Ganzhou

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Ganzhou
赣州
—  Prefecture-level city  —
赣州市
Location of Ganzhou within Jiangxi
Ganzhou is located in China
Ganzhou
Location in China
Coordinates: 25°52′N 114°56′E / 25.867°N 114.933°E / 25.867; 114.933
Country People's Republic of China
Province Jiangxi
Settled 236AD
Government
 • Mayor Wang Ping 王平
Area
 • Land 39,400 km2 (15,212.4 sq mi)
Elevation 107 m (351 ft)
Population (2009)
 • Total 8,969,900
 • Density 228/km2 (590.5/sq mi)
Time zone China standard time (UTC+8)
Area code(s) 0797
GDP[1] 2010
 - Total CNY 111.947 billion
US$ 17.24 billion
 - Per capita CNY 12,480
US$ 1,922
 - Growth increase 13.8%
Website http://www.ganzhou.gov.cn/

Ganzhou (simplified Chinese: 赣州; traditional Chinese: 贛州; pinyin: Gànzhōu) (also formerly known in English as Kanchou) is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangxi province, People's Republic of China. Its administrative seat is at Zhanggong (章贡).

Contents

[edit] History

In 201, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty established a county in the territory of modern Ganzhou. In those early years, ethnic Han settlement and authority in the area was minimal and largely restricted to the Gan River basin. The river, a tributary of the Yangtze River via Poyang Lake, provided a route of communication from the north as well as irrigation for rice farming.

During the Sui Dynasty the county administration was promoted to prefecture status and the area called Qianzhou (虔州). During the Song Dynasty immigration from the north bolstered the local population and drove local aboriginal tribes further into the hills. Especially after the fall of the Northern Song capital of Kaifeng, migrants increased dramatically. The name was officially changed to Ganzhou in the Southern Song.

During the late 1800s Ganzhou was opened as one of the southern treaty ports and became a minor base for foreign companies. Between 1929 and 1934, Ganzhou formed a part of the Jiangxi Soviet, one of the bases of the Communist Party of China. Due to its proximity to the Red capital Ruijin (瑞金), Ganzhou was subject to a number of Kuomintang encirclement campaigns.

Between 1939 and 1945, Chiang Ching-kuo was appointed by the Government of the Republic of China as commissioner of Gannan Prefecture (Chinese: 贛南), then the name of the surrounding regions of Ganzhou. There he banned smoking, gambling and prostitution, studied governmental management, allowed for economic expansion and a change in social outlook. His efforts were hailed as a miracle in the political war in China, then coined as the "Gannan New Deal" (贛南新政). During his time in Gannan, from 1940 he implemented a "public information desk" where ordinary people could visit him if they had problems, and according to records, Chiang Ching-kuo received a total of 1,023 people during such sessions in 1942. In regards to the ban on prostitution and closing of brothels, Chiang implemented a policy where former prostitutes became employed in factories. Due to the large number of refugees in Ganzhou as a result from the ongoing war, thousands of orphans lived on the street; in June 1942, Chiang Ching-kuo formally established the Chinese Children's Village (中華兒童新村) in the outskirts of Ganzhou, with facilities such as a nursery, kindergarten, primary school, hospital and gymnasium.

[edit] Administration

Ganzhou.jpg

Ganzhou has jurisdiction over 1 district, 2 county-level cities and 15 counties:

District:

County-level cities:

Counties:

[edit] Geography

Ganzhou is a large city covering the southern third of Jiangxi province, with an area of 39,400 square kilometers. It borders Hunan province to the west, Guangdong to the south, and Fujian to the east, as well as the cities of Ji'an and Fuzhou to the north. More than 70% of the area is forested. The vast majority of the province, more than 83%, is also mountainous. Several of the major tributaries of the Gan River, Ganzhou's namesake, join at a confluence in the center of the city.

[edit] Climate

Ganzhou has a humid subtropical climate (Koppen Cfa) affected by the Asian monsoon, with long, humid, very hot summers and short, mild and dry winters with occasional cold snaps. Monthly daily averages range from 8.2 °C (46.8 °F) in January to 29.4 °C (84.9 °F) in July, with an annual average of 19.4 °C (66.9 °F). The average annual rainfall is 1,460 millimetres (57 in).

Climate data for Ganzhou
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 12.3
(54.1)
13.6
(56.5)
17.6
(63.7)
23.9
(75.0)
28.1
(82.6)
31.5
(88.7)
34.3
(93.7)
33.8
(92.8)
30.4
(86.7)
25.9
(78.6)
20.2
(68.4)
15.2
(59.4)
23.9
(75.0)
Average low °C (°F) 5.4
(41.7)
7.1
(44.8)
10.8
(51.4)
16.5
(61.7)
20.6
(69.1)
23.9
(75.0)
25.7
(78.3)
25.3
(77.5)
22.5
(72.5)
17.7
(63.9)
11.9
(53.4)
6.8
(44.2)
16.2
(61.2)
Precipitation mm (inches) 65.1
(2.563)
113.1
(4.453)
181.2
(7.134)
195.4
(7.693)
233.3
(9.185)
180.2
(7.094)
115.8
(4.559)
134.6
(5.299)
90.3
(3.555)
66.0
(2.598)
48.0
(1.89)
38.2
(1.504)
1,461.2
(57.528)
humidity 76 79 82 80 80 78 72 74 75 73 72 71 76.0
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) 12.4 15.1 18.8 18.0 18.4 15.5 12.0 13.2 9.9 8.2 7.9 7.7 157.1
Sunshine hours 87.8 73.5 72.3 100.5 137.8 173.1 261.0 235.8 182.1 165.2 147.1 142.1 1,778.3
Source: China Meteorological Administration

[edit] Demographics

According to the official website,[2] there are 8,456,900 people living within prefecture limits. More than 99% are Han Chinese, and 71,200 people belong to 41 minority ethnical groups (mainly She, Hui and Yao). Ganzhou also contains the largest Hakka community in Jiangxi. Almost all the people in Ganzhou speak Hakka except the urban area (Zhanggong District), which is considered as a Southwestern-Mandarin-speaking "dialect island".

[edit] Tourism

Bajing Pavilion in Ganzhou

Ganzhou is known as the "Orange Capital of the World" [3][4] as well as the "Tungsten Capital of the World".[5] The world's largest mechanical clock is located in Ganzhou called the Harmony Clock Tower.[6] Though encircled by mountain scenery, other notable attractions in Jiangxi are Jingdezhen, Nanchang and Lushan among others. Some of the places of interest in Ganzhou include:

  • Mount Jiulian (九连山), Longnan County
  • Mei Pass (梅关), Dayu County
  • Cuiwei Peak (翠微峰), Ningdu County
  • Hakka architecture (赣南客家围屋) Some of the most representative Hakka houses include Fort Xin 新围, Longnan 龙南; Fort Yanji 燕翼围, Yangcun 杨村; Fort Longguang 龙光围, Taojiang 桃江; Fort Dongsheng 东生围, Anyuan 安远 etc.
  • Yugu Pavilion(郁孤台), Zhanggong District
  • Bajing Pavilion(八境台), Zhanggong District
  • Dongjin Bridge (东津桥): Pontoon bridges have been constructed over the Zhang and Gong rivers since the Song Dynasty. One of the bridges, the Dongjin Bridge, can still be seen. It is 400 metres long, made up of wooden planks placed on around 100 wooden boats linked together with iron chains.

The town of Zhanggong has a city wall dating to the Song Dynasty, as well as a number of pavilions and temples from the Ming and Qing. Altogether there are some 17 National Cultural Relic Protection Units in Ganzhou and 48 Provincial-level Cultural Relic Protection Units.

[edit] Press

Ganzhou Daily covers news about Ganzhou.

[edit] Transportation

[edit] Roads and highways

  • China National Highways:

G 105, G 206, G 319, G 323.

  • Expressways of China:

Ganyue Expressway

[edit] Railway

The Beijing-Jiulong Railway goes through Ganzhou from north to south, and it meet the Ganzhou-Longyan Railway(Ganlong line) at East Ganzhou Railway Station in Zhanggong Distrcit.

Major railway stations in Ganzhou are:

  • Ganzhou, Xingguo, Nankang, Xinfeng, Longnan and Dingnan (Beijing-Jiulong Railway)
  • Gan County, Yudu, Huichang, Ruijin (Ganzhou-Longyan Railway)

[edit] Air

The new Ganzhou Huangjin Airport (赣州黄金机场), located in Nankang, was opened on March 26, 2008. Its name inherited from the old Huangjin Airport in Huangjin Town, Zhanggong District, which was closed since it was too close to the expanding Ganzhou urban area. It has domestic routes to Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Nanchang, Xiamen, Nanjing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Chongqing and Beijing.

[edit] Waterway

[edit] Notable residents

Nobel Laureate Gao Xingjian (Nobel Prize for literature in 2000) was born in Ganzhou.

[edit] Sister cities

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

Coordinates: 25°52′N 114°56′E / 25.867°N 114.933°E / 25.867; 114.933

Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages