Rugao

Rugao 如皋市
County-level city
Rugao Location in Jiangsu
Coordinates: 32°14′46″N 120°35′28″E
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Jiangsu
Prefecture-level city	Nantong
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)

Rugao (Chinese: 如皋; pinyin: Rúgāo) is a county-level city under the administration of Nantong, Jiangsu province, China, located in the Golden Triangle region on the northern (left) bank of the Yangtze River. It is one of the historical and cultural city of Jiangsu province.

Rugao is a world famous longevity city with more than two hundred centenarian residents. It is particularly well-known due to the highest long-life population ratio among the six longevity locations in China, and it is also the only one located in the coastal plain and in an industrial region.

Rugao is also famous for its kites, potted landscapes, flowers and trees. It is the largest distributing center in east China.

History

Rugao is one of the oldest towns to appear in the Yangtze triangle. About 2000 years ago, a small coastal town named Rugao Port was established. In 441, the 7th year of the Yixi Era of Eastern Jin Dynasty, Rugao county was first founded.

During Sui Dynasty, the county was merged into Ninghai county. In the Wude Era of Tang Dynasty, Ninghai county was renamed Hailing county. In the era of Republic of China, Rugao became the largest county in China.

In 1940, Rugao was divided along the Tongyang Canal into two parts: Ruxi county and Rudong county. In September 1945, Rugao county was reestablished.

On June 1, 1990, with approval of the State Council, Rugao city was founded, which went into effect in 1991.

Mayor of this city

The current mayor of this city is Chen Xiaodong and the Party Secretary is Jiang Yonghua.

Districts

• Total area: 1,477 km²
• Population: 1.4528 million
• Districts: 20 towns with 532 administrative villages

Towns

• Rucheng Town
• Chaiwan Town
• Taoyuan Town
• Changjiang Town
• Xue'an Town
• Dongchen Town
• Dingyan Town
• Baipu Town
• Linzi Town
• Xiayuan Town
• Jiuhua Town
• Guoyuan Town
• Shizhuang Town
• Wuyao Town
• Jiang'an Town
• Gaoming Town
• Banjing Town
• Motou Town
• Yuanqiao Town
• Changqing Town

Tourism

• Shuihui Garden (built in the Wanli Era of Ming Dynasty);
• Dinghui Temple (first built in 591, 11th year of Sui Dynasty, rebuilt in the Wanli Era of Ming Dynasty);
• Lingwei Taoist Temple (built in 1111)；
• Long Life Park
• Red Army Memorial Museum

Notable people

• Henry Lee, criminologist
• Zhou Lingmei, athlete
• Zhu Qianhua, writer
• Huang Beijia, writer

External links

• Template:Zh icon Rugao government
• Template:Zh icon Rugao City English guide (Jiangsu.NET)
• Template:Zh icon Rugao BBS
• Template:En icon Template:Zh icon "Illustrated Album of Yangzhou Prefecture", from 1573-1620, has illustrations of Rugao