Jiangmen

Jiangmen 江门
—  Prefecture-level city  —
City of Jiangmen · 江门市
Outside of Jiangmen's Old Book Store
Jiangmen Location in Guangdong
Jiangmen Location in China
Coordinates: 22°34′N 113°4′E
Country	China
Province	Guangdong
City Seat	Pengjiang District
Area
• Total	9,443 km2 (3,646 sq mi)
Population (2010)
• Total	4,448,871
• Density	471.1/km2 (1,220.2/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard Time (UTC+8)
Postal code	529000
Area code(s)	750
License plate prefixes	粤J
Website	http://www.jiangmen.gov.cn/ (Chinese)

Zhonghua Restaurant, a renovated building along Changdi Middle road in the waterfront district.

Jiangmen (simplified Chinese: 江门; traditional Chinese: 江門; Mandarin Pinyin: Jiāngmén; Jyutping: Gong1 Mun4), is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong province in southern China with a population of about 4.48 million in 2010. The 3 urban districts are now part of Guangzhou - Shenzhen built up area.

Names

Jiangmen has various historical romanisations including Kong-Moon, Kongmoon, Kongmun or Kiangmoon. The area is alternately referred to as Sze Yup or Ng Yup. The name Jiangmen is often the butt of jokes because its Cantonese pronunciation is identical to the scientific word for anus (肛門). As a result there has been some proposals to change the name of the city, for example a 2009 proposal to change it to "Qiaodu" ("City of Overseas Chinese").

History

The port of Jiangmen, was forced to open to western trade in 1902. One legacy of this period is an historic waterfront district lined with buildings in the treaty port style. The city has an ongoing renewal project which has restored many of these buildings.

Jiangmen was proclaimed a city in 1951, and later became the administrative capital of the prefecture for the Wu Yi region which includes Taishan, Kaiping, Xinhui, Enping and Heshan.

Geography

The city is located on the lower reaches of the Xijiang or West River, in the west of the Pearl River Delta in the middle of southern Guangdong Province. It faces the South China Sea in the south and is 100 km away from Guangzhou and Zhuhai by highway. Jiangmen city has an area of 9,260 km², about one quarter the size of the Pearl River Delta.

The climate is subtropical with monsoon influences. The annual average temperature is 21.8°C.

Economy

Jiangmen was selected by the Chinese state as a pilot city for a nationwide information programme. It was also chosen by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC) as a trial city for the Regional Integration for Sustainable Economics (RISE) project. According to the "Report on Investment Environment in China 2003" by the World Bank, Jiangmen ranked the fourth after Shanghai, Hangzhou and Dalian of 23 cities under evaluation in China. Among various indicators, Jiangmen excelled in infrastructure, labour redundancy, proportion of joint ventures in all firms, informal payments to government, taxation, productivity and the investment rate.

The economic development strategies within Jiangmen focus on the three urban districts, and the south, middle and north lines. It is planned to develop four main economic areas: the central urban district of the city, the Yinzhou Lake (銀州湖) economic area, and two economic areas along the various transport axes.

Manufacturing industries

Similar to other cities in the western Pearl River Delta, the manufacturing sector plays a significant role in Jiangmen's economy. The chief industries include manufacturing of motorcycles, household appliances, electronics, paper, food processing, synthetic fibers and garments, as well as textiles and stainless steel products. Some worldwide brand names have factories in Jiangmen including Haojue motorcycles, Jingling fan/washing machines, Vinda toilet paper, ABB Group and Lee Kum Kee foods.

Jiangmen port

Jiangmen Port is the second largest river port in Guangdong province. The local government plans to develop a harbour industrial zone with heavy industries to include petrochemical and machinery plants, as well as an ocean-based economy.

Administration

Jiangmen has jurisdiction over:

Map	#	Name	Hanzi	Hanyu Pinyin	Population (2003 est.)	Area (km²)	Density (/km²)
	City Proper
	1	Jianghai District	江海区	Jiānghǎi Qū	150,000	107	1,402
	2	Pengjiang District	蓬江区	Péngjiāng Qū	440,000	325	1,354
	3	Xinhui District	新会区	Xīnhuì Qū	740,000	1,260	587
	Satellite cities
	4	Enping	恩平市	Ēnpíng Shì	470,000	1,698	277
	5	Taishan	台山市	Táishān Shì	990,000	3,286	301
	6	Kaiping	开平市	Kāipíng Shì	680,000	1,659	410
	7	Heshan	鹤山市	Hèshān Shì	360,000	1,108	325

Transport

Jiangmen has a mature network of inter-city highway (between Guangzhou, Foshan, Zhuhai, Zhongshan, Yangjiang etc.). It does sits astride a key route between Guangzhou and the southwest region of its home province, even Guangxi Province.

A network of intra-city roadways has been built since the late 1990s to facilitate industrial integration within the city.

Local bus

Jiangmen's railway transport is relatively weak, but the condition will be changed before 2011. The Guangzhou–Zhuhai Intercity Mass Rapid Transit and Guangzhou–Zhuhai Railway will passby Jiangmen, which plan to be finished before 2011.

Making use of the Jiangmen Port facilities, Chu Kong Passenger Transport (CKS) connects Jiangmen with high speed ferry services to Hong Kong (95 nautical miles) taking about 2.5 hours each way.

Education

Wuyi University is the main university in Jiangmen.

Jiangmen No.1 Middle School is claimed to be the top middle school in the district, was one of the best middle school in Guangdong Province in 1980s~1990s. However in recent years the quality of its education has been dropping and in the district of Jiangmen, its status has been constantly challenged by Xinhui No.1 Middle School in Xinhui, Kaiqiao(Kaiping Emigrant) Middle School in Kiaping etc.

Culture

Jiangmen is the homeland of 3.68 million overseas Chinese, who live in 107 countries and regions throughout the world. Strong oversea connections are especially found in the villages.

Tourism

Gudou Hotspring Resort(古兜溫泉)---Tang palace(唐宫)

A significant amount of historical heritage survives from the period of mass emigration prior to World War II. The most significant are the fortified multi-story towers found mainly in Kaiping. These are known as "Gold Mountain Towers" or diaolou (碉樓).Number of natural Hotspring resorts has been developed successfully by using its wealthy natural heated ground water resources such as Gudou Hotspring Resort (古兜温泉)

The local government's economic development strategies emphasize the development of tourism and protection of the environment.

Controversy

In 2011, the city banned pet dogs after rabies killed 42 people over the preceding 3 years. The city plans to remove all remaining dogs from the city centre. A government spokesman said "We hope that all citizens will cooperate with us in creating a civilised Jiangmen and send their dogs to live in the outskirts or rural areas," a 13 acre site has been set aside to allow rural chinese to adopt the dogs, but the City has warned that it may be forced to seize and put down any remaining dogs left in Pengjiang, Jianghai and Xinhui districts after the 26th of August, 2011. An estimated 30,000 dogs will be affected. Dr. Tang Qing of the National Institute for Viral Disease Control and Prevention at China's Centre for Disease Control reportedly believes that culling is not scientific, humane, or effective in preventing rabies over the long term.

External links

• Jiangmen International Website (Chinese)
• Invest Jiangmen Government Website (Chinese)