Location: situated between north latitude 32
11' - 3325', east longitude ;119 - 120; in the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Grand Canal; in the south of Jiangsu province, the north bank of lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the south end of Jianghuai Plain;
Neighboring Areas: Zhejiang, Anhui, Shandong provinces and Shanghai Municipality
Physical Features: the terrain descending gradually from the southwest to southeast and east to northeast; Jinghang Canal flowing through its hinterland
Population: 4.46 million
Urban Population: 500,000
Area: 6,638 sq km
Nationalities: Han, Hui, Manchu, Tujia, Miao and Dong
History: a history of 2480 years; a leading economic and cultural center and major port of foreign trade and external exchange since ancient time in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Huaihe rivers
Climatic Features: 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 2176.7 hours
Average Temperature: 15C annually; the hottest in July of 27.6C and the coldest in January of 1.7C; maximum temperature of 39.8C and minimum - 19C
Rainfall: annual average of 1030mm; rainny season from the middle of June to that of July
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 Highlights: Yangzhou pickles, sticky candy, ginkgo, Qionghuayu liquor, Nanshan green tea, Baoying lotus root starch, Jiangdu short pastry, lacquerware, jadeware, embroidery, paper-cut, art & crafts velvet flavers
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Travelers' Voices on Yangzhou City
1.
Dec. 9,2008 01:25 Reply
Ms.Cora(China) said:
Compared to Midi Canal in France, which has already been placed on UNESCO's list of World Cultural Heritage, the longer and older Jinghang Canal is not lucky enough to have such an honorary title. The effort of appling a title for it is never slackening, and at the same time people are doing research to find out what the reasons behind. A two years' survey found that some so-called cultural relics protection projects had little effect on protecting the canal, but on the contrary, they have caused serious losses to the remaining valuable cultural relics around it. What's more, to protect the folk custom on the banks of it is also fairly urgent. For example, because of the canal, some locals began to live as trackers, but the policy of relocating the households certainly destroyed the tracker culture, which cannot be reproduced in any other area. Think about it seriously. The apply for Jinghang Canal's ticket to the World Cultural Heritage List has a considerably long way to go!