Jiangyan District
Jiangyan District () is one of three urban districts of the city of Taizhou, Jiangsu province, having been, until December 2012, a county-level city. Jiangyan is noted for being the birthplace of the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Hu Jintao. History. Formerly called Taixian or Taihsien (), Jiangyan was a county by the end of the Western Han Dynasty. It has relics from the Zhou Dynasty and a Buddha statue from the Tang Dynasty. It was a town in the Qing Dynasty Jiangyan has previously also been called Hailu (), Wuling (), and Taizhou (). In July 1994, the  name was changed to Jiangyan and city status obtained. The Qintong Boat Festival () has a long history going back to the Ming Dynasty, and is growing in importance as a tourist destination in eastern China. The Baima Temple (, meaning white horse temple) in Jiangyan (now in Taizhou) is the birthplace of the Navy of the People's Liberation Army. The first Soviet base in northern Jiangsu was founded in Jiangyan by the No. 14 Red Army. Jiangyan has been working to modernize the district through enhanced education and technology opportunities. Many technologies have been developed in Jiangyan, and more than  70 patents have been registered. Jiangyan has been among the "Top 100 most economically competitive counties in China" since 1995. In 1990, Jiangyan was awarded the Global 500 Roll of Honor by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for its success in protecting the environment and increasing grain yield through wide use of marsh biogas ponds. Geography. Located in the center of Jiangsu province, Jiangyan is bordered on the east by Hai'an and Dongtai. To the west lie the districts of Hailing and Gaogang. Taixing is to the south and Xinghua to the north. Transportation. The Nanjing-Jinjiang-Yancheng Highway  runs north–south through the district, and National Highway 328 runs east–west. Water transportation is by the Yangzhou Canal and by the Zhonggan, Jiangyan-Qintong and Jiangyan-Huangqiao rivers. There is bus service to Jiangyan from Shanghai or Nanjing via National Highway 328 and the Nanjing-Jinjiang-Yancheng Highway. By road, Shanghai can be reached from Jiangyan in under three hours. Jiangyan's railway station, located north of the town, has both ordinary trains (K/Z), on long-distance routes, and modern, faster D-trains running from Nantong, Hai'an, Taizhou, Yangzhou, and Nanjing and since the Hutong Yangtze River  bridge opened in 2020, through to Shanghai in around 90 minutes. Administrative divisions. Jiangyan District is divided into 15 towns: Demographics. there were 251,200 households in Jiangyan and the population was 735,800, of which 366,300 are female, accounting for 49.8% of the total population. In recent years, Jiangyan has been experiencing a loss of population from job loss and a declining birth rate. In 2019, there were 4,180 births (for a birth rate of 6.4‰) and 6,319 deaths (death rate of 8.9‰). The resident population at the end of 2019 was 692,600, with 65.1% of them living in the city . Education. Jiangyan district has 44 kindergartens, 29 primary schools, 15 secondary schools, and 5 high schools. Jiangyan High School and Jiangyan Secondary High School were named as model high schools and promoted to be provincial high schools. There are 86,388 students, including 15,543 in kindergartens, 33,270 in primary schools, 20,069 in secondary schools, 12,425 in high schools, 4,922 in professional schools, and 159 in special education schoole. 98% of school-age children attend schools. Economics. In 2019, the GDP of Jiangyan grew by 6.6% to 66,972 million CNY (around 9.7 billion USD); per capita GDP was 96,752 CNY ($14,000 ). Primary industry grew by 2.2%, to 4.9 billion CNY; secondary industry grew by 5.9%, to 31.7 billion CNY; and tertiary industry grew 8.2% to 30.4 billion CNY. The relative sizes of the three sectors was 7.3:47.3:45.4. For two consecutive years, Jiangyan has been named among the "Best 100 districts in China", in terms of comprehensive strength, investment potential, urbanization quality, green development, and technology innovation. Tourism. Qintong Boat Festival. The Qintong Boat Festival is held every year in Qingming, around April 4–6. During the festival, boats from nearby villages and towns converge on Xique lake for a few days of  celebration. Theatrical performances, dragon and lion dances, and other folk dances are held on the boats. A highlight of the festival is the racing of boats using long poles instead of paddles. The boat festival is an important tourist attraction and attracts foreign investment to the area. Xique Lake. Xique Lake is located in Qintong, north of Jiangyan, and makes up part of the Qintong Swamp. Notable people. Jiangyan is known for a number of notable people: