Schools: Chien-Shiung Institute of Technology, Taicang Experimental High School, North Shanghai International School

Introduction

Taicang, a city lies on the intersection of the Yangtze River economic belt and the coastal opening belt, covers an area of 823 sq. km with 450,000 population. In the Warring States Period which is more than 2400 years ago, the King of Wu and Mr. Chun Shen set up their granaries here, thus the name of Taicang, which means the granary of the kingdom came into existence.

Taicang is an ancient cultural city in the south bank of the Yangtze River . Liujagang Port of Taicang was an important port in history, which has connected China with the outside world. It enjoyed the name of Dock of Six Countries. It was also the place where the great navigator of Ming Dynasty, Mr. Zheng He, set sail seven times to the Western World.

Taicang is the most advanced area in economy in Jiangsu Province . In recent years, Taicang's economy has increased by 16% each year. In 2000, GDP of the whole city reached 15.6 billion RMB and GDP per capita reached 4000 USD, ranking the first in Jiangsu Province . In 2001, the synthetic index of social and economic development of the whole nation showed that among 100 strongest counties (cities) in China , Taicang ranks the 7th for its synthetic strength and first for its development vitality.

Taicang is a newly burgeoning port city. Taicang port is a stream outlet oriented deep-water seaport. It owns favorable deep-water bank line resources, among which 25 km are available to build deep-water berths of over 10,000 tonnage. It is qualified to meet the requirements of turning waters for ships of over 50,000 tonnage and container ships of the third and the fourth generation.

The state and the province pay special attention to the development and construction of Taicang Port. The state planning Commission has definitely pointed out that key emphasis will be put on the construction of the container deep-water port of Shanghai national navigation center and the main port which can berth the container ship of the third and the forth generation. In east china, emphasis whill be put on the construction of the deep-water port of Shanghai international navigation center and two main ports of Ningbo City and Taicang City in Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province .

According to the plan, 111 berths will be built, among which 61 are with tonnage of over 10,000 ton. The loading and unloading capacity will be 100 million ton upon completion. At present16 berths have been built, including 5 berths with tonnage of 10,000 ton and 5 berths with tonnage of 1000 ton. Two navigation lines to Japan and Korea and 12 inland navigation lines have been opened.