Nantong impression

(I) A civilized city: Nantong "popularizes the idea of core values through example and elevates the degree of urban civilization through group effect". Nantong municipal party committee and the municipal government made the best use of the Nantong success. They made efforts to publicize and sublime those examples, so as to carry forward the "good deeds" of the Nantong people. Many nationally known moral examples emerged successively in Nantong in these years. "Mo Wensui", the Jianghai volunteers, postal routes with love and care, no bribery case hospital, and copyright management experience in the textile industry appeared. Following the lead of those moral examples, other typical civilized deeds are blooming throughout the city, improving the overall level of civilization, hence making Nantong the first civilized city group in the Northern Jiangsu.

People in the city all participate in the practice. After a lot of hard work, it has finally borne fruits. In October 2008, Nantong was awarded the honor of "National Civilized City".

(II) An ecological city: In the old town area of Nantong, the ancient fosse Hao River winds its way through the city, showing a picture of clear water, flying gulls and swimming fish. Both sides of the river are endowed with delicate and exquisite beauty, swaying lush trees, pavilions and bridges setting each other off, boats and yachts shuttling to and fro, constituting a unique style of Nantong with water surrounding the city and vice versa. In the southern suburbs and near the Yangtze River, the 4A Wolf Mountain Scenic Area, comprising Wolf Mountain, Ma'an Mountain, Huangni Mountain, Sword Mountain, and Jun Mountain, is surrounded by lush trees, singing birds and fragrant flowers, and visited by tourists throughout the year.

Adhering to the scientific outlook on development, the city took the concept of ecological Nantong as the starting point for the city’s comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development, and as a result, Nantong has ranked first in the province and among the nation’s top placings in the comprehensive urban environmental quantitative assessment ranking for five consecutive years. It also won other national honors such as the “National Environmental Protection Example City", "National Sanitary City" and "National Garden City".

(III) A city of culture heritage: Nantong has the century-old industrial town of Tangzha, which not only completely preserves a set of historical heritage of modern industrial civilization such as living places, cultural landscape, transportation and water conservancy facilities, educational and charity institutions and modern commerce blocks, but also reserves a unique industrial landscape and urban lifestyle stimulated and formed by modern industrial civilization, hence making Nantong a "National Historical and Cultural City".

Nantong is the birthplace of Chinese museums --- Nantong Museum. Around the Hao River, a museum group containing 16 museums has been formed, including Nantong Museum (a national level museum), Museum of Chinese Abacus, China Audit Museum, Textile Museum, and Shen Shou Art Gallery. (IV) A city of security: If you ask foreign investors and private entrepreneurs who are investing in Nantong why they rooted their business in Nantong, they will speak highly of the good investment environment in Nantong, among which security is a very important factor.

From 1998 to 2009, Nantong has won the title of National Outstanding City in Comprehensive Management of Social Security for three consecutive sessions during a total of 12 years. In 2007, Nantong ranked top among all prefecture-level cities in terms of the safest cities in China. In February, 2009, the "Chang'an Cup", the most influential award for national political and judicial comprehensive governance work was given to Nantong, making Nantong one of the few Chang'an cities (cities with prolonged security and stability).

(V) A city of education: In the beginning of the last century, Mr. Zhang Jian upheld the concept that "business and education cannot be separated" and founded in Nantong a large number of educational institutions with modern characteristics and functions, which gave birth to a batch of modern schools, including the first Normal School in China, leaving a bright imprint on modern Chinese educational history.

After the founding of new China, Nantong cultivated nearly 30 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering, including the famous mathematician Yang Le. Since the 1990s, the quality of basic education in Nantong has been in a leading position within the province as well as around the country. With long-term general, scientific and fine education management, the college entrance examination grades of Nantong stood at a leading position in the province for many years. "Nantong education" has become one of the "most popular brands in Jiangsu".

(VI) A city of champions: On August 12, 2008, at the Beijing Olympics, Nantong athletes Huang Xu, Zhong Man, and Chen Ruolin won the championship of the Men's Gymnastics Team, Men's Individual Sabre, and Women's 10-Meter Platform Diving Double, respectively. Players from a prefecture-level city have won three gold medals within a day in the world's top arena, which created a miracle in Chinese sports.

From the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 to the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, Nantong has created a wonder of "winning gold medals and cultivating new brilliant players" in every Olympics for five consecutive Olympic Games. Up to now, Nantong has cultivated for the state 7 Olympic champions and 16 world champions, who have won a total of 10 Olympic gold medals and 73 world championships, the highest record among all prefecture-level cities. Nantong thus is praised as "the cradle of world champions".

(VII) A city of longevity: Nantong is one of the three cities in China known for longevity. The population of people aged over one hundred in Nantong takes up half of that in Jiangsu province and one tenth of the national total, ranking the first among all prefecture-level cities in China. According to statistics, there are a total of 768 centenarians in Nantong.

It is amazing that Nantong should be a city boasting longevity because most world-famous longevity places are either in the alpine zone or in a remote mountainous area, while Nantong is located in the Jianghai Plain, which is the only longevity city situated in China's coastal area and in an industrially developed area. This unique phenomenon is doubtlessly of tremendous value in the international community and has caused wide concern from domestic and foreign news media and relevant research institutions.

(VIII) A city of architecture: The architectural industry of Nantong has a long history, with outstanding craftsmen who have brought glory to the place. After decades of unremitting efforts, the architecture industry of Nantong has been standing at a leading position in Jiangsu province in terms of total building economy, capacity of construction and production, level of engineering quality and market share.

From 1988 to 2010, the architectural industry of Nantong has won a total of 65 "Luban prizes", ranking the first among all prefecture-level cities. The construction team of Nantong has been honored by all sectors of the community as the "Nantong iron army". In the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, eight exhibition halls of various shapes were built by the "Nantong iron army". It undertook the most construction projects of the Expo pavilions with the highest technological content, and the most professional construction skills, second only to Shanghai.