Yangzhou has a history of almost 2,500 years, being founded in the Spring and Autumn Period when it was called Guangling. It was called Hancheng during Warring States Period (403-221 BC) (Perkins). In 590 AD, the city began to be called Yangzhou, which was the traditional name of what was then the entire southeastern part of China.

Under the 2nd Emperor Yangdi (604-617) of the Sui Dynasty (581-617), was the southern capital of China and called Jiangdu upon the completion of the Jinghang (Grand) Canal until the fall of the Dynasty. It has been a leading economic and cultural center and major port of foreign trade and external exchange since the Tang Dynasty (618-907). There lived many Arab and Persian merchants, but they were massacred in 760 AD during the An Shi Rebellion (Perkins).

The city, still known as Guangling, was briefly made the capital of the Wu Kingdom during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period.

Marco Polo served there under the Mongol emperor Kubilai Khan in the period around 1282-1287 (to 1285, according to Perkins). Although some versions of Polo's memoirs imply that he was the governor of Yangzhou, it is more likely that he was an official in the salt industry. The discovery of the 1342 tomb of Katarina Vilioni, member of an Italian trading family in Yangzhou, suggests the existence of a thriving Italian community in the city in the 14th century. Until the 19th century Yangzhou acted as a major trade exchange center for salt, (a government regulated commodity), rice and silk. The Mings (1368-1644) are largely responsible for building the city as it now stands and surrounding it with 9 km of walls.

The Yangzhou riot in 1868 was a pivotal moment of Anglo-Chinese relations during the late Qing Dynasty that almost led to war. The crisis was fomented by the gentry of the city who opposed the presence of foreign Christian missionaries there. The riot that resulted was an angry crowd estimated at eight to ten thousand who assaulted the premises of the British China Inland Mission in Yangzhou by looting, burning and attacking the missionaries led by Hudson Taylor. No one was killed, however several of the missionaries were injured as they were forced to flee for their lives. As a result of the report of the riot, the British consul in Shanghai, Sir Walter Henry Medhurst took seventy Royal marines in a Man of war and steamed up the Yangtze to Nanjing in a controversial show of force that eventually resulted in an official apology from Viceroy Zeng Guofan and financial restitution made to the injured missionaries.

From the time of the Taiping Rebellion (1853) to the end of the Communist revolution (1949) Yangzhou was in decline, due to war damage and neglect of the Jinghang Canal as railways replaced it in importance; unfortunately, initial plans for railways connecting Yangzhou were deemed to be unimportant, and its status as the leading economic centre of China declined rapidly into a city of little importance. With the canal now partially restored, Yangzhou is once again an important transportation and market center. It also has some industrial output, chiefly in cotton and textiles. In 2004, a railway linked Yangzhou for the first time with Nanjing.

Yangzhou , noted for its history and culture, is located in central Jiangsu Province in Southeast China, the convergent point between Yangtze River and the Great Canal of China. Therefore, Yangzhou does live up to its name as an important traffic hinge. In the past, Yangzhou cultivated salt merchants in Ming and Qing dynasties, whose wealth can even be compared with that of a nation, and now it is the geological hub of industry and commerce, science and education, tourism and ecology, boasting various technological, art and academic quintessence and famous for its prosperity, civilization as well as magnificent and elegant views.

The ancient Yangzhou used to be one of the nine prefectures of China . Now it administers seven county-level divisions, namely, Guangling, Hanjiang, Weiyang, Yizheng, Jiangdu, Gaoyou and Baoying. The whole Yangzhou city covers an area of 6,634 square kilometers, with a population of 4.56 million.

Geography & Climate

Rivers: the Yangtze River, Jinghang Canal, Baoshe River, Datong River, Beichengzi River, Tongyang Canal, Xintongyang Canal, Baima Lake, Baoying Lake, Gaoyou Lake, Shaobo Lake.

Local landscape:Slender west lake, Ge garden, He garden, Da Ming temple, Phoenix island, etc.

Climate:Subtropical monsoon climate with humid changeable wind; longer winters for about 4 months, summers 3 months and shorter springs and autumns, 2 months respectively; frost-free period of 222 days and annual average sunshine of 2177 hours.

Average temperature: 15 C annually; the hottest in July of 27.6 C and the coldest in January of 1.7 C; maximum temperature of 39.8 C and minimum ?19 C

The annual average precipitation is 1,030 mm, and about 45 percent of rainfall is concentrated in the summer. The rainy season known as "plum rain season" usually lasts from mid-June to late July. During this season, the plums are ripening, hence the name plum rain.

Transportation

Airport

The Nanjing Lukou International Airport is over 100km away, and it takes one hour and 40 minutes to get there. There are over 10 airline ticket offices in the city, providing convenient service for foreign and domestic tourists.

Railway Station and Excursion Trains

Yangzhou has no railway station, but across the Yangtze River is Zhenjiang railway station, with round-clock ferry services. It takes 40 minutes to reach the station now, but with the completion of the Zhenjiang-Yangzhou bridge, transportation will be faster and more convenient.

Harbor

Yangzhou harbor, 11.5 km away from the city center, is located at the junction of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal and the Yangtze River. The average water depth is 15-20 meters.

Now, it has developed into a comprehensive harbor, integrating passenger, freight, container transportation and harbor trade, and has become the main distribution center of nor them Jiangsu Province, eastern Anhui Province and southeast Shandong Province.

The passenger routesreach Nanjing, Wuhu, Jiujiang, Huangshi and Wuhan in the north, and Nantong and Shanghai in the south. Some well-known luxury international liners also anchor here.

Entry/Exit of Expressways

The Ningyang (Nanjing-Yangzhou) Expressway has the Bazi Bridge as its entry/exit to the southern part of Yangzhou while the Ningtong (Nanjing-Nantong) Expressway entries and exits Yangzhou in Liaojiagou.

Transportation in the Urban Area

Taxi: Yangzhou's taxi industry began in 1982, and has developed rapidly since 1993. the city has over 40 taxi companies of various ownerships, with a total of 1,571 vehicles. Parking lots were established at key stations and hotels, and eight taxi companies have opened round-the-clock telephone service.

Tourist Transportation

To develop Yangzhou tourism, sightseeing buses have been introduced in the city run by Tianma Travel Agency Co. Ltd, under the Yangzhou Tourist Bureau. There is a tour guide on each bus.

The route, starting from Yangzhou station, has eight stops, and goes by such scenic spots of the Slender West Lake, Daming Temple, Imperial Dock, Siwang Pagoda, Wenchang Pagoda and Shita Temple.

Yangzhou Public Transport Company also operates No. 1, No. 5 and No. 2 special public tourist lines. No. 1 bus starts from the bus station and goes by the Slender West Lake, Shigong Temple, Geyuan Garden and Heyuan Garden; No. 5 bus starts from the bus station and goes by the Crane Temple, Wenchang Pagoda, Slender West Lake, Five-Pavilion Bridge, and Pingshan Hall.

A sight-seeing route on Slender West Lake has opened, connecting Imperial Dock, Yichun Garden, Hong Garden, Dahong Bridge, Xiaojinshan, Diaoyutai, Five-Pavilion Bridge, and the 24-bridge, finally reaching Daming Temple and Pingshan Hall.

Yangzhou Tourists Attractions

Da Ming Temple

Located on Shugang Hill, in the city's northwest, is Fajing Temple, formerly known as Daming Temple.

The original temple was built by jian Zhen some 1,500 years ago. In the latter years of the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279), a nine-story pagoda, the Qilingta, was built on the temple grounds.

A recent addition to the temple complex is the jian Zhen Memorial Hall, built according to Tang Dynasty methods and financed with contributions raised by Buddhist groups in Japan.

When Qing Emperor Qian Long visited Yangzhou in 1765, he was troubled by The temple's name Daming (which literally means "Great Ming') fearing that it might revive nostalgia for the Ming Dynasty, which was overthrown by his Manchu predecessors. He had it renamed Fajing Temple.

The temple was seriously damaged during the Taiping Rebellion at the beginning of the 20th century. The present structure is a reconstruction dating from the 1930s.

He Garden

Built by He Zhidiao, a 19th century Chinese envoy to France, this garden is famous for a 430m. (1,377 ft) two storied winding corridor, the walls of which are lined with stone tablets carved with lines of classical poetry, In the garden is also an open air theater set on an island in the middle of a fish pond.

Ge Garden

It was during the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD) that garden construction on a large scale emerged in Yangzhou City. The garden construction in Yangzhou City later became prosperous early in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), especially after the southern itineration of the famous Qing Dynasty emperor Qianlong. It was also during this period that Yangzhou got famous for its beautiful gardens. Unfortunately, over the years most of the gardens were damaged in the confusion and disorder brought about by various wars. But Ge Garden survived along with several other gardens in Yangzhou City.

Ge Garden has Shouyi Garden, built during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), as its predecessor. Ge Garden was later rebuilt as a private garden in 1818 during the Qing Dynasty. Huang Zhiyun, a rich salt merchant and the owner of the garden, thought highly of the upright character of the bamboo. At the same time, bamboo leaves look like the Chinese character 'ge (��)', so the name of 'Ge Garden' was given. Originally, there were more than one hundred kinds of bamboo in the garden, but today only a sprinkling of bamboo can be seen. Ge Garden now is best known for its rockeries, which take on different aspects as the seasons change.

Ge Garden uses bamboo and rocks as its principal elements and is characterized by stone-piling. Different rockeries are formed from different kinds of rocks to represent different scenes in the four seasons, hence the name 'four-season-rockery'. There are no other similar gardens anywhere in China. Compared to other plants, the garden gives priority to the bamboo. Using the grotesque shapes of the rocks, a distinctive scene consisting of bamboo and rocks is formed. It actually is a mixture of the grandness of the North and the delicacy of the South.

Yiyu Xuan is the center of the whole garden. The 'four-season-rockery' is made up of the spring rockery, the summer rockery, the autumn rockery, and the winter rockery. Twelve blocks of stone shaped like twelve kinds of animals such as a mouse, a cow, a tiger, and a pig are surrounded by bamboo trees and symbolize the rebirth of spring. Exquisitely carved Taihu stones, a kind of stone mostly found around Taihu Lake, sit near a lotus pool and represent the beautiful scenery of the South in summer. Huang stones (a kind of stone found near Mt. Huangshan ) whose shapes are bold and unconstrained are used in the biggest rockery to represent the loftiness of the hills in autumn; and Xue Stone (white Snow Stone) which glistens in the sunshine gives people the feeling that the snow has not yet melted. When people visit the garden they feel as if they have experienced the essence of the four seasons of the year.

The 24 Bridges

The Twenty-four Bridge Scenic Spot, located in the western section of the Slender West Lake, has been a lure since ancient times.

As to the picturesque Shugang Ridge-Slender West Lake sight, including Discovering-Spring Tower, Exquisite Flower World, Xichun Tower and the Twenty-four Bridge Scenic Spot, the last one has added the charm with its unique flavor.

Slim West Lake

The Slim West Lake in the western suburb of Yangzhou was originally known as the Baozhang River, a natural river course through which runoffs from Zhugang Mountain empties into the Grand Canal.

In comparison with the West Lake of Hangzhou, the Slim West Lake is marked for its natural elfish beauty. The lake extends for 4.3 kilometers, and more than 30 hectares of its water surface are open to tourists. Over the years a number of buildings have been erected on the lakeside, including a white pagoda, a five-pavilion bridge, the Bridge Twenty-Four, a moon-watchers' observational deck, and a square pavilion, which have all incorporated the grace of southern gardens and the grandeur of northern ones.

Spanning the lake is the Five-Pagoda Bridge. Built in 1757, or the 22nd year of the Qianlong Reign of the Qing Dynasty, the bridge stands 5.8 meters high, 58 meters long and 18.6 meters wide. Of the five pavilions on the bridge, the one in the middle is the tallest, with the rest arranged symmetrically on both sides of it. The bridge is an emblem of tile city of Yangzhou.

Cuisine

Yangzhou dishes may be one of the reasons why the people of Yangzhou are so infatuated with their city. They have an appealing color, aroma, taste and also appearance. The original color of each ingredient is preserved after cooking, and no oily sauce is added, so as to retain the fresh savor of the food.

In Yangzhou all dishes, whether cheap or expensive, are elaborate. Cooks will not scrimp on their work, even with Zhugansi (stewed sliced dry bean curd), a popular dish that costs only a few yuan.

Dry bean curd is made by each restaurant that serves it, so the flavor is guaranteed. The cook slices the 1-cm-thick curd into 30 shreds, each one paper-thin but none broken, and then stews them for hours with chopped bamboo shoots and shelled shrimps in chicken soup. In this way the dry bean curd shreds can soak up the flavor of the other ingredients, and the soup is clear but savory. It is not only Yangzhou cooks but also the ordinary people who are conscientious about cooking.

Shopping

Compared with the neighbouring cities of Nanjing and Shanghai, Yangzhou cannot be called a shopping paradise.

Perhaps due to its history of more than 2500 years, the Yangzhou city government is fairly strict with new construction proposals in the city center. Consequently, most builings in the downtown area are not taller than 6 stories, which is a big restriction for the development of large department stores.

Nonetheless, you can still find some grand shopping centers around Wenchangge; the de facto city center. For those fans of big expensive brands, Golden Eagle Shopping center, Wanjiafu department store and Times Square are the easy choice. The new built Living Mall in west end of Yangzhou aims at a higher end of market, which could be seen from the sellers inside, such as Starbucks and Dairy Queen.

Located on the south-west corner of Wenchang Pavilion Roundabout, Yangzhou Golden Eagle Shopping Center is the most up-market store in the city center and features a wide variety of clothes, electronics and jewellery.

Situated diagonally across Wenchangge from Golden Eagle, Wanjiafu Department Store boasts a favourable geographical position. It has a business area of 18,000 square meters with a good selection of clothes.

Located on the west side of the Golden Eagle Shopping center, Times Square attracts thousands of citizens and covers an area of 23,000 square meters. Compared with the previous two shopping centers, Times Square is more like an "American" style mall, with a wide variety of clothing stores, appliances, restaurants, and a cinema. Many young people shop in the basement for cheap fashion. Also, a large book store is located on the top floor. English books could also be found. However, they are not originals.

Living Mall or Living City-Recently Yangzhou did get an "American" style mall known as: Living City. The mall is located in the west of city, about 1 kilometre east of the railway station, across from the Yangzhou Museum. Living City targets high market customers with many global brands. This is perhaps the easiest place in Yangzhou to meet foreigners, what with a Starbucks, Dairy Queen and the highest concentration of restaurents catering to western tastes.

Besides big stores, there are many small clothing outlets lining most of the streets in the city center. Unlike the stores listed above, here you can bargin with the shopkeeper for a better price, and usually the prices are cheaper than for like items in Nanjing or Shanghai.

Culture

Yangzhou dialect is called "Yangzhou Hua" and is moderate understandable by an outsider as it does differ a lot from today's standard Mandarin. Yangzhou dialect is considered to be the representative dialect of Jiang-huai dialect group within the Mandarin language family.

During a period of prosperity and Imperial favour, the arts of storytelling and painting flourished in Yangzhou. The innovative painter-calligrapher Shitao lived in Yangzhou during the 1680s and again from 1697 until his death in 1707. A later group of painters from that time called the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou are famous throughout China.

Former President of China Jiang Zemin was born and raised in Yangzhou. His middle school is located right across from the public notary's office in Yangzhou.

Yangzhou is famous for its carved lacquerware and jade carvings.

Poet Li Bai (c.700-762) wrote in Seeing Meng Haoran off to Yangzhou from Yellow Crane Pavilion:

At Yellow Crane Pavilion in the west My old friend says farewell; In the mist and flowers of spring He goes down to Yangzhou; Lonely sail, distant shadow, Vanish in blue emptiness; All I see is the great river Flowing into the far horizon.

The city is famous for its public bath houses, lacquerware, jadeware, embroidery, paper-cut, art & crafts velvet flavers.

The city was awarded Habitat Scroll of Honour in 2006.

Yangzhou is also very famous for its toy industry (especially stuffed animals). Many tourists from neighboring cities travel to the city for its good-quality and low-priced toys.

It is worth mentioning that the city is also famous for an ancient folk art called Yangzhou storytelling, which is like Xiangsheng - the traditional Chinese comedic performance. It rose as a performing act during the Ming Dynasty.

In the performance, the artist details an interesting historical story to audiences, using Yangzhou dialect. These stories have been edited by artists, so they sound very soul-stirring and funny.