Yingkou ( ) is a prefecture-level city of Liaoning province, in northeastern China. It is a port city of the Bohai Sea. The Liao river (Liao He) goes to the sea at Yingkou.The city has a total area of 5,402 square kilometers, and a population of 2.24 million.

Name

Yingkou was formerly known as Newchwang ( ; Manchu: Ishangga gašan hoton) - one of the Treaty Ports opened under the Treaties of Tianjin of 1858. In fact the town of Newchwang was about thirty miles upstream of Liao He. After the treaty had been signed, the British found that the river near Newchwang was too shallow for their ships. Instead, the treaty port was moved to the area nearer to the river mouth where today's Yingkou is located.

Administrative divisions

Yingkou prefecture is subdivided into 4 districts and 2 cities:

• Zhanqian District ( )
• Xishi District ( )
• Bayuquan District ( )
• Laobian District ( )
• Dashiqiao City ( )
• Gaizhou City ( )

Industrial zones

• China Minmetals (Yingkou) Industrial Park

Coastal Base Project

In late 2005, the Party Secretary of the Liaoning Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, Li Keqiang, initiated the "Five Points, One Line" strategy to develop the entire Liaoning coastline, and in particular focusing on the "five points" of the Changxing Island Harbor Industrial Zone in Dalian; Yingkou Coastal Industrial Base; Liaoxi Jinzhou Bay Coastal Economic Zone; Dandong, and the Zhuanghe Huayuankou Industrial Zone.

As a result, Yingkou city is currently undergoing substantial expansion. From its current urban area of 54 square kilometres, Phase One of the Coastal Base project is under way and is adding a further 44 square kilometers of industrial and urban areas to Yingkou. Phase Two (planned to start in 2010) will add a further massive 157 square kilometres.

The land being used is largely marshland and reclaimed from the sea: in particular, it is largely unoccupied. As a result, the social and fiscal costs of development are less than are usual for Chinese urban and industrial development.

The Yingkou port area is also being very substantially increased in size, in the Bayuquan and Xianren harbours.

Partnership town and ports

• Yingkou is twinned with Jacksonville, Florida since 1990.
• With Tver, Russia since 1994.
• Yingkou Port signed a Sister Port agreement with the Hamilton Port Authority of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in November 2005.

References

1. http://russian.china.org.cn/international/archive/wenhuazhou/txt/2003-08/15/content_2081494.htm

External links

• Official Website
• Yingkou China
• The coastal base development project