Zhengzhou ( ; Postal map spelling:
Chengchow), formerly called Zheng County ( ), is a
prefecture-level city, and the
capital of Henan
province, People's
Republic of China
.
History
The
Shang Dynasty established Aodu
(隞都) or Bodu (亳都) in Zhengzhou (
see also:
History of China). The pre-historical city
had been long lost even before the time of the
First Emperor of China. Since 1950
archaeological finds have shown that there were
Neolithic settlements in the area and that the
Shang Bronze Age culture, which
flourished there from about 1500 BC, was centered on a walled city.
Outside this city, in addition to remains of large public
buildings, a complex of small settlements has been discovered. The
site is generally identified with the Shang capital of Ao. It is
preserved in the Shang Dynasty Ruins monument in Guanchen District.
The Shang, who continually moved their capital, left Ao, perhaps in
the 13th century BC. The site, nevertheless, remained occupied;
Zhou (post-1050 BC) tombs have also
been discovered. Traditionally it is held that in the Western Zhou
period (1111–771 BC) it became the fief of a family named
Guan. From this derives the name borne by the county
(
xian) since the late 6th
century BC —
Guancheng (City of the Guan).
The city first became the seat of a prefectural administration in
AD 587, when it was named
Guanzhou. In 605 it was first
called Zhengzhou — a name by which it has been known virtually ever
since.
The name of Zhengzhou came from
Sui
Dynasty (AD 581), albeit it was located in Chenggao, another
town. The government moved to the contemporary city during
Tang Dynasty.
It achieved its greatest importance under
the Sui (AD 581–618), Tang (618–907), and early Song (960–1127) dynasties, when it was the
terminus of the New Bian Canal, which
joined the Yellow
River
to the northwest. There, at a place
called Heyin, a vast granary complex was established to supply the
capitals at Luoyang
and Chang'an
to the west
and the frontier armies to the north. In the Song period,
however, the transfer of the capital eastward to Kaifeng
robbed
Zhengzhou of much of its importance.It is a capital during the five
dynasties of Xia, Shang, Guan, Zheng, and Han, and a prefecture
during the eight dynasties of Sui, Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Jin,
Yuan, Ming, and Qing.
In 1903
the Beijing–Hankou
railway arrived at Zhengzhou, and in 1909 the first stage of the
Longhai Railway gave it an east–west
link to Kaifeng and Luoyang; it later was extended eastward to the
coast at Lianyungang
, Jiangsu
Province,
and westward to Xi'an
(Chang'an), Shaanxi
Province, as well as to western Shaanxi. Zhengzhou thus
became a major rail junction and a regional center for cotton,
grain, peanuts (groundnuts), and other agricultural produce. Early
in 1923 a workers' strike began in Zhengzhou and spread along the
rail line before it was suppressed; a 14-story double tower in the
center of the city commemorates the strike.
In 1938, during the
war with Japan
, the
retreating Chinese Nationalist
Army blew up the dikes retaining the Yellow River about
32 km northeast of the town, flooding a vast area. At
about the same time, in their drive to relocate industry in the
interior far from the invading Japanese, the Chinese transferred
all the local plants to the west.
When the Communist government came to power in 1949, Zhengzhou was
a commercial and administrative center, but it had virtually no
industry. Because it was the center of a densely populated
cotton-growing district, it was developed into an
industrial city, with industry concentrated on the west side so
that the prevailing northeast winds would blow fumes away from the
city. There are cotton-textile plants, spinning mills,
textile-machinery works, flour mills, tobacco and cigarette
factories, and various food-processing plants; coal is mined
nearby.
Zhengzhou also has a
locomotive and
rolling-stock repair plant, a
tractor-assembly plant, and a thermal generating station. The
city's industrial growth has resulted in a large increase in
population, largely of industrial workers from the north. Trees
have been planted throughout the city's more than 23 km² area,
holding down the sand that formerly blew in thick gusts through the
city. A water diversion project and pumping station, built in 1972,
has provided
irrigation for the
surrounding countryside. The city has an agricultural
university.
Administration
Subdivisions of Zhengzhou
The
prefecture-level city of
Zhengzhou administers 12
county-level
divisions, including 6
districts, 5
county-level cities and 1
county.
Geography
Located
just north of the province's center and south of the Yellow River, Zhengzhou borders Luoyang to the west,
Jiaozuo
to the northwest, Xinxiang
to the northeast, Kaifeng to the east,
Xuchang
to the southeast, and Pingdingshan
to the southwest. It is geographically the
center city of China.
Zhengzhou
is situated to the south of the Yellow River where its valley broadens into the great plain and
at the eastern extremity of the Xionger Mountains. Zhengzhou is at the
crossing point of the north–south route skirting the Taihang
Mountains
and the mountains of western Henan and the
east–west route along the southern bank of the Yellow
River.
Close to the Yellow River to the north, bordering the
Songshan Mountain to the west, and adjacent to the
Huanghuai Plains to the southeast, Zhengzhou is in the region of
34°16'~34°58N and 112°42'~114°14'E, covering a total area of 7446.2
square kilometers , including city area of 1013.3 square kilometers
and built area in central city area of 147.7 square
kilometers.
The land descends from west to east. Its west is characterized by
mountains & hills whereas the east is mostly of plains. Located
in medium latitude zone Zhengzhou has a temperate semi-moisture
continental monsoon climate ,cold in winter and hot in summer,
centralized dryness and wetness, and warm in spring and cool in
autumn with four clearly-defined seasons. An annual average
temperature stands at 14.4 ℃, but highest temperature at an average
of 27.3℃ in July and coldest at an average 0.2℃ in January. Annual
rainfall stands at 640.9 mm, frost-free period 220 days, and
annual sunshine time about 2400 hours. There are 35 big and small
rivers and streams, which belong to the two big water systems of
the Yellow River and Huaihe River, respectively.
The section of the
Yellow
River flowing through Zhengzhou extends 150.4
kilometers.
Climate
Zhengzhou experiences a
humid
subtropical climate (
Köppen climate
classification Cwa).
Culture and Tourism
As an ancient Chinese capital and a traditional trading center,
Zhengzhou maintains abundant cultural heritage that reflects its
glorious history as well as the culture of Henan Province.
Zhengzhou Confucius Temple,
initially built in Eastern Han Dynasty 1900 years ago, is one of
the oldest Confucius Temple in China. Other important architectural
heritage in the city include the Remains of
Shang Dynasty, Town God Temple and
Erqi Memorial Tower. There are the
remains of the
Shang Dynasty capital
city (3,600 years ago) in Zhengzhou's east side located around
Shangcheng lu (商城路).
While it is not a tourist city, it's an example of a remarkably
fast-changing city in China (without minor tourism clutter).
The best
known tourist attraction is the Shaolin Temple
(少林寺), which is more than 50 miles southwest of
downtown Zhengzhou. Shaolin Temple is not only known as one
of China's important Buddhist shrines, but also as the ancient
center of Chinese kung-fu. When the temple was built in
495, the temple was originally designed to house
Batuo, a celebrated Indian monk, who, after
many years of spreading Buddhism, was later known as Fo Tuo, or
Grand Monk. In
537, another famous Indian monk
named Boddhidharma, settled in the temple. According to legend, he
created a primitive bare-hand combat routine called “xingyi boxing”
after he had sat meditating in a cave for nine years. That started
the kung-fu tradition at the temple.
Zhengzhou's most notable cultural institution is the
Henan Museum (河南省博物院), one of China's most
important museums. The provincial museum in particular requires at
least a half day visit to do justice to the many impressive
exhibits, which range from prehistoric times, including
dinosaur bones, up through the Qing Dynasty. The
admission price was 20 yuan, but has now been made free of
charge.
Zhengzhou Zoo (动物园, Dong Wu Yuan) is
located on Hua Yuan Lu (花园路). The newly built
Zhengzhou Botanic Garden is at the
western edge of Zhengzhou city.
There are large water, light and music shows on display in Zheng
Dong Xin Qu (New Eastern District) during the weekend at 8.30 pm in
the summer and 8:00 pm during the winter months. The show is about
25 minutes long and is free of charge. People would have to arrive
before 8.00 for a seat. The show times can change from 8:00 and
8:30 without warning.
Other
famous attractions of Zhengzhou include the Song Mountain
(Song Shan, now is a World Geopark recognised by
UNESCO
), Yellow River and the birth place of Huangdi(黄帝)(recognized as the ancestor of Chinese
people).
Gallery
File:Erqi.jpg|
Erqi Memorial
TowerFile:Zhengzhou Confucius Temple 3.JPG |Zhengzhou Confucius
TempleFile:Zhengzhou Town God Temple.JPG||Zhengzhou Town God
TempleFile:The Remains of Shang Dynasty Capital.jpg|Shang Dynasty
RemainsFile:Shaolinsi.JPG||Shaolin TempleFile:ZZ Botanic
Garden.jpg|Zhengzhou Botanic GardenFile:ZZ Botanic Garden
2.jpg||Zhengzhou Botanic GardenFile:ZZ Museum.jpg|Zhengzhou
Museum
Economy
Zhengzhou, along with Xi'an, Chengdu
, Chongqing
and Wuhan
, is one of
the most important cities in inland China. It's the second
largest city in central China (including provinces of Henan, Shanxi
, Anhui
, Hubei
, Hunan
and
Jiangxi
). It is the economic center of Henan Province
and the surrounding areas such as southeast Shanxi Province
and southwest Shandong
Province. Due to its strategic location in
one of the most populous areas in the world (nearly 100 million
people in Henan Province alone) and in China's railway, road and
aviation transport networks, Zhengzhou is increasingly attracting
domestic and international investment as well as migrants from
other areas, which is transforming the city into one of the largest
economic center in China.
GDP per
capita of Zhengzhou was
RMB40,398 in
2008.
Agriculture
By the end of 2006, Zhengzhou has a total population of over 7
million, of which 2.88 million live in rural area. Its main
products include
apples,
paulownia,
tobacco,
maize,
cotton, and
wheat. In addition, Zhengzhou also produces
Yellow River
carp, Zhengzhou
watermelons, Xinzheng
jujube, [Xingyang] dried
persimmons, Guangwu
Pomegranate and Zhongmu
garlic, all of which are specialties that are rarely
found outside the region.
Mining
Zhengzhou and the surrounding area have large reserves of coal and
other minerals. Coal mining and electricity generation are
traditionally important in the local economy.
Manufacturing
Zhengzhou has been one of the major industrial cities in The
People's Republic of China since 1949. The city's staple industry
is
textiles.Others
manufactured items include
tractors,
locomotives,
cigarettes,
fertilizer,
processed
meats,
agricultural
machinery, and
electrical
equipment. Some high-tech companies in new material,
electronics and biotechnology are also growing rapidly during the
recently years, especially in the high-tech industrial park in the
northwest of the city.
Service
The service industry of Zhengzhou include retail, wholesale,
hospitality, finance, exhibition, transport and delivery, tourism,
education, etc. Zhengzhou is famous for its shopping. Because of
its transport advantage, consumers can shop for many products at
competitive prices in Zhengzhou. With a number of domestic and
international institutions having regional offices in the city,
Zhengzhou is becoming the financial center in central China.
Zhengzhou Commodity
Exchange (ZCE) is one of the only three future exchanges (inc.
Shanghai Future Exchange
and
Dalian Commodity
Exchange) in China and is becoming an important global player
specialised in agricultural future exchange. Equipped with newly
built facilities such as
Zhengzhou
International Conference and Exhibition Center, it is also one
of the most important exhibition city in the country, hosting
various influential exhibition and conference events all year
round. Third party logistics (3PL) in Zhengzhou has also been
experiencing industrial boom during the past few years. As a
transit and tourist center of Henan Province and central China,
Zhengzhou is the center of Henan cuisine and also has many
restaurants of all different cuisines from other parts of the
country and the world.
Famous Companies
Economic Development Zones
The
Zhengdong New Area ( ) also known as
Zhengzhou Eastern New District, similar to
Binhai New Area in Tianjin
and Hengqin New Area
in Zhuhai
are just
one of dozen major economic development zones that are currently
developing in various region of China.
A great
measure taken by Henan Province and
Zhengzhou City to establish and develop Zhengdong New District for
speeding up Zhengzhou's development. Mr. Kisho Kurokawa,
Japan's world well-known planner and architect, who has brought in
advanced ideas including ecological city, co-existing city,
metabolic city and ring city, designs the overall conceptual
planning scheme for Zhengdong New District. The scheme won the
"Prominent Award for City Planning Design" at the first session of
Annual Meeting of the World Architects Alliance in 2002.Zhengdong
New District, located at the eastern Putian district clusters in
the overall planned Zhengzhou City approved by the State Council,
starts from the State Highway 107 in the west to the Jing-Zhu
Expressway in the east, from Zhengzhou Airport Expressway in the
south to the Lian-Huo Expressway in the north. Zhengdong New
District is the key project of Henan Province whose total
far-reaching planned area is 105 square kilometers and short-term
planned construction area 45 square kilometers.The plan of
Zhengdong New District adopts the concept of district cluster
development to divide the urban structure into Central Business
District (
CBD), Longhu
Lake District, Commercial Residential & Logistic District and
Economic & Technological Development Area, etc. Each district
cluster, linked by mutual connections of ring highways, has
commercial, service and administrative centers alongside. The CBD
mainly focuses on the functions of finance, office, business and
residence, with the planned area of about 6 square kilometers of
artificial lake (Longhu Lake) in the northwest surrounded by
low-rise residential district; the secondary CBD center, situated
on the byland extending to Longhu Lake, is designed for tourism and
residence; with high-rise residential district on its both sides,
an urban
commercial and
cultural center axis line connects the CBD and
secondary CBD center; logistics center and industry are mainly
concentrated in the V-shape industries belt; in addition, the
massive planned ecological green land circles the river, lake,
expressway, ring way and main road. The conceptual idea of
Zhengdong New District pictures a historical culture and ecological
development axis line with southwest-northeast trend, assembling
Erqi Square, historical sites in the Shang Dynasty, provincial and
municipal administrative working area, CBD, secondary CBD center,
Longhu Lake and principal rivers of Jinshui River and Xiong'er
River running through the whole city. Zhengdong New District exerts
its function as an urban hub, and thus works out a scheme of
sustainable urban development with Chinese characteristics for
Zhengzhou's far-reaching construction.
At present, the plan of starting area has put into construction,
infrastructure such as road in the district is basically completed,
transfer of land for construction and land requisition and removal
are on the way, many items entering CBD such as International
Conference & Exhibition Center and Broadcasting & TV Center
have started to construct, and preliminary preparation of Henan Art
Center, Higher Learning Institute Parks and Scientific and
Technological City are on the way. The Administrative Committee of
Zhengdong New District is making its full efforts to promote the
construction of the projects in the starting area to realize the
short-term objective of "establishing the image in three years and
forming the scale in five years".
Currently, a six-star
hotel in the
CBD area is being built. When
finished, the hotel building will become the tallest skyscraper in
Zhengzhou with a height of 280 meters.
ZhengDong CBD also holds China's largest wetland filtration system
for water.
Transport
Train
Zhengzhou, where the
Longhai railway
(east-west) meets the
Jingguang
railway (north-south), is a major
railway hub in China.
Nearly all trains on
routes to Beijing, Shanghai and Xi'an pass through
Zhengzhou. It is officially recognized as one of the eight
major railway centers by the Ministry of Railway of China.
Zhengzhou is easy to reach from
Beijing
(between 5–8 hours) and
Shanghai (6–14
hours) by train.
Further travelling to Xi'an (8 hours, no
fast train) is also possible. A tourist-friendly train
leaves for Xi'An every morning.
In the
new national high-speed railway network under construction, two
most important lines -- Jingguang
(Beijing to Guangzhou
), Xulan (Xuzhou
to Lanzhou
, extended to Shanghai and
Urumuqi
) intersect in Zhengzhou, which guarantees the city
a strategic transport advantage for the future. When
completed, the high-speed railway network will provide fast train
service from the city to Beijing, Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an and
Wuhan at a speed of 350 km/h. The new high-speed railway
station (the New Zhengzhou Station), as one of the largest in Asia,
is under construction in
Zhengdong
New Area.
Proposed
high-speed railway connections between Zhengzhou and Chongqing, Jinan
, Hefei
and
Taiyuan
are under discussion.
Highways
The surrounding area of Zhengzhou, along with Yangtze Delta
(Shanghai), Pearl River Delta (Hong Kong-Guangzhou) and Beijing
Metropolitan area, has the highest highway density in China.
Zhengzhou
is the center of Henan highway network that provides roughly one
hour road trip to the surrounding cities of Kaifeng, Xinxiang, Xuchang, Jiaozuo and Luoyang.
Other major cities within the province can be reached in 3 hours.
National highway network also links Zhengzhou to all major cities
in China.
Taxi
The base
taxi fare starts at 6
yuan. Every additional kilometer (past the initial
2 kilometers included in the base fare) costs 1.5
yuan with rates starting at 8
yuan after 10pm. There are now a few newer taxis
operating that have higher starting rates of up to 10
yuan (usually based from the airport).
Bus
The city has a well-developed public transportation system and you
can get most places by bus for 1
yuan (or
2
yuan for some of the newer air-conditioned
buses). Bus passes can be purchased to eliminate the hassle of
always needing to carry exact change.
The first project of Zhengzhou
Bus
Rapid Transit (BRT) System was completed in 2009, which
provides a 30 km long circle line (B1) along the Second Ring
Road in the city. The BRT B1 buses run on exclusive lanes at both
clockwise and anti-clockwise directions. There are branch BRT
routes (B11 to B19) linking B1 route and other important part of
the city.
Air
Zhengzhou International Airport
Zhengzhou
Xinzheng International Airport
is recognized as one of the eight major gateway
airports by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. It
is 37 km southeast of the city centre. An airport shuttle bus
runs between the airport and the Civil Aviation Hotel 民航大酒店 (Mín
Háng dà jiǔ diàn) on 金水路 (Jīnshuĭ Lù) in the heart of Zhengzhou. It
costs 15
yuan per person to ride the
shuttle in either direction. A taxi from the airport will cost
about 140
yuan, while a taxi to the airport
will cost about 90
yuan. There will also be
an extra 10
yuan toll fee for the taxi
using the airport expressway.
On
February 8, 2009, the direct air route between Zhengzhou and
Taipei
was
launched at Zhengzhou Xinzheng International
Airport. The Zhengzhou-Taipei flight was operated by
Shenzhen Airlines.
Zhengzhou
Xinzheng International Airport is also a focus city of China Southern Airline and Shenzhen Airlines
Subway
The plan of "
Zhengzhou Subway line
No. 1" as well as "
Zhengzhou Subway
line No. 2", recently have been approved by
National Development
and Reform Commission (NDRC) in Feb. 2009.
Zhengzhou Subway, will be a rapid transit
rail network that serves both the urban and suburban districts of
Zhengzhou municipality. As planned, those two projects will start
from 2009 and will be finished in 2013 and 2015 respectively. Also
as referenced in the long term plan, there are another 4 lines
pending approval, Line 3 and Line 4 will be under construction
during 2015-2020 and will be in operation by 2020, project on Line
5 and Line 6 will begin since 2020.
Accommodation
There are several styles of accommodation in Zhengzhou, from 5 star
luxury style hotels to hostels. A few of the hotels are:
Holiday Inn Express,
Sofitel, Golden Palace Hotel, Pearl Hotel, Yuda
Palace,
Crowne Plaza, and the Hotel
Home. The majority of the hotels are near the central business
district or the rail station.
Colleges and universities
Public
Military
Private
Notable people
Politics
List of mayors (incomplete):
- Song Zhihe (宋致和): October 1948-August
1955
- Hu Shujian (胡树俭): June 1983-February
1991
- Zhang Shiying (张世英): February
1991-June 1993
- Song Tianbao (朱天宝): June
1993-November 1996
- Chen Yichu (陈义初): November
1996-February 2003
- Wang Wenchao (王文超): February
2003-February 2006
- Zhao Jiancai (赵建才): February 2006-
(incumbent)
List of the
CPC Party Chiefs of
Zhengzhou:
- Gu Jingsheng (谷景生): October
1948-December 1948
- Wu Defeng (吴德蜂): December 1948-June
1949
- Zhao Wucheng (赵武成): June 1949 -
April 1953
- Song Zhihe (宋致和): April 1953-August
1956
- Wang Lizhi (王黎之): August 1956-January
1968
- Wang Hui (王辉): March 1971-January
1974
- Zhang Junqing (张俊卿): January
1974-December 1977
- Yu Yichuan (于一川): December
1977-December 1979
- Li Baoguang (李保光): December 1979-May
1983
- Jiang Jinfei (蒋靳非): May
1983-September 1984
- Yao Minxue (姚敏学): September
1984-August 1987
- Cao Lei (曹磊): August 1987-July 1990
- Song Guochen (宋国臣): July 1990-May
1992
- Zhang Deguang (张德广): May
1992-December 1995
- Wang Youjie (王有杰): December
1995-June 2001
- Li Ke (李克): June 2001-
International relations
Zhengzhou view from space
Twin towns — Sister cities
Zhengzhou is
twinned with:
International
- Jinju
, South Korea
- Saitama, Japan
- Richmond
, Virginia
, U.S.
- Samara
, Russia
- Schwerin
, Germany
- Shumen
, Bulgaria
- Cluj-Napoca
, Romania
- Irbid
, Jordan
- Joinville
, Brazil
- Mariental, Namibia
Domestic
See also
Notes
External links
(中原区)
(二七区)
(金水区)
(管城回族区)
(惠济区)
(上街区)
City (荥阳市)
City
(巩义市)
City (登封市)
City
(新密市)
City (新郑市)
(中牟县)
(shào lín sì) (Buddhist
Monastery)
(郑州大学西亚斯国际学院)
, Heilongjiang
, Hainan
, Zhejiang
, Shandong
, Zhejiang
, Jiangsu
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