Taicang, Jiangsu Province, China

🇨🇳 Taicang is a county-level city under the jurisdiction of Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China. The city located in the south of the Yangtze River estuary opposite Nantong, being bordered by Shanghai proper to the south, while the river also delineates much of its north-eastern boundary along Chongming Island.

Administration Taicang administers 7 towns: • Chengxiang (城厢镇) • Shaxi (沙溪镇) • Ludu (陆渡镇) • Liuhe (浏河镇) • Fuqiao (浮桥镇) • Huangjing (璜泾镇) • Shuangfeng (双凤镇).

History Taicang as a place name is mentioned in a memorial to the throne of geographer Jia Dan during the Song dynasty, "Where lies to the east of Kunshan nowadays", he supposedly wrote, "is called Taicang, also known as Gangshen".

Overview Taicang is a natural port. Under the Yuan, the city reached its peak between 1271 and 1368. Under the Ming, Taicang's Liuhe Harbor was the departure point for Zheng He's treasure fleets. It was also during this period that the shoals in the Yangtze estuary which later became Chongming Island were placed under the supervision of Taicang Prefecture.

It was the venue for the 2014 IAAF World Race Walking Cup.

Geography The Taicang port is in the east of the city, and south of the Yangtze exit into the East China Sea. The port line stretches 24.3 miles (38.8 km), of which 15.6 miles can park 50 thousand ton vessels. Taicang is in a humid subtropical climate zone with distinctive seasons. The average year round temperature is 15.5 Celsius. Precipitation is around 1078.1 mm.

Economy Taicang is known for having operations from companies established by Germans since 1985, when the first German businessperson went to Taicang. Accordingly, the city obtained the nickname "Little Swabia" with it having German-inspired businesses. The area does not have a significant German population as the German expatriates prefer Shanghai since it contains the German School of Shanghai. The city has the German Centre for Industry and Trade Taicang (Chinese: 太仓德国中心).

ABA Chemicals, a chemicals manufacturing company, is headquartered in Taicang.

By 2021 the city had a labor shortage with workers demanding higher wages.