page_title: Zhenjiang
section_title: Culture
hierarchical_section_title: Zhenjiang / Culture
caption_attribution_description: Jinshan temple, Zhenjiang 镇江金山寺
context_page_description: Zhenjiang, alternately romanized as Chinkiang, is a prefecture-level city in Jiangsu Province, China. It lies on the southern bank of the Yangtze River near its intersection with the Grand Canal. It is opposite Yangzhou and between Nanjing and Changzhou. Zhenjiang was formerly the provincial capital of Jiangsu and remains as an important transportation hub.
  The town is best known both in China and abroad for its fragrant black vinegar, a staple of Chinese cooking.
context_section_description: Zhenjiang is most famous for its fragrant black vinegar. Chinese legend traces it to Heita, the son of Dukang, the supposed inventor of alcoholic beverages. Having forgotten about a vat of wine for 21 days, he found it had spoiled but now possessed a pleasant sour taste that could be used to complement foods. The present recipe is said to date back 1400 years, with its major modern manufacturer—the Jiangsu Hengshun Vinegar Industry Co.—dating to 1840.
  Other local specialties include crab cream bun, Chinkiang pork (鎭江肴肉, akin to head cheese), and pickled vegetables. Formerly, households in Zhenjiang would prepare for the new year by eating a red-bean dish and avoiding rice. One bowl of beans was left on the table to feed the home's flies, from the belief that they would then avoid disturbing the family during the new year festivities.
  A natural spring in a park on the edge of Zhenjiang has been famed since the Tang (7th–9th century) as the best in Jiangsu for making tea. It is now marketed as the "First Spring under Heaven".
  The hilly scenery in Zhenjiang's southern suburbs was considered beautiful enough to be the theme of many landscapes by Chinese painters. The 15th-century Japanese ink-wash master Sesshū Tōyō studied in Zhenjiang.
  The local Jinshan temple appears in the tale of Madame White Snake and inspired a replica in the Kangxi Emperor's garden at Chengde.
caption: The Jinshan Temple
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