Brief introduction of Taizhou city in Jiangsu province

A sweeping view of Taizhou city. [Photo/WeChat ID: tzfabu]

• Geography

Taizhou city is located in the central part of East China's Jiangsu province, bordering the Yangtze River to the south, Yancheng city to the north, Nantong city to the east and Yangzhou city to the west. As such, it is one of the central cities in the Yangtze River Delta region.

• Area

The total area of Taizhou covers 5,787 square kilometers, of which the land area accounts for 77.85 percent and the water area occupies 22.15 percent. The urban area stretches out 1,567 sq km.

• Administrative divisions

As of December 2021, Taizhou administered the three county-level cities of Jingjiang, Taixing and Xinghua and it also had three districts: Hailing, Gaogang and Jiangyan. It includes 61 towns, two townships, 25 sub-district offices, 1,165 village committees and 523 neighborhood committees.

• History

Taizhou, known as Haiyang in the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC), Hailing in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) and Taizhou during the Southern Tang Dynasty (937-975), has a recorded history of more than 2,100 years.

During the Southern Tang Dynasty, it was upgraded from a county to a state and became known as Taizhou. It is a place where the cultures of the Wu, Yue and Chu states were integrated, and customs in the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River regions combined.

• Economy

The GDP of Taizhou came in at 640.18 billion yuan ($94.75 billion) in 2022, a year-on-year increase of 4.4 percent – ranking it second in the province in terms of growth.

The added value of Taizhou's primary, secondary and tertiary industries hit 33.44 billion yuan, 315.8 billion yuan and 290.93 billion yuan, respectively – increases of 2.1 percent, 6 percent and 3 percent.

The total output value of the agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fisheries sectors was a combined 55.87 billion yuan, up 2.8 percent year-on-year. Total grain output was 2.81 million metric tons.

In 2022, the total industrial output value of Taizhou's industries above a designated size reached 841.07 billion yuan, higher by 12.5 percent. The added value of Taizhou's industries above a designated size increased 8.5 percent over the previous year - ranking it fourth in Jiangsu.

The city's total retail sales of consumer goods in 2022 reached 158.84 billion yuan, for year-on-year growth of 0.7 percent.

Statistics showed that Taizhou's fixed-asset investment rose 9.4 percent in 2022, 5.6 percentage points higher than that of the province and ranking it third in Jiangsu.

The city's imports and exports reached $19.61 billion, an increase of 4.9 percent.

Per capita disposable income of all residents in Taizhou in 2022 was 46,363 yuan, up 5.9 percent year-on-year, ranking the city second in Jiangsu. It consumer price index or CPI rose 2.3 percent.

• Transportation

Taizhou city in Jiangsu province is an important transportation hub connecting the north and south and is the gateway to central Jiangsu.

It is also an important node city for the Shanghai metropolitan area, the Nanjing metropolitan area and the Suzhou-Wuxi-Changzhou metropolitan area.

The Xinyi-Changxing Railway, Nanjing-Qidong Railway, Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, Nanjing-Nantong Expressway, Yancheng-Jingjiang Expressway and Qidong-Yangzhou Expressway run across the entire city. Five railway lines starting from Taizhou Railway Station connect the city with  hundreds of other cities throughout the country.

Taizhou also boasts the Yangzhou Taizhou International Airport, as well as the Jiangyin Yangtze River Bridge and the Taizhou Yangtze River Bridge.

An enchanting view of Taizhou Port at dusk. [Photo provided to etaizhou.gov.cn]

The State-level open port Taizhou Port is an influential logistics facility with an annual throughout capacity of 100 million metric tons. It also has six major riverside port areas.

The superior location and the integrated structure of the roads, railways, water and air underscores the important position of the northern wing of the Yangtze River Delta.