Chongming, Shanghai

Chongming District (Template:Audio) is the northernmost district of the provincial-level municipality of Shanghai. Chongming consists of three low-lying inhabited alluvial islands at the mouth of the Yangtze north of the Shanghai peninsula: Chongming, Changxing, and Hengsha. Following its massive expansion in the 20th century, Chongming is now the 2nd-largest island administered by the People's Republic of China and the 3rd-largest in Greater China, after Hainan. Chongming does not, however, administer all of the island: owing to its continual expansion from sediment deposited by the Yangtze, it has merged with formerly separate islands and now includes Jiangsu province's pene-exclave townships of Haiyong and Qilong. Chongming proper covers an area of Template:Convert and had a population of Template:Nowrap at the time of the Census 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The county was established in 1396, the second year of the Ming dynasty's Hongwu Emperor. With the completion of the Yangtze and Chongqi Bridges, it is now connected to both the rest of Shanghai and southeastern Jiangsu province along the Hushan Expressway. Further development is now proceeding according to an urban and agricultural master-plan led by Philip Enquist of SOM, although ambitious plans for an ecocity named Dongtan have been shelved since the 2006 ouster of mayor Chen Liangyu and other neighborhoods have swelled with immigration from people relocated from central China following the completion of the Three Gorges Dam. Template:Infobox Chinese

History

Present-day Chongming first developed as two separate shoals—Xisha and Dongsha—during the Wude Era (AD 618–626) of the Tang dynasty. By the first year of Shenlong (705), a town was established on Xisha which was known as "Chongming".<ref name=eos>"Chongming County" in the Encyclopedia of Shanghai, pp. 50 ff. Template:Webarchive Shanghai Scientific & Technical Publishers (Shanghai), 2010. Hosted by the Municipality of Shanghai.</ref> The number, size, and shapes of the islands fluctuated repeatedly over time and with the floods of the Yangtze River.<ref name=eoscmi/> In the 15th year of Jiading (1222) under the Southern Song, the islands were part of Tongzhou Prefecture.<ref name=eos/> These early settlers were mostly fishermen and salt collectors,<ref name=kingcotton/> with its principal saltern at Tianci. In the 14th year of Zhiyuan (1277) under Kublai Khan of the Yuan, Template:Nowrap was organized within Yangzhou.<ref name=eos/> Owing to the shifting sands of the islands, however, the district seat needed to be repeatedly moved.<ref name=eoscmi>"Chongming Island" in the Encyclopedia of Shanghai, p. 52. Template:Webarchive</ref>

During the late Yuan and early Ming, the sparsely-inhabited shoals of the area began to fill with migrants from Pudong and other areas of Songjiang Prefecture. These immigrants introduced cotton cultivation, which spread widely prior to China's opening to international trade in the later Qing. There was small-scale textile production in the area, but most was exported for use in Songjiang, Hangzhou, and other more developed areas of Jiangnan.<ref name=kingcotton>Walker, Kathy Le Mons. "The View from the Periphery: Tongzhou and the Northern Delta" in Chinese Modernity and the Peasant Path: Semicolonialism in the Northern Yangzi Delta, pp. 52 ff. Stanford University Press (Stanford), 1999.</ref> In the 2nd year of Hongwu (1396) under the Ming, the prefecture was elevated to a county<ref name=eos/> but, shortly afterwards, a major subsidence provoked a mass emigration back to the mainland.<ref name=kingcotton/> This county was later placed in Suzhou and then Taicang Prefectures.<ref name=eos/> The unification of over 30 shoals in 1681 was effectively the creation of the present-day Chongming, although it remained much smaller at the time.<ref name=eoscmi/>

Under the Republic, the county was organized first under the Nantong and then the Songjiang Special Administration District. Nine years after the establishment of the People's Republic of China, it was placed under the municipality of Shanghai in December 1958.<ref name=eos/> Reclamation, particularly large-scale work on the island's northern and eastern tidal flats in the 1960s and '90s, doubled the size of Chongming between 1950 and 2010.<ref name=eoscmi/> Dongtan was a proposed ecocity which was planned to open along with the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai but stalled following the 2006 ouster of Shanghai mayor Chen Liangyu.<ref>Montlake, Simon. "In China, Overambition Reins in Eco-City Plans" in The Christian Science Monitor. 23 December 2008. Accessed 10 January 2015.</ref><ref>Fox, Jesse. "Dongtan, China's Flagship Ecocity Project, R.I.P." Treehugger, 5 January 2009. Accessed 10 Jan 2015.</ref>

In mid-2016 Chongming was approved by the State Council of China to upgrade into a district of Shanghai; the District government was formally established in January 2017.Template:Citation needed

Landmarks and tour

Dongping National Forest Park is located in the district, as are the Dongtan Nature Reserve, the Chongxi Wetland Park,<ref name=eoscmi/> and the Chongming National Geological Park.<ref name=eos/> With its unspoiled environment, Chongming Island is one-of-a-kind destination great for eco-tours and restorative vacations. Chongming runs two 4A-class attractions and four 3A-class attractions. The tourism of the island focuses on three zones<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> – East Chongming, Central Chongming and West Chongming. East Chongming features Dongtan Wetland Park and agritainment options in Yingdong Village and Nanjiang Village. Central Chongming features Dongping National Forest Park, agritainment options at Qianwei Village, Gaojia Zhuangyuan and Ruihua Orchard, Genbao Football Base, Chongming Xuegong (Chongming Museum), Jinaoshan Park, Shou’an Temple and Sanmin Cultural Village. West Chongming offers Mingzhu Lake Park, Xiling Resort, Xisha Wetland and agritainment at Lugang Village.

Towns

The district government seat and largest settlement of Chongming is the town of Chengqiao on Chongming Island. There are 227 communities and villages in the district,<ref name=eos/> administered as 16 towns and 2 townships.

Changxing Island is administered as a single town, also named Changxing. Other town-level divisions of Chongming include (from northwest to southeast): Xinhai, Lühua, Sanxing, Miao, Dongping, Gangxi, Jianshe, Xinhe, Shuxin, Gangyan, Bu, Xianghua, Zhongxing, Chenjia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Hengsha Island is administered as a single township, also named Hengsha and Xincun. The other township-level division of Chongming are Qianwei Farm, Dongping Forestry Zone, and Shangshi Contemporary Agricultural Park.

To its southeast along the northern shore is the township of Haiyong; southeast of Haimen is Qilong. Both of these are pene-exclaves of Jiangsu; they are administered from Haimen District and Qidong, respectively.

Name	Chinese (S)	Hanyu Pinyin	Shanghainese Romanization	Population (2010)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>	Area (km2)
Chengqiao town	Template:Lang	Chéngqiáo Zhèn	zen djio tzen	113,442	58.00
Bu town	Template:Lang	Bǔ Zhèn	phu tzen	60,111	63.48
Xinhe town	Template:Lang	Xīnhé Zhèn	sin wu tzen	42,737	57.25
Miao town	Template:Lang	Miào Zhèn	mio tzen	45,926	95.70
Shuxin town	Template:Lang	Shùxīn Zhèn	zyu sin tzen	40,823	60.00
Xianghua town	Template:Lang	Xiànghuà Zhèn	xian hau tzen	26,265	53.78
Sanxing town	Template:Lang	Sānxīng Zhèn	se sin tzen	29,894	68.70
Gangyan town	Template:Lang	Gǎngyán Zhèn	kaon yi tzen	40,741	70.00
Zhongxing town	Template:Lang	Zhōngxìng Zhèn	tzon xin tzen	25,274	45.54
Chenjia town	Template:Lang	Chénjiā Zhèn	dzen ka tzen	53,996	94.90
Lühua town	Template:Lang	Lǜhuá Zhèn	loq rau tzen	7,061	37.45
Gangxi town	Template:Lang	Gǎngxī Zhèn	kaon sij tzen	23,416	49.39
Jianshe town	Template:Lang	Jiànshè Zhèn	ci seq tzen	27,466	42.40
Xinhai town	Template:Lang	Xīnhǎi Zhèn	sin he tzen	11,646	105.04
Dongping town	Template:Lang	Dōngpíng Zhèn	ton bin tzen	15,112	119.70
Changxing town	Template:Lang	Chángxìng Zhèn	tzan xin tzen	99,134	88.54
Xincun Township	Template:Lang	Xīncūn Xiāng	sin tsen xian	9,581	32.50
Hengsha Township	Template:Lang	Héngshā Xiāng	wan sau xian	27,916	51.74
Qianwei Farm	Template:Lang	Qiánwèi Nóngchǎng	dzi we non dzan	1,695	13.10
Dongping Forestry Zone	Template:Lang	Dōngpíng Línchǎng	ton bin lin dzan	35	3.55
Shangshi Contemporary Agricultural Park	Template:Lang	Shàngshí Xiàndài Nóngyè Yuánqū	zaon dzeq yi de non gniq yeu chiu	1,451	14.50

Culture

Shadi dialect is spoken in the district.

Transportation

Whereas the district was previously only connected to the mainland by ferry service, the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel now connects Changxing Island with Pudong in Shanghai, while the Shanghai Yangtze Bridge connects it with Chongming Island. Chongming is presently connected with Jiangsu by the Chongqi Bridge and these three bridges and tunnels form part of the Hushan Expressway connecting northern Shanghai with Xi'an in central China. The Chonghai Bridge connecting western Chongming with Haimen in Jiangsu is under construction.

Hengsha Island is connected via ferry. 18 ferries continue to operate in the district. On Chongming, Chengqiao's Nanmen Port offers service to Shidongkou and Baoyang Rd in Baoshan and to Liuhegang in southern Jiangsu; Xinhai's Niupeng Harbor to Qinglonggang in Haimen;<ref name=dog>"Shanghai Chongming Industrial Zone". Shanghai Municipal Government, 2015.</ref> and other ports offer connections with Wusong and the two other islands of the county.<ref name=eos/>

The major arteries running along the length of Chongming Island are the Beiyan Highway on the north side and Chenhai Highway on the south. Another 38 highways cross the island. The main artery along the length of Changxing Island is the Panyuan Highway, while Fengle Road runs north and south across central Hengsha Island. There are 41 bus lines in Chongming, connecting over 98% of its 227 communities.<ref name=eos/>

Chongming line of the Shanghai Metro will link Template:Stl station on Line 9 in Pudong to Chongming via Changxing Island. The first phase of the line from Template:Stl to Changxing Island is currently under construction.

Sports

The Tour of Chongming Island International Cycling Race has been held on Chongming Island since 2007. It is held annually and includes a stage race and an UCI Women's Road World Cup race for elite women.

Notable people

• Li Fengbao (1834-1887) – Qing dynasty diplomat
• Gong Qiuxia (1918-2004), actress and singer

External links

• Template:Official website