City guide: Changzhou     

CONTENT

1. General introduction

Changzhou, nicknamed the Dragon Town, is a Prefecture city with a history of

2,500 years. Situated in the downstream of Yangtze River Drainage Basin and on the

southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou has been a national tourist hub and

one of national and provincial industrial centers.

Location & population

Changzhou borders Zhenjiang to the west and Wuxi to the east and is almost in the

middle, 160 km and 110 km respectively, of two major metropolises, Shanghai and

Nanjing. The city is on the south of the Yangtze River, crisscrossed by canals,

rivers and lakes. It has its own airport, Changzhou Benniu Airport, approximately

18 km from the urban area of the city.

Changzhou, with its jurisdiction, has a population of 3.5 million and the land mass

is 4,375 square kilometers. The city is located in the middle of two major metropo

-lises, Nanjing and Shanghai, about 150 km away from either of both.

Climate

Changzhou is under the influence of East Asia Monsoon. The city has a mild and

humid climate and seasons are distinct, with usually hot summers and plenty of

precipitation throughout the year.

Economy & industry

Changzhou’s agriculture revenue has been in shrinking over years and now it only

occupies about 6% of the total city's GDP. The traditional agricultural products

are rice, wheat, cotton, vegetable and fruit, and the city is spending more fund

-ing in developing its ecological and high efficiency agriculture, horticulture

and tea plantation.

Changzhou has been recognized for its old “Four Pillar Industries”, including

mechanical, electrical manufacture, automobile manufactures and textile. In addi

-tion, the city has newly added more industrial sectors to its economy, including

high-tech, electronic, biomedical and chemical productions. The industrial contri

-bution to its GDP has reached 57% and the share is still going strong. Total 42

international industrial giants of the world top 500 corporations listed on the

Fortune have set their offices in Changzhou.

Economic growth and environmental conservation have always seemed like two differ

-ent approaches. The industrialization of Changzhou has brought obvious contamina

-tion to the city’ environment. The municipal government has been installing stiff

environmental rules into practice and has spent significant funds over years to

protect its environment. Many polluters were ordered to shut down or move, in which

there were total 62 high-polluted factories in 2006 along.

2. Transportation

Changzhou has the extremely superior position condition and the convenient water

ground to air transportation condition, north the urban district is near Yangtze

River, south is close to Tai Lake. The Hu-Ning railroad, the Shanghai and Nanjing

highway, 312 federal highways, the Beijing Hangzhou big canal puts on the boundary.

The network of rivers and lakes vertically and horizontally interweaves in the whole

city, connect with the river and pass through the sea. Yangtze River Changzhou

harbour took a national kind of open port, the year cargo volume of goods handled

surpasses million tons

Railway

Changzhou Railway Station (Chinese: 常州站; pinyin: Chángzhōu zhàn) is a railway

station of Jinghu railway and Shanghai-Nanjing Intercity Railway.The station located

Changzhou, Jiangsu, China. Roughly there are 350 trains stop here each day.

Air

The city has its own airport, Changzhou Benniu Airport, connecting more than 20

domestic major cities, including Beijing, Dalian, Xiamen, Shenzheng, Haikou, Xi’an,

etc. The airport is located in the Changzhou New National Hi-Tech district and 18

kilometers far from the downtown of the city.

3. Education & Health care

International Schools

1. Changzhou Trina International School

Changzhou Trina International School is an inclusive school that nurtures a commu

-nity feeling where the emotional, physical, creative, and intellectual needs of

all children will be met within an international atmosphere while protecting the

local and global environment.

Tel: 400-811-0601 ,+86(519)-86921160

Fax: +86(519)-85196769,Zip code: 213022

E-mail: trinaedu@cztis.com

Add: No.66, Hengshan Road, Changzhou, Jiangsu, P.R.C

2. Oxford International College of Changzhou

Changzhou Wujin Oxford International College Experimental School (CZOIC) is a

private British boarding international school, accepting Chinese and foreign

students aged 3-18 with boarding options for students aged 6-18. We follow the

British National Curriculum and are an accredited Edexcel testing centre for

IGCSEs and A-Levels. Our faculty are all certified teachers in their chosen subjects;

almost all of our teachers are native English speakers from the UK, US and Canada,

among other countries. We help students develop into confident, critically-thinking

individuals to help them gain entrance into the world’s top universities and equip

them for success in their future careers.

Tel: 0519 8888 0682

E-mail: info@czoic.com

Add: No.9 Huanhu North Road, Wujin Economic Zone

Hospitals

1. The Affiliated Changzhou NO.2 People's Hospital

Changzhou No. 2 People’s Hospital was founded in 1943 and is a Level Three Grade

A hospital. With a long history, a complete range of specialties, a strong techni

-cal force, and high quality services, the hospital carries out medical services,

teaching, research, disease prevention, and health protection. It is also an

affiliated hospital of Nanjing Medical University. The hospital consists of two

sites and one branch. The Chengzhong site is located in downtown Changzhou. The

famous Qing Dynasty garden Yueyuan Garden is just inside the hospital, adding to

the charm of the hospital’s environment. In June 2012 the Yanghu site of the

hospital was put into use. The site is located in Wujin New City and is a large

-scale modern hospital with advanced facilities. The construction at this site

consists of two phases and is designed to have 2,500 beds.

Address: 29 Xinglong Alley, Changzhou, Jiangsu 213003

Tel: 86-519-810 4931

2. The First People’s Hospital of Changzhou

The First People’s Hospital of Changzhou (also The Third Affiliated Hospital of

Soochow University), situated in the centre of Changzhou — an ancient city in

south of the Yangtze River, which was established in 1918. After more than a hundred

years of construction and development, it has been built to a 3A general hospital

with a wide range of departments, strong medical expertise, advanced medical

facilities, and high academic level. It is a hospital with an integration of

medical cares, medical education, and medical research.

Address:185 Juqian Street, Changzhou, Jiangsu 213003

Tel:86-519-660 8791

4. Recreation

Shopping

Changzhou offers a variety of products such as silk, handicrafts, and textiles.

There are rapidly expanding shopping centres to be found on the main streets,

such as Yanling Road and Nan Da Jie Street. Some of the most well-known are

the Taifu Department Store, New Century Department Store, Ocean Department

Store and Orient Shopping.

1)Changzhou Department Store Co., Ltd.

Add: 1 Nandajie Street              Tel: 88886828

2)Changzhou New Century Shopping Town Co., Ltd.

Add: 2-8 Beidajie Street            Tel: 86607220

3)Changzhou Time Fortune Department Store

Add: 95-97 Yanling W. Road    Tel: 86602855 86618013

4)Changzhou Time Fortune Plaza

Add: 17 Yanling W. Road   Tel: 88106966

5)Changzhou Shopping Center

Add: 1-7 Yanling W. Road  Tel: 800-8286620 88889808

Nightlife

Although Changzhou is not a real center for nightlife, there are a few Chinese

-style nightclubs, including the Joint Changzhou Phoebe City Nightclub (10-1 XiHeng

Street, Zhonglou District) and the Liyang Culture Shop Ri Yue City Nightclub

(LiCheng Town).  There are also several local museums like the Changzhou Museum

(24 QingLiang Road) and the Wujin Museum (Hutang Town, Wujin).  Anyone looking

to catch some local theater can head over to Changzhou Hongxingda Theater Dance

Place (99 YanLing West Road, Zhonglou District) or Changzhou Qingxixiao Theater

(374 QingTan Road).

Cuisine

Changzhou is famous for its local dishes which include the “Changchun not old

thousand balls”, fish head cooked in earthenware cooking pot, chicken brain

bean curd, pearl Pi Dong, pepper leaf chicken feet, the sesame seed fish steak,

flowered

and fruit powder, and Changzhou Steamed Pork with Fragrant Grains.

The snacks of Changzhou are also very famous throughout Shanghai, Jiangsu and

Zhejiang.The famous food street is Jinling Middle Road, or the other main

business districts such as Nan Dajie, or Yanghu. 

The brand of "Zhou Cheng" mutton hot pot:

Since sheep eat various grassy plants, the whole body is valuable and, it is

believed, can help Yin and Yang, restoring the essence and blood, and generally

is just good nutritious food. "Zhou Cheng" the mutton hot pot, takes the highest

quality goat meat as a raw material, uses a traditional formula and some science

to purify giving it its tasty pulp, with unique flavour. Mutton hot pot has positive

health benefits to the stomach and can increase human body heat, improve our ability

to resist cold, and moistens the skin.

"Tianmu lake" the earthen pot fish head:

Originating in the Jiangsu Province Tianmu lake guesthouse, and with nearly 30 years

experience carefully boiling this dish, Jiangsu Province top grade chef Zhu Shuncai

already has the reputation for the best traditional cuisine in Jiangsu.

Attractions

Changzhou, known as a central city of Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou metropolitan area, which

the State Council selected as the Demonstration Zone of Independent Innovation in

south Jiangsu Province in 2014. In China, Changzhou is popularly known as a center

of manufacturing industry and an economic engine city. The fame of this city in

tourism is being ignored. Tourism industry in Changzhou today has been a highlight

of development.

Relics and Memorials. 

Changzhou is a city with a history of more or less 3,200 years. It boasts the City

of Dragon in China. Since 589, it was officially named Changzhou and established as

a regional municipality in 1949. Such a time-honored city of China reserves lots of

valued sites of history and culture. Some of them are listed below:

Changzhou Museum. 

This is the first stop to visit Changzhou. In the Museum of Changzhou, travelers will

learn the basic information about Changzhou including its history and culture, and

some unique collections only seen in Changzhou. It is the largest comprehensive museum

of Changzhou together with a children natural museum, which is said to be the only

children natural museum in China. More to read at the Introduction to Changzhou Museum>>>

Chunqiu Yancheng 

Tourism Area. Chunqiu Yancheng literally meaning The Yan City of Spring and Autumn

Period is the best preserved and oldest city relics of the period of the Spring and

Autumn. It is located in the downtown central area of Wujin District, Changzhou.

the core part is the relic with a history of more than 2,5000 years. In 1988, it

was listed to be an important historical site under the national protection. And

now, it is a tentative site that China Bureau of Cultural Relics applies for the

World Cultural Heritage Site. More to read at the Introduction to Chunqiu Yancheng

Relics >>>

The Ruins of Helv City. 

Located between Hushan Village of Hudai Town of Wuxi and Chengli Village of Xueyan

Town of Changzhou, it is a big city relic constructed in the medium term of Spring

and Autumn. It was historically described to be the capital city of Wu State in

the period of Spring and Autumn. Today, the Ruins of Helv City is a key historical

site under the national protection. More to read at the Introduction to The Ruins

of Helv City >>>

The Relic of Sanxing Village. 

Situated in Sanxing Village, Jintan City, Sanxing Village Relic was officially

accepted as an important site of Neolithic age, which the archeologists discovered

and confirmed in 1985.It, is a critical place for the research of the cultural

category of the Neolithic age in the downstream area of the Yangtze River and the

study of civilization source in East China.

Tianning Temple. 

Literally Heavenly Peace Temple, it boasts the No.1 Buddhist Temple of Southeast

China and the top tourist site in Changzhou. Originally built in Tang Dynasty and

renamed Tianning Temple in 1111, it was the must visit of Emperors of Qing Dynasty.

It is one of four most famous Zen Buddhism Monasteries in China together with Jinshan

Temple of Zhenjiang, Gaomin Temple of Yangzhou and Tiantong Temple of Ningbo, More

to read at the Introduction to Tianning Temple >>>

The Residence and Tomb of Tang Jingchuan. 

Tang Jingchuan was a genius of Ming Dynasty. He won the first place in the superior

examination held in capital city. He officially became an official of Han Lin Yuan,

which the Emperor set as the place of talented people to do some cultural events

such as compiling the books. His literary works were highly commented in history.

He and Wang Shenzhong and Gui Youguang were together called Three Literary Masters

during Jiajing Reign, and three of them together called Six Literary Masters of

Ming Dynasty with Song Lian, Fang Xiaoru and Wang Shouren. His tomb and residence

are well preserved in Changzhou. 

The other valued historical relics and memorials inclusive of Lijia Wang Family's

Ancestral Temple, Piqiao Calligraphic Stone Inscription of Chunhuage Collection,

Wenbi Pagoda, City Wall of Xiying Gate and Liuqing Bamboo Carvings.