Nanjing

China COUNTRY

11,700,000 CITY POPULATION

Sub-Provincial City GOVERNMENT TYPE

Introduction

Nanjing alternatively romanized as Nanking and Nankin, is the capital of Jiangsu of the People's Republic of China and the second largest city in the East China region. The name Nanjing was introduced in 1403, during the Ming dynasty. Situated in the Yangtze River Delta region, Nanjing has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having served as the capital of various Chinese dynasties, kingdoms and republican governments dating from the 3rd century to 1949, and has thus long been a major center of culture, education, research, politics, economy, transport networks and tourism, being the home to one of the world's largest inland ports. The city is also one of the fifteen sub-provincial cities in the People's Republic of China's administrative structure, enjoying jurisdictional and economic autonomy only slightly less than that of a province. Nanjing has been ranked seventh in the evaluation of “Cities with Strongest Comprehensive Strength” issued by the National Statistics Bureau, and second in the evaluation of cities with most sustainable development potential in the Yangtze River Delta. It has been one of the world's largest cities, enjoying peace and prosperity despite wars and disasters. Nanjing served as the capital of Eastern Wu , one of the three major states in the Three Kingdoms period; the Eastern Jin and each of the Southern dynasties , which successively ruled southern China from 317–589; the Southern Tang , one of the Ten Kingdoms; the Ming dynasty when, for the first time, all of China was ruled from the city ; and the Republic of China under the right-wing Kuomintang prior to its flight to Taiwan by Chiang Kai-Shek during the Chinese Civil War. The city also served as the seat of the rebel Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Japanese puppet regime of Wang Jingwei during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Data and Facts

It has 11 districts,an administrative area of 6,600 km2 (2,500 sq mi) and a total population of 8,505,500
Became a Chinese national capital as early as the Jin dynasty
Archaeological discovery shows that "Nanjing Man" lived more than 500 thousand years ago
Has an average elevation of 15 m (56 ft)
The annual mean temperature is around 15.91 °C (60.6 °F)
60 highways meet in Nanjing
The Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge, completed in 1968, was the first heavy bridge designed and built by Chinese expertise

Administration

Nanjing has served as the capital city of Jiangsu province since the establishment of the People's Republic of China.At present, the full name of the government of Nanjing is "People's Government of Nanjing City" and the city is under the one-party rule of the CPC, with the CPC Nanjing Committee Secretary as the de facto governor of the city and the mayor as the executive head of the government working under the secretary.The sub-provincial city of Nanjing is divided into 11 districts.

Nanjing’s municipal government is part of the hierarchical structure of the Chinese government—and the parallel structure of the Chinese Communist Party—that extends from the national organization, through the provincial apparatus, to the municipal and, ultimately, neighbourhood levels. A standing committee selected from its members recommends policy decisions and oversees the operation of the municipal government. Executive authority rests with the Nanjing People’s Government, the officers of which are elected by the congress; it consists of a mayor, vice mayors, and numerous bureaus in charge of public security, the judicial system, and other civil, economic, social, and cultural affairs.

Following the municipal government reorganization of 1995, Nanjing was divided administratively into 11 districts , and the municipality was given jurisdiction over the 2 counties to the far south. Below the district level, police substations supervise the population, while street mayoralties handle civil affairs in their areas.

Economy

There was a massive cultivation in the area of Nanjing from the Three Kingdoms period to Southern dynasties. The sparse population led to land as royal rewards were granted for rules’ people. At first, the landless peasants benefited from it, then the senior officials and aristocratic families. Since large numbers of immigrants flooded into the area, reclamation was quite common in its remote parts, which promoted its agricultural development. The craft industries, by contrast, had a faster growth. Especially the textiles section, there were about 200,000 craftsmen by the late Qing.

Several dynasties established their imperial textiles bureaus in Nanjing. The Nanjing Brocade is their exquisite product as the cloth for the royal garments such as dragon robes. Several place names in Nanjing remain, such as Wangjinshi , Guyilang , Youfangqiao .

Moreover, the trade in Nanjing was also flourishing. The Ming dynasty drawing Prosperous Nanjing depicts a vivid market scene bustling with people and full of various sorts of shops. However, the economic developments were almost wiped out by the Taiping Rebellion's catastrophe.

Much of the land in the municipality’s rural districts and southern counties is under cultivation; the major agricultural products are rice, wheat, peanuts , and fruits and vegetables. In and around the many lakes and ponds, baihe , water chestnuts, lotus roots, and other aquatic plants are grown. Both freshwater fishing and pig farming are important, and dairy production has increased significantly. Along the canals and creeks, farmers raise large flocks of ducks; the Nanjing duck, preserved in salt and pressed, is a delicacy of Chinese cuisine.

Textiles, food processing, and other light industries are also important. In the outlying districts and southern counties, iron ore, manganese, copper, limestone, dolomite, lead, and zinc are mined. Its reserves of strontium are among the largest in China. Petrochemical and electronic plants, however, mark the city’s greatest progress in industrial development. Its automobile production also ranks high in the country. A Nanjing Economic and Technological Development Zone, established by the national government and located northeast of the central city districts in suburban Qixia district, has facilities devoted to such areas as information technology, biomedical engineering, and the manufacture of light-industrial machinery and high-purity and precision chemicals.

The current economy of the city is basically newly developed based on the past. Service industries are dominating, accounting for about 60 percent of the GDP of the city, and the financial industry, culture industry and tourism industry are the top 3 of them.

Business Environment

Nanjing is the second largest commercial centre in the east China region and its proximity to Shanghai makes it a very compelling natural market for foreign investors seeking to do business in China. The infrastructure in the region has vastly improved in the past few years and now foreign investors can take advantage of Nanjing’s unique location from where they can connect not only to Shanghai but further inland to other provinces. Nanjing is also capital of Jiangsu province, one of China’s most prosperous and developed provinces.

In recent years, Nanjing has been developing its economy, commerce, industry, as well as city construction. In 2013 the city's GDP was RMB 801 billion (3rd in Jiangsu), and GDP per capita (current price) was RMB 98,174(US$16041), an 11 percent increase from 2012. The average urban resident's disposable income was RMB 36,200, while the average rural resident's net income was RMB 14,513. The registered urban unemployment rate was 3.02 percent, lower than the national average (4.3 percent). Nanjing's Gross Domestic Product ranked 12th in 2013 in China, and its overall competence ranked 6th in mainland and 8th including Taiwan and Hong Kong in 2009.

Infrastructure

Nanjing is the transport hub in eastern China and the downstream Yangtze River area. Different means of transport constitute a three-dimensional transport system that includes land, water and air. As in most other Chinese cities, public transport is the dominant mode of travel for the majority of citizens. As from October 2014, Nanjing had four bridges and two tunnels over the Yangtze River, linking districts north of the river with the city center on the south bank.Nanjing is an important railway hub in eastern China.[

It serves as a rail junction for the Beijing-Shanghai , Nanjing–Tongling Railway , Nanjing–Qidong , and the Nanjing-Xi'an which encompasses the Hefei–Nanjing Railway. Nanjing is connected to the national high-speed railway network by Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway and Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line, with several more high-speed rail lines under construction.

Nanjing South Railway Station, which is one of the 5 hub stations on Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway, has officially been claimed as the largest railway station in Asia and the second largest in the world in terms of GFA .Construction of Nanjing South Station began on 10 January 2008The station was opened for public service in 2011.

As an important regional hub in the Yangtze River Delta, Nanjing is well-connected by over 60 state and provincial highways to all parts of China.

Motorways such as Hu–Ning, Ning–He, Ning–Hang enable commuters to travel to Shanghai, Hefei, Hangzhou, and other important cities quickly and conveniently. Inside the city of Nanjing, there are 230 km of highways, with a highway coverage density of 3.38 kilometers per hundred square kilometers . The total road coverage density of the city is 112.56 kilometers per hundred square kilometers .[115] The two artery roads in Nanjing are Zhongshan Road and Hanzhong. The two roads cross in the city center, Xinjiekou.

Nanjing’s major avenue of commerce is the Yangtze River, which connects the city with the Yangtze delta and with central China. Intercity commuter rail service between Shanghai and Nanjing now takes less than 21/2hours one way. Another rail line, leading south and southwest, extends to Wuhu and Tongling in Anhui province; a loop line through the eastern suburban districts links it with the Shanghai-Nanjing line. In 1968 the rail ferry between Pukou and Xiaguan was replaced by the city’s first bridge across the Yangtze. More than 20,000 feet in length, it has a double-track railroad on its lower deck and a four-lane highway on the upper deck. Two more bridges have been built downstream of the first , the latter having a main span of 2,126 feet .While bicycles and buses are still major means of transport within Nanjing, the city streets have become increasingly crowded with cars and trucks that add significantly to traffic congestion in the downtown area.

Nanjing made great progress in public health and medicine during the Nationalist period. Health conditions have continued to improve under the communist government, which has placed great emphasis on public health education. There are many general and specialized hospitals in Nanjing. However, many clinics and health stations previously maintained by neighbourhood associations, factories, and schools have been partially privatized since the 1990s. Nanjing is also a noted centre for training doctors in traditional Chinese medicine.

Technology

Nanjing is an industrial technology research and development hub, hosting many R&D centers and institutions, especially in areas of electronics technology, information technology, computer software, biotechnology and pharmaceutical technology and new material technology.

The city has attracted foreign investment, multinational firms such as Siemens, Ericsson, Volkswagen, Iveco, A.O. Smith, and Sharp have established their lines, and a number of multinationals such as Ford, IBM, Lucent, Samsung and SAP established research centers there. Many China-based leading firms such as Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo have key R&D institutes in the city.

Social Wellness and Human Resources

Nanjing has many high-quality universities and research institutes, with the number of universities listed in 100 National Key Universities ranking third, including Nanjing University which has a long history and is among the world top 10 universities ranked by Nature Index.The ratio of college students to total population ranks No.1 among large cities nationwide. Nanjing is one of the top three Chinese scientific research centers, according to the Nature Index,especially strong in the chemical sciences.

The educational center of southern China for more than 1,700 years, Nanjing has a large range of prestigious higher education institutions and research institutes and a large student population. Nanjing is ranked the 88th QS Best Student City in 2019. Nanjing University is considered to be one of the top national universities nationwide. According to the QS Higher Education top-ranking university, Nanjing University is ranked the seventh university in China, and 122nd overall in the world as of 2019. Southeast University is also among the most famous universities in China and is considered to be one of the best universities for Architecture and Engineering in China. Many universities in Nanjing have satellite campuses or have moved their main campus to Xianlin University City in the eastern suburb. Some of the other biggest national universities in Nanjing are: The educational center of southern China for more than 1,700 years, the city has a large range of prestigious higher education institutions and research institutes and a large student population.

Nanjing inherited from the Nationalist days an excellent school system that in 1949 included 300 primary and middle schools and some of the best universities and colleges in China. Since the 1950s there has been a considerable increase in the number of primary, middle, and technical secondary schools. In addition, much attention has been given to adult education, and many spare-time schools, university extensions, and other institutions that provide training in technical fields have been established. Nanjing University (1902), Southeast University (1902), Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1952), and Nanjing University of Science and Technology (1953) are among the leading institutions of higher education in the country, and colleges of hydraulic engineering, agricultural science, medical and pharmaceutical sciences, and meteorology are also of national significance.

Despite much industrial growth, the city of Nanjing retains a traditional feature—the existence of a substantial rural population within the boundaries of the municipality. The people speak Mandarin with a marked local accent. Although a large number of the city’s residents do not profess a religion, Nanjing has small communities of Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims.