NAN-T'UNG

Pinyin Nantong city, eastern Kiangsu sheng (province), China. Nan-t'ung is situated on the northern shore of the head of the Yangtze River estuary. Northward, it is connected with the Yn-yen and T'ung-y canal systems, which serve the coastal zone of Kiangsu north of the Yangtze and connect westward with the Grand Canal. T'ien-sheng-kang, about 7.5 miles (12 km) to the west, provides Nan-t'ung with a port on the Yangtze. During the Han dynasty (206 BCAD 220), and even as late as the Sui (581618) and T'ang (618907) periods, the seacoast was much farther west than at present; and the area now called Nan-t'ung was an outlying county, Hai-ling, subordinate to Yang-chou. It grew into a commercial, communications, and strategic centre and became a prefecture (chou) under the name of T'ung in 958. After 1368 it lost its prefectural status and again became a county subordinate to its wealthy neighbour, Yang-chou. In 1724, however, it was again created a prefecture and was given the name Nan-t'ung (meaning southern T'ung) to avoid confusion with T'ung-chou, near Peking. After 1912 it became a county, retaining its old name. The coastal area to the east and northeast has always been known for salt, and the inland area to the north and northwest is a rich rice- and cotton-growing region. It is above all on cotton that Nan-t'ung's prosperity has depended. Domestic-scale spinning and weaving of cotton had long been established, but the modern industry was almost entirely the creation of a statesman and modernizer named Chang Chien (d. 1926), who was a native of the district. After the disasters of the Sino-Japanese War of 189495, Chang decided to abandon politics and to devote himself to developing Nan-t'ung into a model district. In 1895 he founded the Dah Sun Cotton Mill at T'ang-chia-chia, some 5.5 miles (9 km) west of Nan-t'ung. This mill came into production in 1899 and proved more efficient than any other private textile firm of the same period. Out of its profits, Chang, between 1900 and 1905, built up an industrial complex in Nan-t'ung that included flour and oil mills, a modern factory for reeling silk, a distillery, and a machine shop. He also founded a shipping line and, after 1901, formed the T'ung-hai Land Reclamation Companythe first of a number of such companies that brought much of the saline coastal zone of Chiang-pei under cotton cultivation. Chang also founded the first teacher-training colleges in Chinathe Nan-t'ung normal schoolswhich staffed hundreds of primary schools. Later he founded an agricultural college, a textile school, and a medical college (191012), which eventually merged to form Nan-t'ung University. He also founded museums, libraries, and theatres, so that Nan-t'ung became an important cultural centre as well as a prosperous industrial town. In the early republican period (after 1911), Nan-t'ung was commonly called Chang Chien's Kingdom, or the Model County. Like all centres of cotton manufacture in China, Nan-t'ung suffered seriously during the years of economic depression in the 1930s, after which the area came under Japanese occupation for a time. The modern city remains heavily dependent upon the textile industry and upon cotton. In 1984 Nan-t'ung was designated one of China's open cities in the new open-door policy inviting foreign investment. Pop. (1988 est.) 306,000.