Haimen District 海门区

History

In the early Qing the main channel of the Yangtze shifted south and more than forty new sandbanks rose along the north bank; migrants from south of the river came to farm them. Haimen Subprefecture (海门直隶厅) was set up in 1768, with its seat at Maojia town (茅家镇). It became Haimen County in 1912, a county-level city in 1994, and a district of Nantong in July 2020. Most of its people descend from settlers from Shanghai, Suzhou, Jiaxing and Huzhou, and the local speech is mainly Wu Chinese, in two forms: Haiqi (海启话) and Tongdong (通东话).

What to see

Zhang Jian was born in Changle town (常乐镇) in 1853 and at the age of 41 took first place in the imperial palace examination. At the east end of Zhuangyuan Street (状元街) by his former home in Changle stands the Zhang Jian Memorial Hall (张謇纪念馆), a garden-style complex of 33 mu whose photographs and objects follow his career as an industrialist.

In Sanchang (三厂) subdistrict stands the Former Site of the Dasheng No. 3 Textile Company (大生第三纺织公司旧址), the mill Zhang Jian began in 1919 and completed in 1921. The clock tower, head office and raw-cotton warehouse survive; the Haimen district government describes the site as a national key heritage site and completed its restoration in December 2023.

Food and local traditions

Haimen goat meat (海门山羊肉) is listed as a local speciality. Haimen folk songs (海门山歌) are on the national intangible-heritage list (2008). China's national intangible-heritage website says they grew from the Wu-language songs that farmers from Chongming (崇明) and Jurong (句容) brought when they reclaimed the land, and divides them into short improvised lyric songs, mostly of seven-character lines, and long narrative songs of dozens to hundreds of lines. A collection, 'Love Songs of the River Mouth' (《江口情歌》), was compiled in 1931.

Highlights

• Zhang Jian Memorial Hall 张謇纪念馆: Garden-style memorial of 33 mu at Zhang Jian's birthplace in Changle town.
• Former Site of the Dasheng No. 3 Textile Company 大生第三纺织公司旧址: Zhang Jian's mill of 1919–1921 in Sanchang, with surviving clock tower; restored by 2023.
• Haimen folk songs 海门山歌: Wu-language folk songs on the national intangible-heritage list since 2008.
• Haimen goat meat 海门山羊肉: Local speciality listed for the district.