Zhangzhou is the atonalpinyinromanization of the city's Chinese name, using its pronunciation in Standard Mandarin. The name derives from the city's former status as the seat of the imperial ChineseZhangPrefecture. The same name was romanized as "Changchow" on the Chinese Postal Map and in Wade-Giles. Other romanizations include Chang-chow. It also appears as Chang-chu, Chiang-chiu, Chiang-chew, or Chiang Chew from the city's localHokkien name Chiang-chiu. This name appeared in Spanish and PortugueseJesuit sources as Chincheo, which was anglicized as Chinchew. By the 19th century, however, this name had migrated and was used to refer toQuanzhou, a separate port about east-northeast of central Zhangzhou.
Geography
Zhangzhou proper lies on the banks of the Jiulong River in southern Fujian about from central Xiamen, whose urban core has grown to form a single urbanized area with it. The prefecture of Zhangzhou comprises the southeastern corner of the province, surrounding Xiamen. The prefecture of Quanzhou lies to its northeast, Longyan to its northwest, and Shantou in Guangdong to its southwest.
Climate
Zhangzhou has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate, with mild to warm winters and long, very hot and humid summers. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, and the annual mean is. The frost-free period lasts 330 days.
History
According to Odoric of Pordenone, Zhangzhou was a prosperous city twice the size of Bologna. During the early Qing, Zhangzhou was the primary Fujianese port trading with Portuguese Macao and SpanishManila. For a time, the Portuguese maintained a factory in the city. During the late Qing, Zhangzhou remained a center of silk, brick, and sugar production with about a million people and extensive internal and maritime trade. Its city wall had a circumference of about but included a good deal of open ground and farmland. Its streets were paved with granite but badly maintained. The bridge across the Jiulong River consisted of wooden planks laid between 25 piles of stones at roughly equal intervals. The port of Xiamen in an island at the mouth of the Jiulong principally functioned as a trading center for the produce and wares of Zhangzhou and its hinterland; both suffered economically when Indian tea plantations cratered demand for Fujianese tea in the late 19th century. The old city of Zhangzhou was occupied in April and May 1932 by a column of Communist guerrillas under Mao Zedong. Due to the presence of Western gunboats in Xiamen Bay, arms shipments from the Soviet Union were unable to get up the Jiulong River to Mao's forces and the main Communist bases. Discovering this, Mao retreated from the city, according to some accounts with a substantial amount of loot taken from its residents.
was invented by the druggist Wei Changan as a traditional medicine in 1673. It was repurposed for artistic use a few years later and gained imperial favor under the Qianlong Emperor. It remains prized for its bright color and pleasant smell. A major petrochemical plant, producing paraxylene, owned by Taiwan-based Xianglu Group is located in Zhangzhou's Gulei Peninsula. The plant suffered major fires in 2013 and 2015.
