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Nantong is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Jiangsu, China. Located on the northern bank of the Yangtze River, near the river mouth. Nantong is a vital river port bordering Yancheng to the north; Taizhou to the west; Suzhou, Wuxi and Shanghai to the south across the river; and the East China Sea to the east. Its population was 7,726,635 as of the 2020 census, 3,766,534 of whom lived in the built-up area made up of three urban districts.
On September 26, 2004, the first World Metropolitan Development Forum was held in Nantong. In 2005, Nantong had a GDP growth of 15.4%, the highest growth rate in Jiangsu province, and in 2016 Nantong's GDP had a total of about 675 billion yuan, ranking 21st in the whole country.
Although the city took a blow from the economic depression of the 1930s, as well as the Japanese occupation of the 1930s and 40s, Nantong has remained an important center for the textile industry. Because of its deepwater harbor and connections to inland navigational canals, it was one of 14 port cities opened to foreign investment in recent Chinese economic reforms.
In the early Sui dynasty, all of the counties in present-day Nantong were abolished. Hai'an County was briefly re-established in 708 CE, during the Tang dynasty, when it was carved out of the eastern portion of nearby . In 722 CE, it Hai'an County was merged back into Hailing County. Rugao County was re-established in 952 CE.
In 958 CE, the area was organized as a prefecture, named Tong Prefecture (l=Opening Prefecture). It administered two counties: Jinghai County (p=Jìnghǎi Xiàn) and Haimen County (p=Hǎimén Xiàn). Its administrative seat was located in Jinghai County. In 1023, Tong Prefecture was briefly renamed to Chong Prefecture (p=Chóng Zhōu), although its name was reverted to Tong Prefecture within the year.
In 1278, during the Yuan dynasty, Tong Prefecture was reorganized as a circuit. This change was reverted six years later.
In 1368, the first year of the Ming dynasty, Jinghai County was abolished, and the area was put under the direct administration of Tong Prefecture. At this time, Tong Prefecture also held jurisdiction over Haimen County and Chongming County (p=Chóngmíng Xiàn). Eight years later, Chongming County was transferred from Tong Prefecture to .
During the Qing dynasty, Tong Prefecture was renamed to Nantong Prefecture (l=South Opening Prefecture) to avoid confusion with another Tong Prefecture located in present-day Beijing. In 1672, Haimen County was abolished and placed under the direct administration of Tong Prefecture. In 1724, Nantong was reorganized as a .
The prosperity of Nantong has traditionally depended on salt production on the nearby seacoast, rice and cotton agriculture, and manufacture of cotton and silk textiles, especially Nantong blue calico. A local statesman and industrialist named Zhang Jian founded Nantong's first modern cotton mills in 1899. He then developed an industrial complex that included flour, oil, and silk reeling mills, a distillery, and a machinery shop. He also founded a shipping line and reclaimed saline agricultural land to the east of Nantong for cotton production. Thanks to these efforts, by 1911 Nantong was commonly called "Zhang Jian's Kingdom". In the early Republican period, the Nantong Special Administrative District included Chongming County, now part of Shanghai. "Chongming County" in the Encyclopedia of Shanghai, pp. 50 ff. Shanghai Scientific & Technical Publishers (Shanghai), 2010. Hosted by the Municipality of Shanghai.
The Republic of China reorganized the area's administrative units in 1912, to be three counties: Nantong, Rugao, and Haimen. All three were directly administered by Jiangsu province.
Following the Shanghai massacre of 1927, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) became active in the Tonghairutai area (p=Tōnghǎirútài dìqū), spanning present-day Nantong, Haimen, Rugao, and Taizhou. In April 1928, the of the Chinese Red Army commenced guerilla operations throughout the area. In February 1929, the CCP established a local soviet in Nantong. The following year, led by the 14th Army, numerous local soviets were established.
Invading Japanese forces conquered Nantong on March 17, 1938. Local CCP forces began covertly resisting Japanese occupation in August 1938. Forces belonging to the New Fourth Army crossed from south of the Yangtze river near the end of 1939, entering nearby Jiangdu in present-day Yangzhou. Following an attack from Kuomintang general Han Deqin on New Fourth Army forces south of the Yangtze in early October, CCP forces shifted their focus north of the river, including in present-day Nantong. Japanese occupation came to an end in Rugao on September 21, 1945.
The Chinese Civil War in Nantong resumed in July 1946, when the New Fourth Army's Central China Field Army (p=Huázhōng Yězhàn Jūn) and Kuomintang forces engaged in the , which CCP forces won in August. Despite the CCP victory, Kuomintang forces went into the winter of 1946 occupying a larger portion of Nantong, both in terms of population and area. Large-scale fighting resumed in the area during the autumn of 1948 with the Huaihai campaign. Towards the end of the campaign, the CCP forces (now re-organized as the People's Liberation Army) moved south towards the Yangtze, conquering a number of towns in Nantong's periphery throughout January 1949 into February 1949, before ultimately taking Nantong's urban core on February 2, 1949.
In January 1950, Hai'an and Rugao were transferred to the jurisdiction of Nantong.
In May 2021, a violent storm hit the city, leaving 11 people dead, and a further 102 people injured. According to authorities, many homes were badly damaged during the storm, and more than 3,000 people were evacuated. They were among many other cities on China's east coast that were affected.
About 2 million people in the southern parts of Tongzhou, Haimen, and Qidong City speak the Wu language, the specific local variety of which is often referred to as "Qi-hai Hua" (), meaning Qidong-Haimen speech. It is about the same as the dialect spoken on the neighbouring island of Chongming Island, Shanghai. People in northern parts of these counties speak the "Tongdong dialect" (. People in Rugao, Hai'an speak other dialects.
Popular tourist sites include Langshan ("Wolf Hill"), which is around 110 meters high. On top of the hill is a Buddhist temple dedicated to a Song dynasty monk. Because of the monk's legendary powers over water demons, sailors pray to him for protection on their voyages.
The Cao Gong Zhu Memorial Temple commemorates a local hero who defended the city against Japanese pirates in 1557.
Shuihuiyuan Garden, meaning Water Garden, is unique of all Chinese classical gardens due its creation in the Hui style. It includes the tombs of several people, such as Luo Binwang, a poet of the Tang dynasty; Wen Tianxiang, the national hero of the Nansong dynasty; and Zhang Jian, the scholar of the late Qing dynasty, who was a modern industrialist and supporter of education.
Nantong is one of the 14 port cities opened to foreign investment projects under China's current policies of modernization. Nantong was traditionally an industrial city, especially around the turn of the 20th century, specializing in salt and cotton textile production. Today's industrial corporations have made Nantong into an industrial hub since it opened its door to the outside world in the 1990s. With its excellent geographic location and the completion of two Yangtze River bridges, the prefecture is attracting more investment funding nationwide. Many of these investments come from international corporations. In October 2007, Singapore RGM International signed an agreement with Rudong, a county under Nantong's jurisdiction, to invest in a port project, costing 9 billion Yuan or US$1.33 billion, at Rudong Yangkou Port. Today, Nantong is one of many fast-growing coastal cities in China. With the opening of Sutong Bridge in April 2008 and Chonghai Bridge in 2009, the city has been listed as the number one city in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Zone for foreign investment, surpassing its rivals Suzhou, Hangzhou and Nanjing.
As a sprawling metropolis, Nantong has experienced environment damage from its industrialization as well. The municipal government has been putting stiffer environmental policies into practice over the years and has spent tremendous amounts of money to curb pollution and plant more trees along its roads. The city is active in shutting down factories that do not meet its environment laws.
Nantong has developed rapidly in the last 25 years, as have most of the cities in the Yangtze River Delta. Nantong's rapid economic growth is generally attributed to its advantageous location just north of Shanghai. Nantong's Sutong Bridge is expected to further Nantong's integration with Shanghai, cutting transportation time between the cities down from three hours to one hour.
The shipping corporation Cosco has a large port and ship repair yard on the river. Cosco (Nantong) Shipyard Co., Ltd, the first shipyard of the Cosco group, has placed itself adjacent to the busy port of Nantong. The yard has 1120 m of coastline and is equipped with one cape-size and one panamax size floating dock. Cosco Shipyard handles approximately 150 vessels per year.[2] Nantong Mingde Heavy Industries originally operated a shipyard in Nantong, but declared bankruptcy in 2014. Minde's parent company, Jiangsu Sainty Marine Corporation, would cease operations in 2017.
Some companies in Nantong:
Situated 50 km (31 mi) east of Nantong's downtown area, it is conveniently located within a 1.5-hour drive from Shanghai Pudong and Hongqiao airports. Binhai Park boasts excellent transportation infrastructure, with access to key expressways linking Tongyang to Nantong downtown, Haiqi to Qidong and Shanghai Pudong, as well as seaports featuring 500 berths ranging from 50,000 tons to 300,000 tons in the Tongzhou Bay port cluster.
The industries in Binhai Park primarily focus on maritime and offshore activities, logistics, equipment manufacturing, new energy, advanced materials, electronics, and more.
NETDA includes several subsidiary zones including Nantong Export Processing Zone, New Material Park, Opto-mechatronics Industrial Park and NETDA Business Park. Special incentives are offered for investments in areas of modern equipment manufacturing, such as in new materials, engineering, fine chemicals, new medicines, new energy and modern services. At present, NETDA has attracted a large number of renowned companies to settle in Nantong, such as Vonnex Allied IT Services, OJI Paper, Maxion, Johnson Controls, ITOCHU, TSRC Corporation, and Merck KGaA.
These are further divided into 146 township-level divisions.
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| Chongchuan District | 崇川区 | Chóngchuān Qū ! align=left | 226000 | 1,516,013 | 564.1 | 2,687 | |
| Tongzhou District | 通州区 | Tōngzhōu Qū ! align=left | 226300 | 1,258,739 | 1,432 | 879.0 | |
| Haimen District | 海门区 | Hǎimén Qū ! align=left | 226100 | 991,782 | 1,138 | 871.5 | |
| Rural | |||||||
| Rudong County | 如东县 | Rúdōng Xiàn ! align=left | 226400 | 880,006 | 2,252 | 390.8 | |
| Satellite cities (County-level cities) | |||||||
| Qidong City | 启东市 | Qǐdōng Shì ! align=left | 226200 | 972,525 | 1,714.59 | 567.21 | |
| Rugao | 如皋市 | Rúgāo Shì ! align=left | 226500 | 1,238,448 | 1,579 | 784.3 | |
| Hai'an City | 海安市 | Hǎi'ān Shì ! align=left | 226600 | 874,334 | 1,152 | 759.0 | |
| Total | 7,726,635 | 9,802 | 788.3 | ||||
Currently, Nantong Railway station and Hai'An railway station have the highest train volume in the city. Due to the single-track nature of the Nanjing-Qidong railway east of Nantong railway station, Electrified Multiple Unit service are not available beyond Nantong railway station; Qidong railway station currently receives 4 round trip trains per day operated as "K" trains. A line from Hai'an also connects Rudong county to the national rail network, with daily departures bounding for Nanjing.
The first line of the Nantong Metro opened in 2022.
Nantong has contributed to China's educational development with several firsts: establishment of the first school for teacher training, the first folk museum (Nantong Museum), the first school for industrial textile manufacturing, the first school for embroidery, the first drama school, and the first school for the deaf and the blind.[3]
Zhang Jian founded the first normal school in modern China, Nantong Normal College. Zhang also founded museums, libraries, and theaters, making Nantong into an important cultural center.
Located on the banks of the Haohe, the site of the institute has an area of 13.2 mu (8,800 m2). At present, there are 79 staff members who care for around 170 orphans, widows, and disabled children, plus 70 retirees. Since 1952, Nantong Social Welfare Institute has adopted more than 16,000 elderly, orphaned and disabled children.
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