Rudong, Jiangsu Province, China

🇨🇳 Rudong County (如东县; 如東縣; Rúdōng Xiàn) is under the administration of Nantong, Jiangsu province, China, and lies on the Yellow Sea coast. It administers 14 towns and five districts. The 14 towns are Juegang, Matang, Fengli, Caobu, Chahe, Shuangdian, Xindian, Hekou, Yuanzhuang, Changsha, Ju, Yangkou, Bencha and Dayu. The county seat is Juegang.

Administrative divisions At present, Rudong County has 14 towns: 14 towns • Bingcha (栟茶镇) • Caobu (曹埠镇) • Chahe (岔河镇) • Changsha (长沙镇) • Dayu (大豫镇) • Fengli (丰利镇) • Hekou (河口镇) • Ju (苴镇) • Juegang (掘港镇) • Matang (马塘镇) • Shuangdian (双甸镇) • Xindian (新店镇) • Yangkou (洋口镇) • Yuanzhuang (袁庄镇).

Etymology The county took its name because it is located to the east of Rugao County and was once part of it. The ancient name of it was Fuhaizhou, which meant a small sand island in the ocean.

Demographics The county has many extraneous people from the south of the Yangtse River (Changjiang River), so there are two main dialects: Rudonghua which is a branch of Jianghuai Mandarin and Shadihua, which is a branch of the Wu language.

The one-child policy was implemented in Rudong before other parts of China, and as of 2023 it is China's oldest county: almost 39% of the population is aged 60 or older, compared to 18.7% nationwide.

Economy Rudong is located on the bank of the Yellow Sea. As a result, there is a sizable fishing industry and the county was named "the place of seafood in China" by the Chinese Cooking Association in 2007. Rudong also contains a harbour for commercial cargo. Yankou Harbor was launched in May 2011 and includes a facility for unloading liquified natural gas. In addition, there is a wind farm near Rudong's sea bank. The farm contained 217 turbines as of 2009, making it the largest in the country in its grade.

Transport The Hai'an–Rudong railway opened in 2014 and has two passenger stations in Rudong County: Bingcha and Rudong.