Nantong is a

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 ...

in southeastern

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, China. Located on the northern bank of the

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

, near the river mouth. Nantong is a vital river port bordering

Yancheng Yancheng (), formerly known as Yandu, is a prefecture-level city in the eastern coastal Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. As the city with the largest jurisdictional area in Jiangsu, Yancheng borders Lianyungang to the north, Huai' ...

to the north; Taizhou to the west;

Suzhou Suzhou is a major prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu province, China. As part of the Yangtze Delta megalopolis, it is a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce. Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou rapidly grew in size by the ...

Wuxi Wuxi ( zh, s=无锡, p=Wúxī, ) is a city in southern Jiangsu, China. As of the 2024 census, it had a population of 7,495,000. The city lies in the southern Yangtze delta and borders Lake Tai. Notable landmarks include Lihu Park, the Mt. Lings ...

and

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 south across the river; and 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 ...

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. On September 26, 2004, the first World Metropolitan Development Forum was held in Nantong. In 2005, Nantong had a

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

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. 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.

Toponymy

In 958 CE, the area was organized as a

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

, named Tong Prefecture (). The name was possibly derived from its position near the mouth of the Yangtze. In 1151, another Tong Prefecture with an identical name was established in present-day

Tongzhou, Beijing Tongzhou is a district of Beijing. It is located in southeast Beijing and considered the eastern gateway to the nation's capital. Downtown Tongzhou itself lies around east of central Beijing, at the northern end of the Grand Canal (China), G ...

. During the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

, to avoid confusion, the Tong Prefecture in present-day Nantong was changed to Nantong Prefecture (), to indicate its location to the south of the other Tong Prefecture.

History

The area of present-day Nantong is part of the

Yangtze The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

river's

alluvial plain An alluvial plain is a plain (an essentially flat landform) created by the deposition of sediment over a long period by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A ''floodplain'' is part of the process, bei ...

, with the land being form from

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

carried down the river. The area was first inhabited over 5,000 years ago. Most of the area of present-day Nantong was formed within the past 2,000 years, as local

sandbars In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material, and rises from the bed of a body of water close to the surface or ...

grew and connected with one another.

Ancient era

The area that is now Nantong was originally part of the

state of Wu Wu () was a state during the Western Zhou dynasty and the Spring and Autumn period, outside the Zhou cultural sphere. It was also known as Gouwu () or Gongwu () from the pronunciation of the local language. Wu was located at the mouth of th ...

during the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period () was a period in History of China, Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou (256 BCE), characterized by the gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject t ...

, which was later conquered by the

state of Yue Yue (), also known as Yuyue ( or ), was a state in ancient China which existed during the first millennium BC the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods of China's Zhou dynasty in the modern provinces of Zhejiang, Shanghai and Jiangsu ...

in 473 BCE. After yet again being subjected to a new foreign rule by the

state of Chu Chu (, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was an Ancient Chinese states, ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BC. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland and lasted ...

in 334 BCE, the inhabitants of present-day Nantong would again experience another regime change during the first unification of China by the

state of Qin Qin (, , or ''Ch'in'') was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. It is traditionally dated to 897 BC. The state of Qin originated from a reconquest of western lands that had previously been lost to the Xirong. Its location at ...

Imperial era

250px, left, Xuanmiao Temple, a Song dynasty architectural relic built in 1009, located in Chongchuan District. In 411 CE, during the Eastern Jin dynasty, four County (China), counties were established in the area: Ninghai County (), Rugao County (), Linjiang County (), and Putao County (). All four counties were subordinate to , which could later be incorporated as

Yangzhou Yangzhou is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu Province, East China. Sitting on the north bank of the Yangtze, it borders the provincial capital Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou, Jiangsu, ...

. Under the

Southern dynasties The Northern and Southern dynasties () was a period of political division in the history of China that lasted from 420 to 589, following the tumultuous era of the Sixteen Kingdoms and the Eastern Jin dynasty. It is sometimes considered as ...

, a fifth county, Hai'an County (), was also established. In the early

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...

, all of the counties in present-day Nantong were abolished. Hai'an County was briefly re-established in 708 CE, during 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 ...

, when it was carved out of the eastern portion of nearby . In 722 CE, it Hai'an County was merged back into Hailing County. Rugao County was re-established in 952 CE. In 958 CE, the area was organized as a

, named Tong Prefecture (). It administered two counties: Jinghai County () and Haimen County (). Its administrative seat was located in Jinghai County. In 1023, Tong Prefecture was briefly renamed to Chong Prefecture (), although its name was reverted to Tong Prefecture within the year. In 1278, during the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

, Tong Prefecture was reorganized as a circuit. This change was reverted six years later. In 1368, the first year of 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 ...

, Jinghai County was abolished, and the area was put under the direct administration of Tong Prefecture. At this time, Tong Prefecture also held jurisdiction over Haimen County and Chongming County (). Eight years later, Chongming County was transferred from Tong Prefecture to . During the

, Tong Prefecture was renamed to Nantong Prefecture () to avoid confusion with another Tong Prefecture located in present-day

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. In 1672, Haimen County was abolished and placed under the direct administration of Tong Prefecture. In 1724, Nantong was reorganized as a .

Modern era

Nantong was the first place in China to be developed into a modern city after the collapse of the Qing dynasty, and was also the birthplace of China's modern industry. The prosperity of Nantong has traditionally depended on salt production on the nearby seacoast, rice and cotton agriculture, and manufacture of cotton and silk textiles, especially Nantong blue calico. A local statesman and industrialist named Zhang Jian founded Nantong's first modern cotton mills in 1899. He then developed an industrial complex that included flour, oil, and silk reeling mills, a distillery, and a machinery shop. He also founded a shipping line and reclaimed saline agricultural land to the east of Nantong for cotton production. Thanks to these efforts, by 1911 Nantong was commonly called "Zhang Jian's Kingdom". In the early Republican period, the Nantong Special Administrative District included

Chongming County Chongming District () is the northernmost district of the provincial-level municipality of Shanghai. Chongming consists of three low-lying inhabited alluvial islands at the mouth of the Yangtze north of the Shanghai peninsula: Chongming, Cha ...

, now part of

."Chongming County" in the ''Encyclopedia of Shanghai'', pp. 50 ff.
Shanghai Scientific & Technical Publishers (Shanghai), 2010. Hosted by the Municipality of Shanghai. The Republic of China reorganized the area's administrative units in 1912, to be three counties: Nantong, Rugao, and Haimen. All three were directly administered by

province. Following the

Shanghai massacre The Shanghai massacre of 12 April 1927, the April 12 Purge or the April 12 Incident as it is commonly known in China, was the violent suppression of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organizations and leftist elements in Shanghai by forces support ...

of 1927, the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP) became active in the Tonghairutai area (), spanning present-day Nantong,

Haimen Haimen (, Qihai dialect: , Shanghai: ) is a district of Nantong, Jiangsu province, with a population of approximately 1 million. It is located at the opposite side of the Yangtze River to Shanghai and is directly north of Chongming Island except ...

Rugao Rugao () is a county-level city under the administration of Nantong, Jiangsu province, China, located in the Yangtze River Delta on the northern (left) bank of the river. History In 411, the western part of then Hailing ( Taizhou) was separated ...

, and Taizhou. In April 1928, the of the

Chinese Red Army The Chinese Red Army, formally the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army( zh, labels=no, t=中國工農紅軍) or just the Red Army( zh, labels=no, t=紅軍), was the military wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1928 to 1937. I ...

commenced

guerilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include recruited children, use ambushes, sabotage, terrorism ...

operations throughout the area. In February 1929, the CCP established a local

soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

in Nantong. The following year, led by the 14th Army, numerous local soviets were established. Invading Japanese forces conquered Nantong on March 17, 1938. Local CCP forces began covertly resisting Japanese occupation in August 1938. Forces belonging to the

New Fourth Army The New Fourth Army (N4A) () was a military unit nominally under the banner of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China, established in 1937 as part of the Second United Front against Japan. However, in practice, the New ...

crossed from south of the Yangtze river near the end of 1939, entering nearby

Jiangdu Jiangdu ( zh, s=江都区, p=Jiāngdū Qū, l=; historically known as Kiangtu) is one of three districts of Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, China. The district spans an area of , and as of November 1, 2020, has 926,577 inhabitants. Formerly a county, ...

in present-day

. Following an attack from

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

general

Han Deqin Han Deqin (; 8 October 1892 – 15 August 1988) was a KMT general from Siyang County, Jiangsu. He graduated from the Baoding Military Academy. He fought against the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in Jiangxi and the forces of the Emp ...

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. Japanese occupation came to an end in Rugao on September 21, 1945. The Chinese Civil War in Nantong resumed in July 1946, when the New Fourth Army's Central China Field Army () and Kuomintang forces engaged in the , which CCP forces won in August. 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. Large-scale fighting resumed in the area during the autumn of 1948 with the Huaihai campaign. Towards the end of the campaign, the CCP forces (now re-organized as the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

) 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. In January 1950,

Hai'an Hai'an () is a county-level city under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Nantong, in eastern Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provi ...

and Rugao were transferred to the jurisdiction of Nantong. In May 2021, a violent storm hit the city, leaving 11 people dead, and a further 102 people injured. According to authorities, many homes were badly damaged during the storm, and more than 3,000 people were evacuated. They were among many other cities on China's east coast that were affected.

Geography

Nantong belongs to the

of the

river, formed by the deposit of

that flowed through the river. Most of the city's current land was formed within the past 2,000 years.

Climate

Nantong has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Cfa''), with four distinct seasons. Winters are chilly and damp, and cold northwesterly winds caused by the

Siberian high The Siberian High (also Siberian Anticyclone; (''Aziatsky antitsiklon''); zh, 西伯利亞高壓; Pinyin ''Xībólìyǎ gāoyā''; Kazakh Азия антициклоны (''Aziya antitsiklonı'')) is a massive collection of cold dry air that a ...

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 in January to in July, and the annual mean is . With the

plum rain The East Asian rainy season (), also called the plum rain, is caused by precipitation along a persistent stationary front known as the Meiyu front for nearly two months during the late spring and early summer in East Asia between China, Taiwan ...

s in June and early July comes the rainiest part of the year.

Culture

Xuanmiao Temple Xuanmiao Temple () is a prominent Taoist temple with a long history, located at the center of old Suzhou City. The street along the east–west direction in front of the temple is called Guanqian Street, a famed business pedestrian street in ...

, structure built during the Song era. * Nantong Museum

Language

Nantong city and its six counties (or

county-level cities , map = , category = Third level administrative division of a unitary state , territory = People's Republic of China , upper_unit = Prefectures, Provinces , start_date = , current_number = 411 (408 controlled, 3 claimed) , number_da ...

) are rich in linguistic diversity, featuring both important Northern Wu varieties and highly divergent dialects of Mandarin (see

Nantong dialect Tong–Tai ( zh, c=通泰), also known as Tai–Ru ( zh, c=泰如), is a group of Lower Yangtze Mandarin dialects spoken in the east-central part of Jiangsu province in the prefecture-level cities of Nantong (formerly Tongzhou) and Taizhou. The ...

). 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,

, and Qidong speak the

Wu language , region = Shanghai, Zhejiang, southern Jiangsu, parts of Anhui and Jiangxi provinces; overseas and migrant communities , ethnicity = Wu , speakers = million , date = 2021 , ref = e27 , fa ...

, the specific local variety of which is often referred to as "Qi-hai Hua" (), meaning Qidong-Haimen speech. It is about the same as the dialect spoken on the neighbouring island of Chongming,

. People in northern parts of these counties speak the "Tongdong dialect" (. 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 . Most city scenery lines this river. City of Nantong and the River Hao

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 The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

monk. Because of the monk's legendary powers over water demons, sailors pray to him for protection on their voyages. The Cao Gong Zhu Memorial Temple commemorates a local hero who defended the city against Japanese pirates in 1557. 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.

Economy

Nantong was historically known as an agricultural area and a traditional site for salt-making. 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. 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. 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. Today, Nantong is one of many fast-growing coastal cities in China. With the opening of

Sutong Bridge The Sutong Yangtze Bridge (; , ) is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the Yangtze in China between Nantong and Changshu, a satellite city of Suzhou, in Jiangsu province. Design and construction The Sutong Yangtze River Bridge was designed by Dr. ...

in April 2008 and

Chonghai Bridge The Chonghai Bridge () is a proposed bridge to span the northern distributary at the mouth of the Yangtze River in the People's Republic of China. The bridge, along with the Chongqi Bridge and the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel and Bridge, is to ...

in 2009, the city has been listed as the number one city in the

Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD), once known as the Shanghai Economic Zone, is a megalopolis generally comprising the Wu-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, southern Anhui. The area lies in the he ...

for foreign investment, surpassing its rivals Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing. 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. Nantong has developed rapidly in the last 25 years, as have most of the cities in the

Yangtze River Delta The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD), once known as the Shanghai Economic Zone, is a megalopolis generally comprising the Wu-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, southern Anhui. The area lies in the he ...

. Nantong's rapid economic growth is generally attributed to its advantageous location just north of

. 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. The shipping corporation

Cosco China Ocean Shipping Company (COSCO) was a former shipping corporation from 1961 to 2016, owned by the State Council of the People's Republic of China, State Council of China. The company merged with China Shipping Group, China Shipping Grou ...

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.

Nantong Mingde Heavy Industries Nantong 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 ...

originally operated a shipyard in Nantong, but declared bankruptcy in 2014. Minde's parent company, Jiangsu Sainty Marine Corporation, would cease operations in 2017. 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

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.

China Singapore

Established in 2009, 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 and is to be developed in three phases. It claims the project as "An International Enterprise Park and Eco-friendly City in Yangtze Delta".

Nantong Export Processing Zone

Nantong Export Processing Zone (NTEPZ) is situated in the Nantong Economic and Technological Development Area with a planned area of . 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.

Administration

The

of Nantong administers seven county-level divisions, including three

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

, three

, and one

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

. These are further divided into 146

township-level divisions The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since 1412, due to mainland China's large population and geographical area. In the People's Republic of China, the constitution provides for three levels of government. Ho ...

. * Defunct – Gangzha District has been promoted to Gangzha Economic Development Zone ( Gangzha Jingji Kaifa Qu – ) at the provincial level.

Transportation

Air

Nantong Xingdong International Airport Nantong Xingdong International Airport is an international airport serving the city of Nantong in East China’s Jiangsu province. It is located in the town of Xingdong in Tongzhou District, northeast of Nantong and from Shanghai. Construct ...

, 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, the first of which took place on 26 May 2023, to Hong Kong.

Road

Nantong has two bridges across the Yangtze to the south. The

Chongming–Qidong Yangtze River Bridge Chongming–Qidong Yangtze River Bridge or the Chongqi Bridge (), also called Chongqi Crossing Project (), is a bridge across the north fork of the Yangtze River, near the river's mouth between Chongming Island of Shanghai and Qidong in Jiangsu P ...

, completed in 2011, carries the

G40 Shanghai–Xi'an Expressway The Shanghai–Xi'an Expressway (), designated as G40 and commonly referred to as the Hushaan Expressway () is an expressway that connects the cities of Shanghai and Xi'an, Shaanxi. It is in length. The expressway was completed after Chongqi B ...

from Qidong to

Chongming Island Chongming (), Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanized as Chungming, is an alluvial island at the mouth of the Yangtze, Yangtze River in East China covering as of 2010. Together with the islands Changxing Island (Shanghai), Changxing an ...

. The

Sutong Yangtze River Bridge The Sutong Yangtze Bridge (; , ) is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the Yangtze in China between Nantong and Changshu, a satellite city of Suzhou, in Jiangsu province. Design and construction The Sutong Yangtze River Bridge was designed by Dr. ...

, which carries the

G15 Shenyang–Haikou Expressway The Shenyang–Haikou Expressway (), designated as G15 and commonly referred to as the Shenhai Expressway () is an expressway in China that connects the cities of Shenyang, Liaoning, and Haikou, Hainan. When fully complete, it will be in lengt ...

from Nantong to

Changshu Changshu (; Suzhounese: /d͡ʐan¹³ ʐoʔ²³/) is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, and is part of the Yangtze River Delta. It borders the prefecture-level city of Nantong to the northeast across the Yangt ...

, 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

in the northwestern part of Nantong Prefecture. The Nantong–Shanghai railway opened in 2020 with the

Hutong Yangtze River Bridge The Husutong Yangtze River Bridge is a combined rail and road bridge which crosses the Yangtze River in Jiangsu, China. It is the easternmost railway crossing of the Yangtze River. Construction began on 1 March 2014. The bridge opened on 1 July ...

and provides a link south to

and

. 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 Nantong Rail Transit () is a rapid transit system in Nantong, Jiangsu Province, China. In August 2014, China's National Development and Reform Commission approved Nantong Rail Transit's short-term (2014-2020) construction plan, including Line 1 a ...

opened in 2022.

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), 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. 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 Nantong High School of Jiangsu Province ( shortname: 通中, Tong-Zhong) is a high school in Nantong, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China. It has been regarded as an elite school since the 1930s. Alumni include 20 academicians of the Chinese ...

** Nantong No.1 Middle School *Universities and colleges: **

Nantong University Nantong University () is a provincial public university in Nantong, Jiangsu, China. It is affiliated with the Province of Jiangsu and co-funded by the Jiangsu Provincial People's Government and the Ministry of Transport. The university's earlies ...

*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, there are 79 staff members who care for around 170 orphans, widows, and disabled children, plus 70 retirees. Since 1952, Nantong Social Welfare Institute has adopted more than 16,000 elderly, orphaned and disabled children.

Notable people

Ding Xuexiang Ding Xuexiang (born 13 September 1962) is a Chinese politician who is currently the first-ranked vice premier of China and the sixth-ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. Considered a close confidan ...

(born 1962), member of

Politburo Standing Committee The Politburo Standing Committee (PSC), officially the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) an ...

and

Vice Premier A vice is a practice, behaviour, habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhealthy habit. Vices a ...

Ge Jun Ge Jun (; born in October 1964 in Nantong, Jiangsu) is the associate professor and master instructor of College of Mathematics and Computer Science of Nanjing Normal University. Ge took part in the composing and designing process of the mathemat ...

(born 1964), college and university professor

Notes

References

External links

* {{Authority control Cities in Jiangsu Populated places on the Yangtze River Jiangnan National Civilized City National Famous Historical and Cultural City