Changzhou

History

As approved by State Council on June 8, 1995, Wujin County was promoted to Wujin City, with the government set in Hutang Town. In 1999, as approved by the provincial government, Taixiang Town of Jiaoqu District was revoked and incorporated into Xueyan Town of Wujin City.

Geography

Changzhou is located in the Yangtze Delta region, in the northwestern part of the Taihu Lake Plain. It is bordered by the Yangtze River in the north, Taihu Lake in the south, Anhui province and Nanjing in the southwest, Wuxi in the east and Zhenjiang in the west. It is equidistant from Shanghai and Nanjing, and 144 kilometres from the provincial capital Nanjing. Southwest of the Yili mountains, mountain peaks have Maoshan.

Changzhou has Tao Lake and Ge Lake. Rivers are Beijing–Hangzhou Grand Canal, Wuyi Canal, Tai Ge Canal, Jingxi, South Canal and so on. Changzhou has a dense network of waterways, and in the 1930s, when flooding broke out in the southern part of the Yangtze River, Zhou Chen went to the southern part of the Yangtze River to control the water, he greatly promoted the enclosure of lakes to create fields. The local government created of land in 20 years, making Furong Lake, Yang Lake and Linjin Lake gradually shrink to the point of disappearing.

Climate

The climate is humid subtropical Cfa, with cool winters and hot and humid summers. Changzhou has a wide range of temperature differences throughout the year.

| Jan record high C = 21.2 | Jan record low C = -15.5 | Feb record high C = 26.7 | Feb record low C = -11.5 | Mar record high C = 33.6 | Mar record low C = -7.6 | Apr record high C = 33.6 | Apr record low C = -1.3 | May record high C = 37.3 | May record low C = 5.7 | Jun record high C = 37.8 | Jun record low C = 11.5 | Jul record high C = 40.6 | Jul record low C = 17.0 | Aug record high C = 40.3 | Aug record low C = 17.8 | Sep record high C = 38.2 | Sep record low C = 10.4 | Oct record high C = 37.7 | Oct record low C = 1.6 | Nov record high C = 29.9 | Nov record low C = -5.4 | Dec record high C = 22.8 | Dec record low C = -11.2 all-time extreme temperature{{cite web |access-date= 11 May 2025}} | script-title=zh:常州 – 气象数据 -中国天气网 | access-date = 22 November 2022}}

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Changzhou administers seven county-level divisions, including five districts and one county-level city.

Demographics

Its total population was 5,278,121 inhabitants at the 2020 census, a 1.4% annual increase since the previous census.

Education

Local universities include Hohai University's Changzhou campus. Secondary schools include the Changzhou Senior High School of Jiangsu Province and the newly established Changzhou Songjianhu Senior High School.

Transportation

Metro

Main article: Changzhou Metro

The city's metro system, Changzhou Metro, started the operation on 21 September 2019 with the opening of Line 1. Line 2 opened on 28 June 2021.

Railway

Located just south of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River), Changzhou station is situated on the original Beijing–Shanghai railway. Changzhou North station was completed in 2011 and is located in the north of Changzhou in the Xinbei district on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway. Changzhou is also one of the main stops on the busy Shanghai–Nanjing intercity railway, with two stations located in Changzhou (Changzhou station and Qishuyan station).

Airport

Changzhou Benniu International Airport in Xinbei District is approximately 15 km from the city center.

Highways and expressways

• China National Highway 312
• Shanghai-Nanjing Expressway (part of G42 Shanghai-Chengdu Expressway)
• Yanjiang Expressway (part of G4221 Shanghai-Wuhan Expressway
• G4011 Yangzhou-Liyang Expressway
• G4012 Liyang-Ningde Expressway (Liyang only)
• G25 Changchun-Shenzhen Expressway

Bus rapid transport (BRT) system

Use of the BRT System costs two yuan and provides access throughout Changzhou. The BRT stations and road sections have separate bus lanes or bus-only roadways, enhanced station environments (not just simple bus shelters), pre-boarding fare collection and fare verification, centralized system controls, as well as station access for disabled persons.

Tourism

Amusement parks

Changzhou is the home of the China Dinosaurs Park located in the Xinbei District of the city. The 5A rated Dinosaur Park has a collection of dinosaur bones and fossils from all over China. The park has 50 various fossils and more than 30 amusement programs including the Brontosaurus Roller Coaster and the Whirling Dinosaur Carriage. The fossils are located in a museum housed in a single building and the amusement rides are spread throughout the park which is categorized into six themed areas. Besides fossils and family oriented rides, Dinosaur Park is home to a giant panda and sea lions.

Tianning Temple and Hongmei Park

The city is also home to the Tianning Temple—one of the largest Zen Buddhist temple and monasteries in China. The city recently rebuilt the Tianning pagoda in the temple grounds, which is adjacent to Hongmei Park. The pagoda, called the Tianning Baota, was first built during the Tang dynasty (AD 618 – 907). Since that time it has been destroyed and rebuilt five times. The current reconstruction is built to the height specification of 153.79 m. This makes it the tallest pagoda in China and perhaps also the world. Both the Hongmei Park and Tianning Temple are located just to the east of the city centre.

Other attractions

• The Old Museum of Wisteria
• Canal 5 Creative Campus

Gallery

Changcheu.jpg|Changcheu Prefecture between the Yangtze and Lake Tai, from Martino Martini's 1655 Novus Atlas Sinensis. ChangzhouOldCityDistrict.jpg|The parks and pagodas of the old city of Changzhou. 大运河 - panoramio.jpg|The Grand Canal at Changzhou in 2006.

Sister cities

• Mauritius Beau Bassin-Rose Hill, Mauritius
• US Buffalo, New York, United States of America
• South Korea Chuncheon, South Korea
• Tanzania Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
• Turkey Eskişehir, Turkey
• Germany Essen, Germany
• Poland Jelenia Gora, Poland
• Malaysia Johor Bahru, Malaysia
• Chile La Serena, Chile
• Belgium Lommel, Belgium
• Germany Minden, Germany
• South Korea Namyangju, South Korea
• Israel Netanya, Israel
• Italy Prato, Italy
• US Rockford, Illinois, United States of America
• Finland Satakunta, Finland
• UK Solihull, England, United Kingdom
• Russia Stavropol, Russia
• Japan Takatsuki, Osaka Prefecture, Japan
• Netherlands Tilburg, Netherlands
• Japan Tokorozawa, Japan
• US Torrington, Connecticut, United States of America
• Australia Wyndham, Australia

Notable people

• Su Dongpo (Su Shi; 1036–1101), poet and essayist.
• Sheng Xuanhuai (1844–1916), late Qing dynasty bureaucrat and reformer.
• Lü Simian (1884–1957), historian and member of the Doubting Antiquity School
• Zhao Yuanren (1892–1982), linguist.
• Hong Shen (1894–1955), pioneering dramatist and filmmaker.
• Yun Daiying (1895–1931), revolutionary and pioneer of early Communist Youth activities.
• Liu Haisu (1896–1994), artist.
• Zhang Tailei (1898–1927), one of the founders of Chinese Communist Party (CCP), first Chinese ever working in Communist International.
• Qu Qiubai (1899–1935), former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and prominent Marxist thinker and writer. Named "Changzhou San Jie" together with Yun Daiying and Zhang Tailei.
• Zhou Youguang (1906–2017), linguist often credited as the "father of Hanyu Pinyin"
• Hua Luogeng (1910–1985), mathematician.
• Xie Zhiliu (1910–1997), painter.
• Yuan-Cheng Fung (1919–2019), professor and author. A founder of biomechanics.
• Tang Jun, former President of Microsoft in China.
• Lu Lan (1987–), Olympic athlete and badminton player. Won the woman's championship at the 2009 BWF World Championships.
• Bai Lu (1994–), actress, model and singer.
• Yang Li, human rights activist.

Media

In the film Pacific Rim, Changzhou is credited as the city the jaeger Crimson Typhoon was assembled in.

References

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