Yangzhou (
simplified Chinese ??;
traditional Chinese ??;
pinyin Yángzhou; former spellings Yang-chou, Yangchow; literally "Rising Prefecture") is a
prefecture-level city in central
Jiangsu province,
People's Republic of China. Sitting on the northern bank of the
Yangtze River, it borders the provincial capital of
Nanjing to the southwest,
Huai'an to the north,
Yancheng to the northeast,
Taizhou to the east, and
Zhenjiang across the river to the south.
The prefecture-level city of Yangzhou administers 7 county-level divisions. There are 3 districts, 3 county-level cities and 1 county
These are further divided into 98 township-level divisions, including 87 towns and townships, and 11 subdistricts.
Yangzhou has a history of almost 2,500 years, being founded in the Spring and Autumn Period when it was called Guangling (??, Kuang-Ling). It was called Hancheng during Warring States Period (403-221 BC) (Perkins). In 590 AD, the city began to be called Yangzhou, which was the traditional name of what was then the entire southeastern part of China.
