Yangzhong 扬中市

Setting and landscape

The main channel of the Yangtze separates Yangzhong from the Gaogang District (高港区) of Taizhou (泰州) and from Taixing (泰兴) to the north and east, and a southern branch of the river divides it from Danyang (丹阳), the Zhenjiang New Area and Changzhou's Xinbei District (新北区) to the southwest. The islands have 103 kilometres of natural Yangtze shoreline, and the city government promotes them as a "pearl in the river and garden on the water" (江中明珠、水上花园). The Yangzhong Yangtze Bridge (扬中长江大桥), opened in 1994 with locally raised funds, and the Second Yangzhong Yangtze Bridge (扬中长江二桥) of 2004 link the main island and the second-largest island with urban Zhenjiang and Changzhou's Xinbei District on the south bank.

History

Before it had an administration of its own, Taiping Island was split among six counties in four prefectures, including Dantu (丹徒) and Danyang under Zhenjiang and Jiangdu (江都) under Yangzhou. In the late Qing a Taiping sub-prefecture (太平厅) under Zhenjiang was set up on the island, and it became Taiping County after 1912. Because Anhui also had a Taiping County, it was renamed Yangzhong County in 1914, and it became a city in 1994. Local people speak Yangzhong dialect, a form of Jianghuai Mandarin (江淮方言).

Food and local products

The waters around the islands are a spawning ground for many migratory Yangtze fish. Yangzhong's "three river delicacies" (扬中三鲜) are the tapertail anchovy (刀鱼), Reeves shad (鲥鱼) and pufferfish (河豚), and English Wikipedia describes the city as famous for pufferfish farming and cooking. Pufferfish is in season around March, the city holds a pufferfish festival every spring, and a bronze pufferfish sculpture weighing 2,300 tons stands in the city.

Highlights

• Yangzhong pufferfish 扬中河豚: In season around March; the city holds a pufferfish festival every spring.
• Yangzhong Yangtze Bridge 扬中长江大桥: Opened in 1994, built with locally raised funds.