Jiangyan

Jiangyan is a city in the prefecture of Taizhou in Jiangsu province, China. It is the city where the President of China, Mr. Hu Jintao, was born and raised.

Jiangyan has a very long history. Formerly called Taixian (Chinese: 泰县, pinyin: tÄ?ixÄ«an), it was set as a county at the end of Western Han Dynasty. It has relics from Zhou Dynasty, Budda statue from Tang Dynasty, and a town from Qing Dynasty. In July 1994, it was changed from Taixian County to Jiangyan City, current name, and also established as a city status. Other names Jiangyan had are Hailu (Chinese: 海陆), Wuling (Chinese: å?´é™µ), Taizhou (Chinese: æ³°å·ž) over the years. Geneneral Chen Yi had commanded the Battle of Huangqiao in Qujiang Tower, in downtown Jiangyan. Liu Jingting (Chinese: 柳敬亭, Master of Yangzhou Pingtan, a form of traditional Chinese opera)ã€?Huang Longshi (Chinese :黄龙士, Master of go chess in Qing Dynastry), and Gao Ershi (Chinese: 高二适, modern time calligraphier) are among the well-known people from Jiangyan. The Qintong Boat Festival (Chinese: 溱潼会船) also has a long history since Ming Dynasty, and it is becoming an important tourist destination in the whole eastern China. The Baima Temple (Chinese: 白马庙, meaning white horse temple) in Jiangyan (now in Taizhou) is the birthplace of the Navy of the People's Liberation Army.

There have been so many well-known people from Jiangyan in its long history. Yue Fei (岳飞) and Wen Tianxiang (文天祥) in Song dynasty have both stationed in Jiangyan to fight again the Jin invaders. The Ming dynasty general, Tang Shunzhi (�顺之) had been fighting Japanese in Jiangyan until his died here. The pholisophy and one of the founders of 'Taizhou clique', Wang Dong (王栋) had been teaching in Jiangyan for decades, and his teaching place, Wanggong Temple ("王公祠") is now preserved as a museum. The artist in Ming dynasty, Tang Zhique (�志契) and his brother Tang Zhiyi (�志尹), nephew Tang Riyin (�日艮), so called 'Three Tangs' were from Jiangyan. The go chess master in Qing dynasty, Huang Longshi (黄龙士) had leaded the chess game to the highest peak in the old times. Lu Fubao (���) was the consule of Taiwan. Liu Guorong (刘�庆) and Liu Guoqing (刘国庆) brothers were the martial champain.

In the modern history, the artist master Mei Lanfang (梅兰芳) was born in Zhangmu (张�) town (now in Baimi town), and he had visited Jiangyan for many times. Following the call from Chairman Mao Zedong, nodern poet and caligrapher Gao Ershi (高二适) had made a famous 'Lanting Argument' (兰亭论辩) with Guo Moruo (郭沫若). According to a preliminary statistics, there are over 200 professors, 600 county-level officials, and 5 military Sergents originated from Jiangyan as of 2000. Jiangyan also has made its special marks in the history of modern China. The first Soviet base in northern Jiangsu was founded in Jiangyan by No 14 red army. The Chinese navy was also born in Jiangyan Baima Temple (白马庙). The headquarter of Battle of Huangqiao, one of the major battles in the civil war between Kuomingtang and Communist Armies, was in Jiangyan Qujianglou (曲江楼).

Jiang Zefeng (江泽芬), a sister of Jiang Zemin, is also living in Jiangyan. Hu Jintao, the current president of China is also born and raised in Jiangyan. Jiangyan has also actively engaged in a campaign to modernise the city by new technology and intense education. During 1992 and 1997, there are as many as 180 inovations and 155 new technologies were awarded and more than 70 patents were assigned. Jiangyan has been in Top 100 Counties since 1995.