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Zhenjiang, alternately romanized as Chinkiang, is a prefecture level city in Jiangsu Province, China. It lies on the southern bank of the Yangtze River near its intersection with the Grand Canal. It is opposite Yangzhou (to its north) and between Nanjing (to its west) and Changzhou (to its east). Zhenjiang was formerly the provincial capital of Jiangsu and remains as an important transportation hub. As of the 2020 census, its total population was 3,210,418 inhabitants whom 1,266,790 lived in the built up (or metro) area made of the 3 urban districts. The town is best known both in China and abroad for Chinkiang vinegar, a fragrant black vinegar that is a staple of Chinese cooking.

A part of Zhenjiang was held by Ce, Marquess of Yi, under the early Zhou dynasty. It was subsequently known as Zhufang and Guyang. After the unification of China by Shi Huangdi of Qin in 221BC, the area was organized as the county (xian) of Dantu. One Chinese legend relates that the site's fengshui was so advantageous that the First Emperor ordered 3000 prisoners to dig a tunnel through one of its hills to dissipate its qi. In the middle of the 3rd centuryBC, Dantu was elevated to the status of a commandery (jun). The Sui took the city in AD581 from Chen and made it an important garrison on the lower Yangtze, the source of its present name ("Protecting the River"). In 595, it was restored to commandery status. Its importance grew with the construction of the Grand Canal, after which it served as the chief collection and transit center for the grain tax paid by the farmers of the Yangtze delta. The city flourished from the 10th to 13th centuries, when it produced fine silks, satins, and silverware for the Song emperors. The 11th century scientist and statesman Shen Kuo composed his 1088 Dream Pool Essays during his retirement in a garden estate on the outskirts of the city. It was taken by the Mongolians during their 1275 campaign against the Southern Song capital at Hangzhou. Under their Yuan dynasty, some Nestorian Christians were reported living in the city. The city fell to Xu Da on 17 March 1356. According to Odoric of Pordenone, Zhenjiang had a vast amount of shipping, more so than any other city in the world. The ships which worked the city were painted white and often doubled as businesses such as taverns or other gathering spots. Under the Ming, it was the seat of a prefecture (fu) of Nanzhili, the Southern Directly Administered District around the secondary capital Nanjing. The Southern Ming placed the town under Zheng Zhifeng, brother of Zheng Zhilong and favorite uncle of Koxinga. He was fooled into wasting most of his ammunition against a feint, however, and forced to abandon the city to the Manchus on 1 June 1645. Under the Qing, Zhenjiang was a city of half a million surrounded by a series of brick city walls up to 35 feet (11 m) high. It continued as a prefectural seat, first under the "Right" Governor of Jiangnan at Suzhou and later under the governor of Jiangsu in Jiangning (now Nanjing). After a fierce resistance, Zhenjiangromanized at the time as Chinkiangwas captured by the British on 21 July 1842 during the First Opium War. As this left the path open to Nanjing, its fall prompted the unequal Treaty of Nanking to avoid further conflict. A decade later, massive floods of the Yellow River altered its course from south to north of Shandong and closed the northern path of the Grand Canal. Soon after, Zhenjiang was sacked by the Taiping rebels in 1853. It was recaptured by the Qing in 1858 and opened as a treaty port in 1861. Into the 1870s, Chaozhou merchants used their connections in Zhenjiang to make it a regional distribution center for opium purchased from the foreign merchants in Shanghai; when David Sassoon attempted to avoid taxation by delivering his cargoes directly to the opium merchants in Zhenjiang, the Chinese organized to intimidate his customers and then bought out his failed organization. The population was estimated at 168,000 in 1904. The southern part of the Grand Canal was obstructed in the early 20th century, although by that point the city was connected by rail to Shanghai and Nanjing. The Kuomintang government revoked the British concession at Zhenjiang in 1929. From 1928 to 1949, while Nanjing served as the capital of the Republic of China, Zhenjiang served as the provincial capital for Jiangsu. During World War II, the city fell to Japan's Shanghai Expeditionary Army in the morning of 8 December 1937,

The prefecture level city of Zhenjiang administers 6 county level divisions, including three districts and three county level cities. These are further divided into 77 township level divisions, including 66 towns, 1 township and 10 subdistricts. Administrative divisions of Zhenjiang Subdivision Simplified Chinese Hanyu Pinyin Population Area Density City Proper Jingkou District 京口区 619,570 426.8 1,452 Runzhou District 润州区 299,956 127.4 2,354 Suburban Dantu District 丹徒区 347,264 634.5 547.3 Satellite cities (County level cities) Danyang City 丹阳市 988,900 1,047 944.5 Yangzhong City 扬中市 315,462 330.8 953.6 Jurong City 句容市 639,266 1,380 463.2Total3,210,4183,947813.4

As in Nanjing, Zhenjiang's old Wu dialects have been entirely supplanted by a dialect of Lower Yangtze Mandarin. It is incomprehensible to the residents of neighboring Changzhou, whose dialect remains a form of Taihu Wu. The population was 3,210,418 as of 2020, reflecting a 0.31% annual change from the 2010 census, which recorded a population of 3,114,105.

Zhenjiang is most famous for its fragrant black vinegar, called Zhenjiang vinegar. Chinese legend traces it to Heita, the son of Dukang, the supposed inventor of alcoholic beverages. Having forgotten about a vat of wine for 21 days, he found it had spoiled but now possessed a pleasant sour taste that could be used to complement foods. The present recipe is said to date back 1400 years, with its major modern manufacturer—the Jiangsu Hengshun Vinegar Industry Co.—dating to 1840. Other local specialties include crab cream bun, Chinkiang pork (鎭江肴肉, akin to head cheese), and pickled vegetables. Formerly, households in Zhenjiang would prepare for the new year by eating a red bean dish and avoiding rice. One bowl of beans was left on the table to feed the home's flies, from the belief that they would then avoid disturbing the family during the new year festivities. A natural spring in a park on the edge of Zhenjiang has been famed since the Tang (7th–9th century) as the best in Jiangsu for making tea. It is now marketed as the "First Spring under Heaven". The hilly scenery in Zhenjiang's southern suburbs was considered beautiful enough to be the theme of many landscapes by Chinese painters. The 15th century Japanese ink wash master Sesshū Tōyō studied in Zhenjiang. The local Jinshan temple appears in the tale of Madame White Snake and inspired a replica in the Kangxi Emperor's garden at Chengde.

Zhenjiang is located in the convenient Yangtze River Delta transport corridor, at the crossroads of the Grand Canal and the Yangtze, and between the Shanghai and Nanjing economic regions. The Port of Zhenjiang is the third largest port on the Yangtze. The city has two Yangtze River crossings. The Runyang Yangtze River Bridge complex, which has one of the longest suspension bridge spans in the world, connects to Yangzhou. The Taizhou Yangtze River Bridge, one of the longest cable stayed bridges in the world, connects Yongzhong with Taizhou.

Zhenjiang has been connected by rail since 1906, at the completion of the Nanjing Shanghai Railway. The railway was extended to Beijing after the completion of the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge in 1968, connecting Zhenjiang to China's political and commercial hubs. The primary railway station was Zhenjiang West Railway Station, which was demolished in 2004 due to congestion it caused in the city center. Since then Zhenjiang Railway Station has served as the city's principal railway station.

Since April 2010, Zhenjiang has been on the route of the Shanghai Nanjing Intercity Rail, the first high speed rail with a design speed of over to serve the city. In 2011, the Beijing–Shanghai High Speed Railway was completed. Trains on the line stop at Zhenjiang South Railway Station. The two high speed lines have reduced travel time between Zhenjiang and Shanghai to under an hour, and travel time to Beijing to under five hours. Rail service to Shanghai is frequent averaging one train in less than half an hour.

Zhenjiang does not have a commercial airport within its city limits, although there is a military airfield, Zhenjiang Dalu Airport (镇江大路机场), which may open to regional flights in the future. Zhenjiang city center is away from Changzhou Benniu Airport, about a one hour drive away from Nanjing Lukou International Airport via Nanjing Provincial Highway 243, and approximately a two hour drive away from Sunan Shuofang International Airport. Check in facilities are available for Lukou Airport in the New Zhenjiang Bus Station (镇江汽车新站).

Zhenjiang is on the route of Beijing Shanghai Expressway, and China National Highway 312.

as of 2014, Zhenjiang had an extensive number of bus routes numbering nearly one hundred. Since 2012 the city's entire fleet of city buses are equipped with GPS and are managed centrally through a "smart transport network system."

Public institutions having full time Bachelor's degree programs include Jiangsu University (江苏大学) and the Jiangsu University of Science and Technology (江苏科技大学). Zhenjiang is home to the Silkworm Raising Research Institute of the Academy of Agricultural Science of China. The Shaozong Library includes a 100 volume collection of sayings and proverbs dating from the 7th to 11th centuries. Senior high schools are Jiangsu Provincial Zhenjiang No. 1 High School (江苏省镇江第一中学), the Zhenjiang High School of Jiangsu Province (江苏省镇江中学) and the Jiangsu Provincial Dagang High School (江苏省大港中学).