Jingzhou () is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei province, China, located on the banks of the Yangtze River. Its total residential population was 5,231,180 according to the 2020 census, 1,068,291 of whom resided in the built-up (or metro) area comprising two urban districts.

Jingzhou's central urban area has grown out of Shashi City and Jingzhou Town (historically also known as Jiangling); their names were preserved in the names of Shashi District and Jingzhou District, which include the city's historical center, as well as Jiangling County, which administers the suburban areas of the larger historical area of Jiangling. The name "Shashi" also remains in the names of a number of local facilities, such as Jingzhou Shashi Airport and a railway freight station.

Toponymy

The contemporary city of Jingzhou is named after ancient province of the same name, which was one of the nine provinces of ancient China.

Jingzhou has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with hot, humid summers, and damp, chilly, but drier winters. Monthly daily average temperatures range from in January to in July. The area receives 1,800 to 2,000 hours of sunshine per year and has a frost-free period of 242−263 days annually. all-time extreme temperature

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Demographics

According to the 2010 census, the prefecture-level city of Jingzhou has 5,691,707 inhabitants

As of the 7th census of Jingzhou done by the municipal government, Jingzhou's population had shrunk slightly to an estimated 5,231,180 inhabitants, residing in about 1,833,292 households. Of Jingzhou's residential population, 2,664,658 or 50.94 percent were males while 2,566,522 of 49.06 percent were females. The sex ratio was 103.82 (female=100, male to female). There were 534,914 persons with university education. Compared with 2010, the number of people with university education went up from 6,828 persons to 10,225 persons per 100,000 persons, the average years of schooling for people aged 15 and above increased from 8.81 years to 9.29 years, and the illiteracy rate dropped from 4.41 percent (251,100) to 2.79 (145,900) percent. Additionally, Shashi and Jingzhou districts' the average years of schooling for people aged 15 were longer than 10 years.

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Jingzhou has jurisdiction over two districts, three county-level cities, three counties and one economic and technological development zone. The information here presented uses the metric system and data from the 2010 census.

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|-

! Name

! Simplified Chinese

! Hanyu Pinyin

! Area<br />(km<sup>2</sup>)

! Population<br />(2010)

|

| Jīngzhōu Jīngjì Jìshù Kāifāqū

|

| 101,804

|

|-

| Songzi City

|

| Sōngzī Shì

| 2,235

| 765,911

| 343

|-

| Shishou City

|

| Shíshǒu Shì

| 1,427

| 577,022

| 404

|-

| Honghu City

|

| Hónghú Shì

| 2,519

| 819,446

| 325

|-

| Jianli City

|

| Jiànlì Shì

| 3,118

| 1,162,770

| 373

|-

| Jiangling County

|

| Jiānglíng Xiàn

| 1,032

| 331,344

| 321

|-

| Gong'an County

|

| Gōng'ān Xiàn

| 2,258

| 881,128

| 390

|}

Economy

As of 2019, Jingzhou has a GDP of ¥251.648 billion, which grew at an annual rate of 7.5%.

The city was lost to Eastern Wu by Guan Yu during the Three Kingdoms period leading to the modern phrase "dàyì shī Jīngzhōu" (), .

Under the Tang dynasty, it served as the southern capital and was known as Nandu ().

Later on, Jiangling was the capital of the Southern Qi and Liang dynasties.

Jingzhou was the site of one of the last major battles between Republican and Qing forces during the Xinhai Revolution in 1911. At the end of the Qing dynasty, Jingzhou had one of the largest Manchu populations, around half of the city, anywhere outside Beijing.

In July 1949, the area was taken by the People's Liberation Army.

Cuisine

thumb|Lotus root soup, Hubei style. 2010 photo

Jingzhou is home to unique breakfast items. The city has a unique style of guokui, a Chinese flatbread, as well as a unique style of rice noodles.

Education

There are 1,243 schools in Jingzhou, attended by about 707,300 students, as of 2019.

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Notable people

  • Gao Xiang, ( 217–240s) Shu Han military leader
  • Yan Zhitui, (531–591) Northern and Southern dynasties period calligrapher, painter, musician, writer, philosopher, and politician
  • Wan Exiang, politician and jurist, former chairman of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang
  • Li Xian, actor
  • Qiyu Zhou, Chinese-Canadian female chess grandmaster
  • Wang Zhiyi, badminton player
  • Chen Long, retired badminton player

See also

  • 1954 Yangtze River Floods

References

  • Official Jingzhou City Website