# Taicang

Taicang is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China. The city located in the south of the Yangtze River estuary opposite Nantong, being bordered by Shanghai proper to the south, while the river also delineates much of its northeastern boundary along Chongming Island.

## Administration

Taicang administers 7 towns:
| Chengxiang (城厢镇) Shaxi (沙溪镇) Ludu (陆渡镇) Liuhe (浏河镇) | Fuqiao (浮桥镇) Huangjing (璜泾镇) Shuangfeng (双凤镇) |

## History
### Toponym

Taicang as a place name is mentioned in a memorial to the throne of geographer Jia Dan during the Song dynasty, "Where lies to the east of Kunshan nowadays", he supposedly wrote, "is called Taicang, also known as Gangshen".

### Overview

Taicang is a natural port. Under the Yuan, the city reached its peak between 1271 and 1368. Under the Ming, Taicang's Liuhe Harbor was the departure point for Zheng He's treasure fleets. It was also during this period that the shoals in the Yangtze estuary which later became Chongming Island were placed under the supervision of Taicang Prefecture.
It was the venue for the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup.

## Geography

The Taicang port is in the east of the city, and south of the Yangtze exit into the East China Sea. The center of the Taicang port is on 31°37′00" North, 121°14′00" East. The port line stretches 24.3 miles (38.8 km), of which 15.6 miles can park 50 thousand ton vessels. Taicang is in a humid subtropical climate zone with distinctive seasons. The average year round temperature is 15.5 Celsius. Precipitation is around 1078.1 mm.

## Climate

Climate data for Taicang, elevation 6 m (20 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–2010) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 21.3 (70.3) | 26.3 (79.3) | 28.9 (84.0) | 33.8 (92.8) | 35.6 (96.1) | 37.4 (99.3) | 38.7 (101.7) | 39.0 (102.2) | 37.4 (99.3) | 32.9 (91.2) | 28.4 (83.1) | 22.5 (72.5) | 39.0 (102.2) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 7.9 (46.2) | 10.1 (50.2) | 14.4 (57.9) | 20.4 (68.7) | 25.6 (78.1) | 28.3 (82.9) | 32.6 (90.7) | 32.1 (89.8) | 28.1 (82.6) | 23.0 (73.4) | 17.3 (63.1) | 10.7 (51.3) | 20.9 (69.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 4.1 (39.4) | 5.9 (42.6) | 10.0 (50.0) | 15.5 (59.9) | 20.9 (69.6) | 24.4 (75.9) | 28.7 (83.7) | 28.2 (82.8) | 24.1 (75.4) | 18.7 (65.7) | 12.9 (55.2) | 6.5 (43.7) | 16.7 (62.0) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 1.1 (34.0) | 2.6 (36.7) | 6.3 (43.3) | 11.5 (52.7) | 16.9 (62.4) | 21.3 (70.3) | 25.5 (77.9) | 25.3 (77.5) | 21.0 (69.8) | 15.1 (59.2) | 9.3 (48.7) | 3.2 (37.8) | 13.3 (55.9) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −8.5 (16.7) | −6.5 (20.3) | −3.5 (25.7) | −0.4 (31.3) | 7.6 (45.7) | 12.5 (54.5) | 18.2 (64.8) | 16.4 (61.5) | 11.4 (52.5) | 2.7 (36.9) | −2.4 (27.7) | −8.6 (16.5) | −8.6 (16.5) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 66.5 (2.62) | 61.6 (2.43) | 84.5 (3.33) | 79.5 (3.13) | 90.4 (3.56) | 210.5 (8.29) | 161.0 (6.34) | 201.9 (7.95) | 105.3 (4.15) | 62.0 (2.44) | 58.5 (2.30) | 44.7 (1.76) | 1,226.4 (48.3) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 10.4 | 10.0 | 12.0 | 10.8 | 11.0 | 14.1 | 12.1 | 12.8 | 9.0 | 7.5 | 8.7 | 8.4 | 126.8 |
| Average snowy days | 3.1 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.9 | 6.8 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 77 | 76 | 74 | 72 | 73 | 80 | 78 | 80 | 80 | 77 | 77 | 75 | 77 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 117.2 | 123.3 | 147.5 | 169.3 | 180.7 | 135.1 | 203.0 | 208.0 | 176.0 | 170.5 | 137.9 | 136.1 | 1,904.6 |
| Percentage possible sunshine | 37 | 39 | 40 | 43 | 42 | 32 | 47 | 51 | 48 | 49 | 44 | 44 | 43 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||

## Economy

Taicang is known for having operations from companies established by Germans since 1985, when the first German businessperson went to Taicang. Accordingly, the city obtained the nickname "Little Swabia" with it having German-inspired businesses. The area does not have a significant German population as the German expatriates prefer Shanghai since it contains the German School of Shanghai. The city has the German Centre for Industry and Trade Taicang (Chinese: 太仓德国中心).
ABA Chemicals, a chemicals manufacturing company, is headquartered in Taicang.
By 2021 the city had a labor shortage with workers demanding higher wages.

## Notable people

* Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese-American physicist who built the atomic bomb in the Manhattan Project and disproved the conservation of parity