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扬州市
Yángzhōu Shì

Administration Type	Prefecture-level city
City Seat	Guangling District (32°23′N, 119°25′E)
Area - Total - Urban center	6,634 km² 988.81 km²
Population - Total - Urban center	4,536,100 (2003) 1,151,300 (2006)
GDP - Total - Per Capita	¥110.1 billion (2006) ¥24,251 (2006)
Major Nationalities	Han - 99.57% Hui - 0.28%
County-level divisions	7
Township-level divisions	98
CPC Committee Secretary	Ji Jianye (季建业)
Mayor	Wang Yanwen (王燕文)
Area code	514
Postal Code	225000, 225100 (Urban center) 225200, 225600, 225800 (Other areas)
License Plate Prefix	苏K

Yangzhou (simplified Chinese: 扬州; traditional Chinese: 揚州; pinyin: Yángzhōu; former spellings: Yang-chou, Yangchow; literally "Rising Prefecture") is a prefecture-level city in central Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the southwest, Huai'an to the north, Yancheng to the northeast, Taizhou to the east, and Zhenjiang across the river to the south.

Contents 1 Administration 2 History 3 Geography and climate 4 Culture 5 Local highlights 6 Tourism 7 Sister cities 8 References 9 Notes 10 External links

The prefecture-level city of Yangzhou administers 7 county-level divisions. There are 3 districts, 3 county-level cities and 1 county:

Guangling District (广陵区) Weiyang District (维扬区) Hanjiang District (邗江区) Jiangdu City (江都市) Gaoyou City (高邮市) Yizheng City (仪征市) Baoying County (宝应县)

These are further divided into 98 township-level divisions, including 87 towns and townships, and 11 subdistricts.

Yangzhou has a history of almost 2,500 years, being founded in the Spring and Autumn Period when it was called Guangling (廣陵, Kuang-Ling). In 590 AD, Guangling began to be called Yangzhou, which was the traditional name of what was then the entire southeastern part of China.

Located by the Yangtze river and Jinghang (Grand) Canal, it has been a leading economic and cultural center and major port of foreign trade and external exchange since the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

The city, still known as Guangling, was briefly made the capital of the Wu Kingdom during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period.

In 1280 AD, Yangzhou was the site of a massive gunpowder explosion when the bomb store of the Weiyang arsenal had caught fire accidentally. This blast killed over a hundred guards, launched debris of the buildings into the air that landed 10 li away from the site of the explosion, and could be felt 100 li away as tiles on roofs shook (refer to gunpowder article).

Marco Polo served there under the Mongol emperor Kubilai Khan in the period around 1282-1287. Although some versions of Polo's memoirs imply that he was the governor of Yangzhou, it is more likely that he was an official in the salt industry, as it is very unlikely that a foreigner would be made a governor of one of the most important cities in the country. The discovery of the 1342 tomb of Katarina Vilioni, member of an Italian trading family in Yangzhou, suggests the existence of a thriving Italian community in the city in the 14th century.

Yangzhou was the scene of a ten-day massacre in 1645 by the Qing army. An account of the massacre can be found in the Yangzhou shiri ji, recounted by Wang Xiuchu

Until the 19th century Yangzhou acted as a major trade exchange center for salt, (a government regulated commodity), rice and silk. The Mings (1368-1644) are largely responsible for building the city as it now stands and surrounding it with 9 km of walls.

The Yangzhou riot in 1868 was a pivotal moment of Anglo-Chinese relations during the late Qing Dynasty that almost led to war.^[1] The crisis was fomented by the gentry of the city who opposed the presence of foreign Christian missionaries there. The riot that resulted was an angry crowd estimated at eight to ten thousand who assaulted the premises of the British China Inland Mission in Yangzhou by looting, burning and attacking the missionaries led by Hudson Taylor. No one was killed, however several of the missionaries were injured as they were forced to flee for their lives. As a result of the report of the riot, the British consul in Shanghai, Sir Walter Henry Medhurst took seventy Royal marines in a Man of war and steamed up the Yangtze to Nanjing in a controversial show of force that eventually resulted in an official apology from Viceroy Zeng Guofan and financial restitution made to the injured missionaries.

From the time of the Taiping Rebellion (1853) to the end of the Communist revolution (1949) Yangzhou was in decline, due to war damage and neglect of the Jinghang Canal as railways replaced it in importance; unfortunately, initial plans for railways connecting Yangzhou were deemed to be unimportant, and its status as the leading economic centre of China declined rapidly into a city of little importance. With the canal now partially restored, Yangzhou is once again an important transportation and market center. It also has some industrial output, chiefly in cotton and textiles. In 2004, a railway linked Yangzhou for the first time with Nanjing.

Rivers: the Yangtze River, Jinghang Canal, Baoshe River, Datong River, Beichengzi River, Tongyang Canal, Xintongyang Canal, Baima Lake, Baoying Lake, Gaoyou Lake, Shaobo Lake.

Local landscape: Slender west lake, Ge garden, He garden, Da ming temple, Phoenix island, etc.

Subtropical monsoon climate with humid changeable wind; longer winters for about 4 months, summers 3 months and shorter springs and autumns, 2 months respectively; frost-free period of 222 days and annual average sunshine of 2177 hours. Average temperature: 15 °C annually; the hottest in July of 27.6 °C and the coldest in January of 1.7 °C; maximum temperature of 39.8 °C and minimum −19 °C Rainfall: annual average of 1030 mm; rainy season from the middle of June to July

Yangzhou dialect is classified as Lower Yangtze Mandarin.

During a period of prosperity and Imperial favour, the arts of storytelling and painting flourished in Yangzhou. The innovative painter-calligrapher Shitao lived in Yangzhou during the 1680s and again from 1697 until his death in 1707. A later group of painters from that time called the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou are famous throughout China.

Former President of China Jiang Zemin was born and raised in Yangzhou. His middle school is located right across from the public notary's office in Yangzhou.

Yangzhou is famous for its carved lacquerware and jade carvings.

Poet Li Bai (c.700-762) wrote in Seeing Meng Haoran off to Yangzhou from Yellow Crane Pavilion:

At Yellow Crane Pavilion in the west My old friend says farewell; In the mist and flowers of spring He goes down to Yangzhou; Lonely sail, distant shadow, Vanish in blue emptiness; All I see is the great river Flowing into the far horizon.

Yangzhou pickles, Ｂaozi,Gansi(sliced Tofu),sticky candy, ginkgo, Qionghuayu liquor, Nanshan green tea, Baoying lotus root starch, Jiangdu short pastry, lacquerware, jadeware, embroidery, paper-cut, art & crafts velvet flavers.

The city is famous for its public bath houses.

"Yangzhou fried rice" (simplified Chinese: 扬州炒饭; traditional Chinese: 揚州炒飯; pinyin: Yángzhōu chǎofàn) is a dish popular all over China, originating from Yangzhou.

The city was awarded Habitat Scroll of Honour in 2006.

Tourist sights include Slender Western Lake (瘦西湖) and old residences in the moated town, such as the Wang Residence.

Yangzhou is twinned with:

• Jeju, Jeju, South Korea
• Kent, Washington, U.S.
• Vaughan, Ontario, Canada
• Rimini, Italy
• Razgrad, Bulgaria
• Bree, Belgium
• Karatsu, Saga, Japan

• Austin, Alvyn (2007). China’s Millions: The China Inland Mission and Late Qing Society. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans. ISBN 978-0-8028-2975-7. 

• Government website of Yangzhou (available in Chinese and English)
• Yangzhou city guide with open directory (Jiangsu.NET)
• An introduction to a cultural history of Yangzhou
• A trip to Yangzhou

v • d • e Prefecture-level divisions of Jiangsu
Sub-provincial cities	Nanjing
Prefecture-level cities	Changzhou · Huai'an · Lianyungang · Nantong · Suqian · Suzhou · Taizhou · Wuxi · Xuzhou · Yancheng · Yangzhou · Zhenjiang
List of Jiangsu County-level divisions