An aerial view of Hailing district. [Photo/WeChat account: hlfb0523]
Geography and administrative division
Hailing district, located in the center of Taizhou city, covers an area of 370 square kilometers with a permanent population of 577,000.
It has jurisdiction over four townships, seven sub-districts, and four industrial parks including a provincial development zone – Hailing industrial park, a new energy industrial park, Chengbei logistics park, and an agriculture industrial park.
Economy
A night view of Hailing commercial area. [Photo/WeChat account: hlfb0523]
During the period of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), the district's GDP exceeded 60 billion yuan ($8.59 billion). In 2021, Hailing's GDP hit 70.01 billion yuan. Its general public budget revenue reached 4 billion yuan. Meanwhile, total retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 23.83 billion yuan. Deployed foreign investment came to $201 million, while the volume of imports and exports totaled $2.37 billion. Urban residents' per capita disposable income stood at 55,980 yuan.
History and culture
Hailing has a rich history and culture, especially in terms of its salt tax, dramatic productions, and the Buddhist practice of dhyana, with many famous people hailing from the district.
A view of the memorial hall of Mei Lanfang. [Photo provided to etaizhou.gov.cn]
With a history of over 2,100 years, Hailing is the hometown of many famous historical figures, including Hu Yuan, an educator during the Song Dynasty (960-1279), Wang Gen, who founded the Taizhou School of Thought, and Mei Lanfang, the late Peking Opera star.
The district also boasts rich resources related to the history of the Communist Part of China including the former site of the Party School of North Jiangsu, the country's only education center themed on rectifying the "four winds" of formalism, bureaucratism, hedonism and extravagance, the Yang Yanxiu memorial hall, and the Sun Longzhen memorial hall.