Huanggang

For other uses, see Huanggang (disambiguation).

Huanggang
—  Prefecture-level city  —
Location of Huanggang City in Hubei and the PRC
Huanggang Location in Hubei
Coordinates: 30°27′N 114°48′E
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Hubei
Area
• Prefecture-level city	17,453 km2 (6,739 sq mi)
• Urban	353.2 km2 (136.4 sq mi)
Population (2010 census)
• Prefecture-level city	6,162,072
• Urban	296,860
• Urban density	Bad rounding here840/km2 (Bad rounding here2,200/sq mi)
• Metro	Ezhou
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Website	http://www.hg.gov.cn/

Huanggang City (simplified Chinese: 黃冈; traditional Chinese: 黃岡; pinyin: Huánggāng) is a major municipality (also known as a Prefecture) in eastern Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It is situated to the north of the middle reaches of the Yangtze River and is bounded in the north by the Dabie Shan mountain range.

Seven counties fall under its jurisdiction (Tuanfeng, Hong'an, Xishui, Qichun, Huangmei, Luotian, and Yingshan) plus two county-level cities (Wuxue and Macheng), as well as two direct administrative divisions (Huangzhou and Longganghu).

The city's administrative area covers 17,453 square kilometres (6,739 sq mi) and the total population was 6,162,072 as of the 2010 census, only 296,860 of whom resided in the urban area. The Ezhou - Huanggang built up area is home to 900,272 inhabitants (Echeng district with Huangzhou district of Huanggang prefecture).

History

Huanggang has a history of at least 2,000 years.

Cultural Heritage

Huanggang is home to several significant cultural sites of historical interest, such as the Buddhist Ancestral Hall of Sakyamuni at Doufang Mountain, Wuzu Temple and its Changchun Nunnery, and Dongpo Red Cliff.

Education

Huanggang is the home of Huanggang Middle School, one of the most prestigious secondary schools in China. The school is especially well known for its smart and diligent students. It has consistently excellent records in China's National Higher Education Entrance Examination and International Science Olympiad. Students from Huanggang Middle School have won 25 medals in The International Mathematical Olympiad, International Physics Olympiad and International Chemistry Olympiad. Textbooks and course materials edited by facultys from this school are widely recognized and popular all over the country, making Huanggang High School a national brand. Huanggang Normal University is a full-time institution of higher education located in the city of Huanggang.

Economy

Huanggang has a diversified economy, ranging from bio- and herbal medicine to manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism. Since ancient times, Huanggang has been renowned for local specialties such as the "Qichun Four Treasures" (snake, turtle, bamboo, and moxa), Huangmei "tiaohua" embroidery, and Wuxue "zhangshuiqian" bamboo products. Today, Huanggang at large is recognized for organic vegetables. With its "Guihuaxiang" brand of chestnuts, Luotian is the leading chestnut-growing county in all of China. Yingshan is famous for its "cloud mist" green tea. Qichun, of course, is famous for herbal medicine. Macheng is a national model county for cattle breeding. Huangmei is a major center of freshwater shrimp and fragrant jade rice production. And Hongan peanut production ranks the first in Hubei Province.

Transportation

Huanggang enjoys an excellent transportation infrastructure. Wuhan airport is only 90 kilometres (56 mi) to the west, while Jiujiang airport in Jiangxi Province to the east is only 160 kilometres (99 mi) away. Being on the Yangtze River, Wuhan main port is within 80 kilometres (50 mi) and Huangzhou city has a small bulk-handling port. There is an extensive road network, with three north-south and seven east-west major roads within the main city area. The city also is served by several new expressways, including the north-south "Jingzhu" (Beijing to Zhuhai, in Guangdong Province) expressway and the east-west Wuhan to Shanghai expressway. Huanggang also is on the main north-south "Jingjiu" (Beijing to Hong Kong) and "Jingguang" (Beijing to Guangzhou, in Guangdong) railway lines.

Bridges

The Edong Bridge over the Yangtze River

Two bridges connect Huanggang across the Yangtze to the Ezhou on the south bank of the river:

• Ehuang Bridge, between the main urban area of Huanggang and Ezhou; it carries the China National Highway 106.
• Edong Bridge carries the G45 Daqing–Guangzhou Expressway and the G50 Shanghai–Chongqing Expressway.

Other river crossings near Huanggang include:

• Jiujiang Yangtze River Bridge, between Huangmei County and Jiujiang; a combined road-rail bridge, it carries the Huangxiao Expressway, China National Highway 105, and the Jingjiu Railway
• Huangshi Bridge, which carries the Huanghuang Expressway from Xishui County to Huangshi

Rail

Huanggang is served by the Beijing–Kowloon Railway, which has several stations within the prefecture-level city. The Huangzhou Station, located within Huangzhou District some 20 km northeast from downtown Huanggang, has the best service of all, with several trains a day to Beijing, Nanchang, and Shenzhen. Huanggang travelers can also use the Huangshi station on the Wuhan–Jiujiang Railway, across the river.

Famous Persons

Huanggang prefecture is the birthplace of several famous Chinese inventors, scientists, and scholars, including:

• Bi Sheng, the inventor of movable type printing;
• Cheng Yi, ancient idealist philosopher;
• Li Shizhen, herbalist and author of the ancient medical classic Compendium of Materia Medica;
• Li Siguang, ecologist;
• Lin Biao, One of the ten marshals in China;
• Wen Yiduo, patriotic poet;
• Xiong Shili, a 20th-century Chinese philosopher;
• Daman Hongren, the 5th Chán (Buddhist) Patriarch in the traditional lineage of Chinese Chan;
• Xu Fuguan, a Chinese historian and philosopher, notable for Confucian studies;
• Hu Feng, a Chinese writer and literary and art theorist;
• Chu Bong-Foo, the inventor of the Cangjie method, the most widely available Chinese input method, and the father of the modern Chinese computing;
• Huang Kan, a Chinese philologist.

As well, Huanggang is famous for breeding military and political leaders. Hongan County is known as the "County of Generals" in that more than 400 Chinese army generals have been born there, a total far greater than for any other county in all of China. In addition, former military leader and President of China, Li Xiannian (1909–1992), was born in Hongan.

External links

• Huanggang Government Website

Bibliography

• Lin Biao. "Lin Piao: Master Strategist". In Snow, Helen Foster (Ed.). The Chinese Communists: Sketches and Autobiographies of the Old Guard. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwoods Publishing Company. 1972. ISBN 0-8371-6321-8