盐城丹顶鹤

Yancheng is seated in central coastal area of Jiangsu Province, facing eastward to the Yellow Sea. It neighbors Yangzhou in the west, Nantong in the south and is bounded on the north by Lianyungang, occupying the largest area among the cities in the province.

Yancheng ("salt city" in Chinese) derived its name from the rich sea salt harvest fields around the territory. It is the largest city in this province in terms of land size, 14,562 square kilometer. The city's population is 8 million. Yancheng exercises jurisdiction over the urban areas, six counties of Yandu, Sheyang, Jianhu, Xiangshui, Binhai and Funing and two prefecture-level cities of Dongtai and Dafeng.

History

Yancheng was exploited as early as over 2,100 years ago. The Huaihe River empties into the Yellow Sea in northern part of the city. In Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD), a county named with salt was established here for its salt production, and get its name, Yancheng, in 411 BC.

Tourism

Yancheng is rich in monuments memorizing the New Fourth Army. A large number of statues commemorating the heroes of the New Fourth Army can be found around the city. The city is also rich in scenic spots, such as Yancheng Nature Reserve, Dafeng Milu Nature Reserve and Jiulongkou Nature Reserve.

The New Fourth Army Memorial Hall is the largest memorial division of the Fourth Army military unit, founded during the Anti-Japanese War in World War II. The hall is mainly comprised of three parts: the old army headquarter, the old square where the army was founded and the memorial facilities. The hall has collected enormous diversity of historical documents, photographs, paintings, statues and more in association with the army’s historical development.

Yancheng Nature Reserve, a pristine national wetland nature reserve is set up for rare birds, especially the red-crowned crane. Located in Yancheng of Jiangsu Province, Yancheng Rare Birds Nature Reserve is mainly dedicated to the protection of tidal wetland ecosystem and rare birds represented by red-crowned cranes. It is a famous scenic site for bird watching.

盐城朦胧塔

The nature reserve is close to the Yellow Sea and covers an area of 453,000 hectares, with 444-kilometer-long tidal-flat area along the sea. Thanks to mild climate, abundant rainfall, smooth terrain and diversified biological species, the nature reserve is home to 450 plant species, 377 bird species, 45 amphibian and reptile species, 281 fish species and 47 mammal species. Among them, wild animals under key protection include: red-crowned cranes, hooded cranes, white cranes, golden eagles, white tailed sea eagles, paddlefish, river deer, whooper swans, common cranes and spotted seals etc.

Meanwhile, the nature reserve is a key passageway and stopover site for birds migrating from northeast Asia to Australia. It’s also an important wintering area for the world’s waterfowls. Every spring and autumn, close to 2 million shorebirds migrate passing Yancheng, with 0.2 million waterfowls living through winter in the nature reserve.

Dafeng Elk Nature Reserve is located in Dafeng City, being the world's largest wild breeding base for elk. Elk is the world’s rare and precious animal, which can be solely found in our country and is on a par with panda. Its horn is like that of deer, face like that of horse, tail like that of donkey and hoof like ox, therefore being popularly called “Pere Davids Deer”. Now the population reaches as many as 268 and is the world’s largest wild grazed species. Both The livability and annual progressive increase rate of the reproduction of elks head first in the world. Apart from elks, the reserve is inhabited by a large number of wild animals, including more than twenty animals under the national first and second class protection, such as red-crowned cranes, grusvipio, swans, erns and Chinese river deer, etc. Furthermore, tourist facilities and auxiliary buildings may greatly ease visitors' stay there. 

Steamed bun stuffed with crab yolk (Xie Huang Bao), sugar fried dough twist (Tang Ma Hua), glutinous rice cake of Funing (Funing Da Gao) are worth tasting.

Climate

In the transition area between the south warm temperate zone to the subtropical, the weather has strong features of oceanic warm and humid monsoon climate. It is characterized by distinctive four seasons, abundant rainfall and sunshine. The weather is relatively moderate, but temperature in winter and summer may vary greatly in a year. Usually, visitor can choose to the city according to their own situations. Actually, Yancheng's spring, summer and autumn are all favorable for visiting.

Table of statistics for Yangcheng climate for each month of the year