Yangzhou (China)

700,000 people live in the city, around 9.2 million in the Yangzhou region. In the Atlas, it is located around 350 kilometers northwest of the 13-million-strong metropolis of Shanghai. The city has several harbors on the canals that crisscross the flat region.

Yangzhou has a history that began almost 2500 years ago. It experienced an enormous boom when the Beijing-Hangshou Canal was opened during the Sui Dynasty (6th/7th century). In the preceding period, it enjoyed fame as a center of poetry. Painters and printers also contributed to making it a cultural center. The first European to see Yangzhou described it enthusiastically. It was the Venetian Marco Polo (1254-1324). The well-traveled man reported that the favor of the Great Khan Kubai had appointed him governor of Yangzhou for two years. In any case, a museum is dedicated to him in the city.

The museum is one of the sights, as are the waterways, which are used here like roads, the artfully tended gardens and Shouxi Lake, which stretches for five kilometers through a park. Several monasteries and a famous flower and bird market are also part of the experience. But this is not just a city with historical and cultural sights. Deposits of crude oil, natural gas and clay form the basis for mechanical engineering, chemical and textile production. There is also electronics and an extensive trade in pigs, fish and poultry.

Yangzhou is considered a stronghold of southern Chinese cuisine. Other trademarks include a university and the art trade, including artfully crafted jade.