Zhejiang Province Pinghu City

Area Area Area is a quantity that expresses the extent of a two-dimensional surface or shape in the plane. Area can be understood as the amount of material with a given thickness that would be necessary to fashion a model of the shape, or the amount of paint necessary to cover the surface with a single coat...	536 square kilometers
Population Population A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...	480,000(2002)
Administrative level	County municipality
Postal code Postal code A postal code is a series of letters and/or digits appended to a postal address for the purpose of sorting mail. Once postal codes were introduced, other applications became possible.In February 2005, 117 of the 190 member countries of the Universal Postal Union had postal code systems...	314200
Telephone prefix Telephone prefix A telephone prefix is the first set of digits of a telephone number; in the North American Numbering Plan countries , it is the first three digits out of a seven-digit phone number...	0573

Pinghu may also refer to Pinghu, Guangdong

Pinghu(平湖) (literally 'flat lake') municipality is situated in northeast Zhejiang

Zhejiang

Zhejiang is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital...

 Province, next to the East China Sea

East China Sea

The East China Sea is a marginal sea east of China. It is a part of the Pacific Ocean and covers an area of 1,249,000 km² or 750,000 square miles.-Geography:...

 and Hangzhou Bay

Hangzhou Bay

Hangzhou Bay, or the Bay of Hangzhou , is an inlet of the East China Sea, bordered by the province of Zhejiang and the municipality of Shanghai. The Qiantang River flows into the bay.It lies south of Shanghai, and ends at the city of Hangzhou...

's north shore, close to China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

's largest city Shanghai

Shanghai

Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...

. Prior to the Ming

Ming Dynasty

The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...

, Pinghu was part of Haiyan county. In 1430 Pinghu county was established. In 1991 county status was withdrawn and Pinghu became a municipality, now part of Jiaxing

Jiaxing

Jiaxing is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province of Eastern China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the province of Jiangsu to the north....

.

Administration

3 neighborhoods, 7 villages

• neighborhood committee and offices
  • Zhongdai neighborhood
  • Danghu neighborhood
  • Caoqiao neighborhood
• villages
  • Zhapu
    Zhapu
    Zhapu is a seaport and town in Pinghu, Zhejiang Province, China. It became a busy and rich port when the Qing Dynasty authorized it as the only port for trade to Japan and Korea. The British captured Zhapu on 18 May 1842 during the First Opium War....
    
     village
  • Xindai village
  • Xincang
    Xincang
    Xincang is a township-level division situated in Anqing, Anhui, China....
    
     village
  • Huanggu village
  • Quantang village
  • Guangcheng village
  • Lindai village

Geography and climate

Pinghu is located on a low and flat plain and is laced with a network of rivers. A number of islands, such as Wangpan Shan are located offshore. The municipality's average yearly temperature is 15° C, with average precipitation of 1186mm. Agricultural production is marked by its amount of aquatic products. Important crops are rice

Rice

Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...

, wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

, Chinese cabbage

Chinese cabbage

Chinese cabbage can refer to two distinct varieties of Chinese leaf vegetables used often in Chinese cuisine. These vegetables are both related to the Western cabbage, and are of the same species as the common turnip...

, prawn

Prawn

Prawns are decapod crustaceans of the sub-order Dendrobranchiata. There are 540 extant species, in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian...

s, and bird egg

Egg (food)

Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...

s. Specialties include pickled egg

Pickled egg

Pickled eggs are hard boiled eggs preserved by pickling.After the eggs are hard boiled the shell is removed and they are submerged in a solution of vinegar, salt, spices, and other seasonings. Recipes vary from the traditional brine solution used for pickles to other solutions which can impart a...

s and watermelon

Watermelon

Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...

s. Due to its proximity to Shanghai, Pinghu also attracts investment from many multinational enterprises. Industry includes clothing

Clothing

Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

, packaging, machinery, paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

 and others. Clothing production is especially high, with the value of Pinghu's total clothing exports the greatest in China. It has been placed as one of China's one hundred most productive areas.

Zhapu harbor in the municipality's southwest is an important deep water harbor along Hangzhou Bay

Hangzhou Bay

Hangzhou Bay, or the Bay of Hangzhou , is an inlet of the East China Sea, bordered by the province of Zhejiang and the municipality of Shanghai. The Qiantang River flows into the bay.It lies south of Shanghai, and ends at the city of Hangzhou...

. A port has been located here since the Tang dynasty

Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui Dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period. It was founded by the Li family, who seized power during the decline and collapse of the Sui Empire...

, and it is still an important transshipment point. Next to the harbor is one of China's most important large thermal power plants, Jiaxing Powerplant, with a capacity of 3,000,000 kilowatts.

In modern China many famous monks, educators and artists (music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

, calligraphy

Calligraphy

Calligraphy is a type of visual art. It is often called the art of fancy lettering . A contemporary definition of calligraphic practice is "the art of giving form to signs in an expressive, harmonious and skillful manner"...

, painting

Painting

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...

, seals

Seal (device)

A seal can be a figure impressed in wax, clay, or some other medium, or embossed on paper, with the purpose of authenticating a document ; but the term can also mean the device for making such impressions, being essentially a mould with the mirror image of the design carved in sunken- relief or...

, poetry

Poetry

Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...

) have come from Pinghu. The city's downtown contains a large memorial to Li Shutong

Li Shutong

Hong Yi , born Li Shutong was a Chinese Buddhist monk, artist and art teacher. He also went by Wen Tao, Guang Hou, and Shu Tong, but was most commonly known by his Buddhist name, Hong Yi. He was a master painter, musician, dramatist, calligrapher, seal cutter, poet, and Buddhist monk...

and a number of other attractions and scenic spots.