrastructural breakthrough transitioned Nantong from its long-standing marginal position into Shanghai's immediate sphere of influence.[26]
Geography
| Nantong | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 南通 | ||||||||||||||||
| Postal | Nantung | ||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | southern passage | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Tongzhou | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese | 通州 | ||||||||
| Postal | Tungchow | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Located in central Jiangsu province, Nantong occupies the northern bank of the Yangtze River estuary, bordered by the Yellow Sea to the east and the Yangtze River to the south. The region's geomorphology consists primarily of alluvial deposits and forms a significant part of the Yangtze River Delta plain. Apart from isolated bedrock outcrops such as Langshan Hill, the terrain is predominantly flat.
The historical formation of the area is characterized by extensive deltaic accretion and the development of sandbanks. The southeastern territories, including Haimen and Qidong, were incorporated into the landmass around the 19th century.[3] The hydrological network is dense, belonging to the Yangtze and Huai River systems. While terrestrial mineral resources are limited, the municipality possesses an extensive coastline and substantial intertidal mudflats.
Climate
Nantong has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with four distinct seasons. Winters are chilly and damp, and cold northwesterly winds caused by the Siberian high can force temperatures to fall below freezing at night although snowfall is relatively uncommon. Summers are hot and humid, and downpours or freak thunderstorms often occur. Monthly daily average temperatures range from 3.6 °C (38.5 °F) in January to 27.9 °C (82.2 °F) in July, and the annual mean is 16.2 °C (61.2 °F). With the plum rains in June and early July comes the rainiest part of the year.
| Climate data for Nantong, elevation 5 m (16 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1952–present) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 20.1 (68.2) |
25.3 (77.5) |
33.1 (91.6) |
33.3 (91.9) |
34.8 (94.6) |
36.4 (97.5) |
38.7 (101.7) |
40.0 (104.0) |
38.5 (101.3) |
32.2 (90.0) |
27.3 (81.1) |
22.6 (72.7) |
40.0 (104.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.4 (45.3) |
9.6 (49.3) |
14.0 (57.2) |
20.1 (68.2) |
25.4 (77.7) |
28.2 (82.8) |
32.0 (89.6) |
31.7 (89.1) |
27.8 (82.0) |
22.8 (73.0) |
16.8 (62.2) |
10.2 (50.4) |
20.5 (68.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 3.6 (38.5) |
5.3 (41.5) |
9.3 (48.7) |
14.9 (58.8) |
20.3 (68.5) |
24.0 (75.2) |
28.0 (82.4) |
27.7 (81.9) |
23.7 (74.7) |
18.3 (64.9) |
12.5 (54.5) |
6.1 (43.0) |
16.1 (61.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 0.7 (33.3) |
2.1 (35.8) |
5.6 (42.1) |
10.7 (51.3) |
16.2 (61.2) |
20.8 (69.4) |
25.0 (77.0) |
24.8 (76.6) |
20.5 (68.9) |
14.8 (58.6) |
8.9 (48.0) |
2.8 (37.0) |
12.7 (54.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −9.6 (14.7) |
−10.8 (12.6) |
−3.9 (25.0) |
−0.7 (30.7) |
5.5 (41.9) |
12.8 (55.0) |
15.6 (60.1) |
16.5 (61.7) |
9.9 (49.8) |
3.4 (38.1) |
−2.8 (27.0) |
−8.9 (16.0) |
−10.8 (12.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 55.8 (2.20) |
50.7 (2.00) |
73.1 (2.88) |
72.8 (2.87) |
83.9 (3.30) |
209.1 (8.23) |
195.7 (7.70) |
183.9 (7.24) |
102.9 (4.05) |
59.5 (2.34) |
55.4 (2.18) |
37.4 (1.47) |
1,180.2 (46.46) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 9.4 | 9.1 | 10.8 | 10.0 | 10.7 | 12.7 | 12.8 | 11.9 | 9.2 | 7.0 | 8.4 | 7.2 | 119.2 |
| Average snowy days | 2.6 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 6.2 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 76 | 76 | 75 | 74 | 75 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 81 | 76 | 76 | 73 | 77 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 131.3 | 126.6 | 152.0 | 176.9 | 184.0 | 133.0 | 183.0 | 196.1 | 167.8 | 167.7 | 141.0 | 144.5 | 1,903.9 |
| Percentage possible sunshine | 41 | 40 | 41 | 45 | 43 | 31 | 42 | 48 | 46 | 48 | 45 | 46 | 43 |
| Source 1: China Meteorological Administration[27][28] all-time extreme temperature[29][30] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Weather China[31] | |||||||||||||
Culture
- Xuanmiao Temple, structure built during the Song era.
- Nantong Museum
Language
Nantong city and its six counties (or county-level cities) are rich in linguistic diversity, featuring both important Northern Wu varieties and highly divergent dialects of Mandarin (see Nantong dialect). People in the city of Nantong speak a unique dialect which sounds nothing like standard Mandarin or any other dialect, and it also holds distinctive differences from surrounding dialects.
About 2 million people in the southern parts of Tongzhou, Haimen, and Qidong speak the Wu language, the specific local variety of which is often referred to as "Qi-hai Hua" (启海话), meaning Qidong-Haimen speech. It is about the same as the dialect spoken on the neighbouring island of Chongming, Shanghai. People in northern parts of these counties speak the "Tongdong dialect" (Chinese: 通东话; pinyin: Tōngdōnghuà; lit. 'Eastern Tong Talk'. People in Rugao, Hai'an speak other dialects.
Tourism
The Hao River, known as the Emerald Necklace of Nantong, surrounds the city with a total length of 15 km (9.3 mi). Most city scenery lines this river.[32]
Popular tourist sites include Langshan ("Wolf Hill"), which is around 110 meters high. On top of the hill is a Buddhist temple dedicated to a Song dynasty monk. Because of the monk's legendary powers over water demons, sailors pray to him for protection on their voyages.[citation needed]
The Cao Gong Zhu Memorial Temple commemorates a local hero who defended the city against Japanese pirates in 1557.[citation needed]
Shuihuiyuan Garden, meaning Water Garden, is unique of all Chinese classical gardens due its creation in the Hui style. It includes the tombs of several people, such as Luo Binwang, a poet of the Tang dynasty; Wen Tianxiang, the national hero of the Nansong dynasty; and Zhang Jian, the scholar of the late Qing dynasty, who was a modern industrialist and supporter of education.[citation needed]
Economy
Nantong was historically known as an agricultural area and a traditional site for salt-making.[citation needed] Its principal agricultural products include cotton, silk, rice, wheat, fishing, fruits, rice wine, and more. Currently, the city is making efforts to upgrade its farming sectors and increase production of organic foods.[citation needed]
Nantong is one of the 14 port cities opened to foreign investment projects under China's current policies of modernization. Nantong was traditionally an industrial city, especially around the turn of the 20th century, specializing in salt and cotton textile production. Today's industrial corporations have made Nantong into an industrial hub since it opened its door to the outside world in the 1990s. With its excellent geographic location and the completion of two Yangtze River bridges, the prefecture is attracting more investment funding nationwide.[citation needed] Many of these investments come from international corporations. In October 2007, Singapore RGM International signed an agreement with Rudong, a county under Nantong's jurisdiction, to invest in a port project, costing 9 billion Yuan or US$1.33 billion, at Rudong Yangkou Port.[citation needed]
Today, Nantong is one of many fast-growing coastal cities in China.[citation needed] With the opening of Sutong Bridge in April 2008 and Chonghai Bridge in 2009, the city has been listed as the number one city in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone for foreign investment, surpassing its rivals Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing.[citation needed]
As a sprawling metropolis, Nantong has experienced environment damage from its industrialization as well. The municipal government has been putting stiffer environmental policies into practice over the years and has spent tremendous amounts of money to curb pollution and plant more trees along its roads. The city is active in shutting down factories that do not meet its environment laws.[citation needed]
Nantong has developed rapidly in the last 25 years, as have most of the cities in the Yangtze River Delta. Nantong's rapid economic growth is generally attributed to its advantageous location just north of Shanghai. Nantong's Sutong Bridge is expected to further Nantong's integration with Shanghai, cutting transportation time between the cities down from three hours to one hour.[33]
The shipping corporation Cosco has a large port and ship repair yard on the river. Cosco (Nantong) Shipyard Co., Ltd, the first shipyard of the Cosco group, has placed itself adjacent to the busy port of Nantong. The yard has 1120 m of coastline and is equipped with one cape-size and one panamax size floating dock. Cosco Shipyard handles approximately 150 vessels per year.[34] Nantong Mingde Heavy Industries originally operated a shipyard in Nantong, but declared bankruptcy in 2014.[35] Minde's parent company, Jiangsu Sainty Marine Corporation, would cease operations in 2017.[36]
Some companies in Nantong:
- Empire Clothing Co. Ltd. – Manufacturer of garments for men, women and children. Products gallery.
- Nantong No.2 Yarn-dyed Weaving Mill – Cloth and garment manufacturer.
- Nantong Taierte Clothing Co. Ltd. – Textile production and processing.
- Nantong Freezing Equipment Factory – Refrigeration and quick freezing equipment for the food industry.
- Nantong Printing and Dyeing Co. Ltd. – Textile processor. Product specifications.
- Nantong Suzhong Textile Co. Ltd. – Yarn and thread manufacturer. Product specifications.
- Nantong General Pharmaceutical Factory – Manufacturer of pharmaceutical materials such as tablets, capsules and injections. Product specifications.
- Nantong Xiaoxing Transformer Co., Ltd. -Various range of electric transformers
- Nantong Fujitsu Microelectronics Co Ltd [37]
Industrial zones
Nantong Binhai Park
Established in January 2012 according to State-level development zone standards, Nantong Binhai Park is under the direct governance and significant investment of the Nantong Municipality. Benefiting from favorable policies, the park spans an expansive land area of 820 km2 (320 sq mi).
Situated 50 km (31 mi) east of Nantong's downtown area, it is conveniently located within a 1.5-hour drive from Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao airports. Binhai Park boasts excellent transportation infrastructure, with access to key expressways linking Tongyang to Nantong downtown, Haiqi to Qidong and Shanghai Pudong, as well as seaports featuring 500 berths ranging from 50,000 tons to 300,000 tons in the Tongzhou Bay port cluster.
The industries in Binhai Park primarily focus on maritime and offshore activities, logistics, equipment manufacturing, new energy, advanced materials, electronics, and more.
Nantong Economic & Technological Development Area
Established in 1984, Nantong Economic & Technological Development Area (NETDA) was one of the first state-level development zones approved by the Chinese Central Government and has been certified as an ISO 14000 National Demonstration Zone. The zone benefits from superior transportation facilities by both rail and road. NETDA has direct links to two railways: the Xinyi-Changxing Railway and the Nanjing-Qidong Railway. Su-Tong Yangtze River Bridge feeds into the center of NETDA and connects the Nanjing-Nantong and Yancheng-Nantong Expressways to the north, and Shanghai-Nanjing and Suzhou-Jiaxing-Hangzhou Expressways and Riverside Expressways to the south.
NETDA includes several subsidiary zones including Nantong Export Processing Zone, New Material Park, Opto-mechatronics Industrial Park and NETDA Business Park. Special incentives are offered for investments in areas of modern equipment manufacturing, such as in new materials, engineering, fine chemicals, new medicines, new energy and modern services. At present, NETDA has attracted a large number of renowned companies to settle in Nantong, such as Vonnex Allied IT Services, OJI Paper, Maxion, Johnson Controls, ITOCHU, TSRC Corporation, and Merck KGaA.[38][39]
China-Singapore Suzhou Science and Technology Park
Established in 2009, China-Singapore Suzhou STP is one of the key projects of Jiangsu Province coastal development. It's also a joint-venture park between Suzhou and Nantong, linking them on either side of the Yangtze River. The intended area is 50 km2 (19 sq mi) and is to be developed in three phases. It claims the project as "An International Enterprise Park and Eco-friendly City in Yangtze Delta".[40]
Nantong Export Processing Zone
Nantong Export Processing Zone (NTEPZ) is situated in the Nantong Economic and Technological Development Area with a planned area of 2.98 km2 (1.15 sq mi). The Tong-Qi canal marks its western and northern boundaries, with Dongfang Avenue and Fuxin Road its eastern and southern boundaries respectively. NTPEZ is located at a communication hub, adjoining the main coastal artery of communications between north and south, close to the estuary of the Yangtze River, only 8 kilometers to the Su(Suzhou)-Tong(Nangtong) Changjiang Bridge.[41]
Administration
The prefecture-level city of Nantong administers seven county-level divisions, including three districts, three county-level cities, and one county.
These are further divided into 146 township-level divisions.
| Administrative divisions of Nantong | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Subdivision | Chinese (S) | Pinyin | Postal | Population (2020 census)[42] |
Area (km2) | Density (/km2) | |
| Chongchuan District | 崇川区 | Chóngchuān Qū | 226000 | 1,516,013 | 564.1 | 2,687 | |
| Tongzhou District | 通州区 | Tōngzhōu Qū | 226300 | 1,258,739 | 1,432 | 879.0 | |
| Haimen District | 海门区 | Hǎimén Qū | 226100 | 991,782 | 1,138 | 871.5 | |
| Rural | |||||||
| Rudong County | 如东县 | Rúdōng Xiàn | 226400 | 880,006 | 2,252 | 390.8 | |
| Satellite cities (County-level cities) | |||||||
| Qidong City | 启东市 | Qǐdōng Shì | 226200 | 972,525 | 1,714.59 | 567.21 | |
| Rugao City | 如皋市 | Rúgāo Shì | 226500 | 1,238,448 | 1,579 | 784.3 | |
| Hai'an City | 海安市 | Hǎi'ān Shì | 226600 | 874,334 | 1,152 | 759.0 | |
| Total | 7,726,635 | 9,802 | 788.3 | ||||
- Defunct – Gangzha District has been promoted to Gangzha Economic Development Zone (Gangzha Jingji Kaifa Qu – 港闸经济开发区) at the provincial level.
Transportation
Air
Nantong Xingdong International Airport, located in the town of Xingdong in Tongzhou District, 9.8 kilometers northeast of city center and 120 kilometers from Shanghai, serves Nantong and its neighboring areas. The construction of terminal 2 was completed in 2014, marking an important step towards serving international flights,[43] the first of which took place on 26 May 2023, to Hong Kong.[44]
Road
Nantong has two bridges across the Yangtze to the south. The Chongming–Qidong Yangtze River Bridge, completed in 2011, carries the G40 Shanghai–Xi'an Expressway from Qidong to Chongming Island. The Sutong Yangtze River Bridge, which carries the G15 Shenyang–Haikou Expressway from Nantong to Changshu, was completed in 2008 and is one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world.
Rail
The Nanjing-Qidong (Ningqi) and Xinyi-Changxing (Xinchang) railways intersect at Hai'an in the northwestern part of Nantong Prefecture. The Nantong–Shanghai railway opened in 2020 with the Hutong Yangtze River Bridge and provides a link south to Suzhou and Shanghai.
Currently, Nantong Railway station and Hai'An railway station have the highest train volume in the city. Due to the single-track nature of the Nanjing-Qidong railway east of Nantong railway station, Electrified Multiple Unit service are not available beyond Nantong railway station; Qidong railway station currently receives 4 round trip trains per day operated as "K" trains. A line from Hai'an also connects Rudong county to the national rail network, with daily departures bounding for Nanjing.
The first line of the Nantong Metro opened in 2022.[45]
Education
Nantong hosts a comprehensive university, Nantong University (made by the merger of the former Nantong Medical College, former Nantong Normal College, and former Nantong Engineer College). It includes 21 schools and had around 22,000 registered students in 2007.
Nantong has contributed to China's educational development with several firsts: establishment of the first school for teacher training, the first folk museum (Nantong Museum[46]), the first school for industrial textile manufacturing, the first school for embroidery, the first drama school, and the first school for the deaf and the blind.[47][48][49]
Zhang Jian founded the first normal school in modern China, Nantong Normal College. Zhang also founded museums, libraries, and theaters, making Nantong into an important cultural center.
- Secondary schools (incomplete list):
- Nantong Middle School[50]
- Nantong No.1 Middle School[51]
- Universities and colleges:
- International Schools
- Nantong Stalford International School http://en.ntsis.com/
Social Welfare Institute
Established in 1906, Nantong Social Welfare Institute was originally created by Zhang Jian as a house for orphans, the aged, and the disabled.
Located on the banks of the Haohe, the site of the institute has an area of 13.2 mu (8,800 m2). At present,[when?] there are 79 staff members who care for around 170 orphans, widows, and disabled children, plus 70 retirees.[citation needed] Since 1952, Nantong Social Welfare Institute has adopted more than 16,000 elderly, orphaned and disabled children.[52]
Notable people
- Ding Xuexiang (born 1962), member of Politburo Standing Committee and Vice Premier
- Ge Jun (born 1964), college and university professor
See also
Notes
- Chinese: 南通; pinyin: Nántōng; alternate names: Nan-t'ung, Nantung, Tongzhou, or Tungchow; Qihai dialect: [nie tʰoŋ]
