Jiaxing is the birthplace of the Majiabang Culture in the Neolithic Age. The ancestors engaged in farming, animal husbandry, fishing and hunting 7,000 years ago.
Spring and Autumn period: Jiaxing is known as Zuili (Drunken Plums) and is an important city in the state of Yuè.
Known as a county
210 BC: Qin Shi Huang changed the name of Jiaxing from Changshui District (長水縣) to Youquan (由拳縣).
231: Wild rice (野稻) of Jiaxing informed Sun Quan of the Kingdom of Wu that there was a sign of auspice, so Sun changed Youchuan to Hexing District (禾興縣). This why Jiaxing's abbreviation is He. Sun also changed his era name to Jiahe (嘉禾) in the following year.
1926: Following the defection of Zhejiang civil governor Xia Chao to the Kuomintang during the Northern Expedition, the army of warlord Sun Chuanfang completely defeats Xia's largely untrained army at Jiaxing. Xia is captured and executed shortly thereafter.[4][5]
Industry is the main economic driver to the city's economy, contributing 47% to its GDP in 2015. Jiaxing is also well known as the 'hometown of silk', hence it is a famous producer of textiles and woolens. It is one of the world's largest exporters of leather goods. There are mechanical, chemical and electronic industries there.
Established in 2003, Jiaxing Export Processing Zone is a state-level export processing zone approved by State Council. It has a built-up area of 2.98 km2. Its development goal is to become the export processing base for IT, IC, mechanical and electrical, electronics and other high-tech industries.[8]
Tourism
The main gate of the Zicheng, lit. "citadel", of JiaxingYuehe Street
South Lake, to the south-east of the old walled city, has been a popular tourist site for centuries. The Chinese Communist Party was officially founded on a boat in the lake, after the delegates to its first congress adjourned their meeting in Shanghai and reconvened here. As a result, the lake is now a popular destination for Communist Party "education" tours.
Within the city proper, the Zicheng (citadel) of Jiaxing was for two millennia the fortified nucleus of the walled city, though only fragmented remains now survive from the imeprial era. The main gate was rebuilt in 1990. Jiaxing is one of the very few cities in south-east China that retains any vestige of a citadel. A number of famous writers' homes also survive in the old walled city, as well as a Carmelite abbey and Gothic abbey church built in 1902.
Meiwan Street and Yuehe Street (Zhongji Road and surrounds) are two restored neighbourhoods to the south and north of the old city respectively, located near the city moat, canals and lakes. Literally "Prunus bay street" and "moon river street" respectively, these two neighbourhoods combine restored historic buildings and newly landscaped gardens. Meiwan Street features buildings in the style of private residences of prominent families, and is the location of Kim Koo's refuge, a house significant in the history of the Korean independence movement, and a family shrine of the Qian family, a prominent local family. By contrast, Yuehe Street features artisan workshops and street food stores. In January 2022, Yuehe Street was named the "first provincial night cultural and tourist concentration area".
Wuzhen and Xitang, two townships within Jiaxing city limits, feature preserved and restored houses situated along small canals that are evocative of typical canal towns of the region. They are popular tourist destinations and filming locations.
Transportation
View of the G60 Highway from the Shanghai-Hangzhou high speed railway in Jiashan County
Jiaxing dialect is a NorthernWu dialect in the Sujiahu dialect grouping. As such, it is a sister dialect of both Shanghainese and Suzhou dialect, and easily intelligible with both. It is not mutually intelligible with Mandarin or other varieties of Chinese such as Cantonese, Hokkien or Hakka.
