CH'UNG-MING ISLAND

Chinese (Wade-Giles) Ch'ung-ming Tao, or (Pinyin) Chongming Dao, large island in the mouth of the Yangtze River, Shanghai shih (municipality), China. The island has been built up by the silt carried down by the river from its middle and upper course. It was first mentioned in the 7th century AD, when it seems to have consisted of three large sandbanks in the estuary. These gradually formed an island, and in the early 10th century a garrison, called Ch'ung-ming, was established on the western sandbank as an outpost of Hai-men county on the north bank of the estuary. In 1222 a salt directorate was established on the island, under the Huai-tung salt administration. Under the Mongol dynasty (12791368), Ch'ung-ming was raised to prefectural status in 1348; its administrative seat on the Yao-liu sandbank was transferred in 1352 to the eastern sandbank. With the accession of the Ming dynasty (13681644), it was demoted to county status in 1369 and placed under the administration first of Su-chou and after 1497 of T'ai-ts'ang district to the south of the estuary. The island suffered greatly from flooding, and protective dikes had to be built to prevent inundations. Before World War II the population, once considerable, had dwindled and barely eked out a living by fishing and cultivating soybeans. After 1949 a determined effort was made first to repair the sea defenses and plant protective belts of trees and then to restore the island to productivity. But the main development occurred after the island was organized into communes in 1958. The larger scale of operations that this made possible led to an ambitious plan to increase the island's productivity and to reclaim a number of the surrounding mud flats. Beginning in 195960, extensive areas were diked and provided with irrigation and drainage ditches. Care was taken to guard against excessive alkalinity; the land brought under cultivation was first planted with cotton, which is highly resistant to alkaline conditions. After cotton has been grown for about five years, the land can be used for grain cultivation. It also supports fruits, vegetables, and poultry for the urban market of nearby Shanghai. With completion of the original plan, similar reclamation work was carried out on neighbouring mud flats such as the Hsin-an, the Pai-wan, and the Ho-lung.