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Kunshan

Kunshan

Overview

Kunshan is a satellite city in the greater Suzhou
Suzhou
Suzhou is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens which have contributed to its status as a great tourist attraction...

 region that is administratively at the county-level in southeast Jiangsu
Jiangsu
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou...

, China
China
China is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....

, just outside Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...

. It currently ranks as the most economically successful county-level administration in China. In 2008 the GDP totalled 150 billion yuan (US$22 billion), an increase of 15% from 2007. The GDP per capita reached 120,882 yuan (US$17,687).

Kunshan is culturally significant as the origin of Kunshan diao, the melody which ultimately evolved into Kunqu
Kunqu
Kunqu , also known as Kunju, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. It evolved from the Kunshan melody, and dominated Chinese theatre from the 16th to the 18th centuries...

, China's oldest extant theatre art.
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Encyclopedia

Kunshan is a satellite city in the greater Suzhou
Suzhou
Suzhou is a city on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and on the shores of Lake Taihu in the province of Jiangsu, China. The city is renowned for its beautiful stone bridges, pagodas, and meticulously designed gardens which have contributed to its status as a great tourist attraction...

 region that is administratively at the county-level in southeast Jiangsu
Jiangsu
' is a province of the People's Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. The name comes from jiang, short for the city of Jiangning , and su, for the city of Suzhou...

, China
China
China is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....

, just outside Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city in China, and one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, with over 20 million people. Located on China's central eastern coast at the mouth of the Yangtze River, the city is administered as a municipality of the People's Republic of China with province-level...

. It currently ranks as the most economically successful county-level administration in China. In 2008 the GDP totalled 150 billion yuan (US$22 billion), an increase of 15% from 2007. The GDP per capita reached 120,882 yuan (US$17,687).

Kunshan is culturally significant as the origin of Kunshan diao, the melody which ultimately evolved into Kunqu
Kunqu
Kunqu , also known as Kunju, Kun opera or Kunqu Opera, is one of the oldest extant forms of Chinese opera. It evolved from the Kunshan melody, and dominated Chinese theatre from the 16th to the 18th centuries...

, China's oldest extant theatre art. Kunshan is the birthplace of one of China's most well known ancient opera styles.

It is known as the birthplace of Fei Junlong
Fei Junlong
Colonel Fèi Jùnlóng is a Chinese military pilot and an astronaut. He flew on the second manned spaceflight of the Shenzhou program....

, Gong Xian
Gong Xian
Gong Xian was a Chinese painter, the most important of the Eight Masters of Nanjing and the leading painter of the Nanjing school....

, An Wang
An Wang
Dr. An Wang was a Chinese American computer engineer and inventor, and co-founder of computer company Wang Laboratories.-Early life and career:...

, and Soong Ching-ling
Soong Ching-ling
Soong Ch'ing-ling , also known as Madame Sun Yat-sen, was one of the three Soong sisters—who, along with their husbands, were amongst China's most significant political figures of the early 20th century. She was the Vice Chairman of the People's Republic of China...

.

As of 2006 the city is locally known as "Little Taipei
Taipei
Taipei is the largest city in Taiwan and has served as the de facto capital of the Republic of China since the Chinese Civil War in 1949. It is situated on the Danshui River, almost at the northern tip of the island, about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...

" due to the influx of businessmen from the Republic of China
Republic of China
The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan, is a state in East Asia that has evolved from a single-party state with full global recognition and jurisdiction over China into a democratic state with limited international recognition and jurisdiction only over Taiwan and minor islands, though it...

.

Kunshan is also home to a Shimano
Shimano
Shimano, Inc. is a Japanese multinational manufacturer of cycling components, fishing tackle, and snowboarding equipment.In 2005, the company had net sales of US $1.4 billion. Bicycle components provided 75% of its sales income...

 factory and the iPod Touch
IPod Touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, and Wi-Fi mobile platform designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The product was launched on September 5, 2007, at an event called The Beat Goes On. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...

 factory, a division of Apple. All iPod Touches are manufactured and delivered from Kunshan. Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison Corporation produces pressure-sensitive materials , office products, and various paper products. R. Stanton Avery founded Avery in 1935. The Avery Dennison Corporation was created in 1990 by a merger of Avery and Dennison...

, a manufacturer of specialty tapes, engineering films, and other items, has a factory base in Kunshan. Also, Toshiba
Toshiba
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company's main business is in infrastructure, consumer products, electronic devices and components.Toshiba-made Semiconductors are among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders...

, Dell
Dell
Dell, Inc. develops, manufactures, sells, and supports personal computers and other computer-related products. Based in Round Rock, Texas, Dell employs more than 76,500 people worldwide ....

, Fujitsu
Fujitsu Siemens Computers
Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Inc. was a Japanese and German IT vendor. The company was founded in 1999 as a 50/50 joint venture between Fujitsu Limited of Japan and Siemens AG of Germany....

, and Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company , commonly referred to as HP, is a technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, United States. HP has its United States offices at the former old Compaq Campus in unincorporated Harris County, Texas, Latin America offices in Miami-Dade County, Florida,...

 deliver their laptop series from the Compal
Compal Electronics
Compal Electronics is a Taiwanese original design manufacturer , handling the production of notebook computers and monitors for a variety of clients around the world, including Dell, Toshiba, Hewlett-Packard, and FSC. Compal is famous for producing select models for Dell, HP & Compaq...

factory in Kunshan.

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