Songjiang, Shanghai

The prehistoric coastline of the East China Sea was much farther inland, at Xinzhuang near Songjiang's current eastern border with Minhang District. It was only gradually that silt from the Yangtze River filled in downtown Shanghai about 2000 years ago and then Pudong and Chongming Island over the last 1000 years.

Modern archaeology has established a chronology of the main cultural groups who lived in the present area of Songjiang District in Neolithic China: the Majiabang in the 5th millennium BC), the Songze in the 4th millennium BC), and the Liangzhu in the 3rd millennium BC. The Majiabang were among the first harvesters of rice and kept domesticated pigs while still frequently hunting deer. The Liangzhu possessed a high stratified society that almost certainly represented one of the earliest states in East Asia. The Liangzhu site at Guangfulin in Songjiang has been developed into Guangfulin Relics Park, an expansive museum and tourist attraction.

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  A map of the main cultural groups in Neolithic China
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  A map of the likely centers of early agriculture in China
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  The main museum in Guangfulin

Traditional Chinese historiography only recorded these people as among the Baiyue—the "Numerous Southern Barbarians"—until the growth of the siniticized Wu Kingdom at Suzhou in the 1st millennium BC. During the Spring and Autumn period at the end of the Zhou and under the Warring States, the area of present-day Songjiang passed from Wu to Yue to Chu before the unification of China under Shi Huangdi of Qin in the 3rd century BC.

In the Three Kingdoms period that followed the end of the Han in the 3rd century AD, Sun Quan's Wu Kingdom helped develop and further sinify the area. Another boost came from the completion of the Grand Canal under the Sui, linking Songjiang with Hangzhou, Shaoxing, and Ningbo in the south and Suzhou, Luoyang, Xi'an, and Beijing in the north. By the mid-Tang, the region had developed enough that it was organized in 751 into Huating County, the first county-level administration within modern-day Shanghai.

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  The Square Pagoda in Fangta Park, built between 1068 and 1077
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  Huzhu Pagoda, a leaning tower on Tianma Hill built in 1079
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  Songjiang Mosque after its 1391 rebuilding
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  The entrance to Zuibaichi, a Song-era garden in Songjiang

In the 1250s at the end of the Southern Song, the 10-year-old Songjiangese girl Huang Daopo fled her hometown and an arranged marriage to live with the Hlai on Hainan. She returned around 1295 with new strains of cotton, an early cotton gin, and other advances to cotton cultivation and processing that made the sandy lands of eastern Huating County so much more prosperous that Huang was later deified out of gratitude. By the mid-Qing, as much as ¾ of Songjiang's farmland was devoted to cotton.[2] Under the Yuan, this new wealth saw Huating elevated to prefectural status and renamed Songjiangfu. This is sometimes considered the origin of China's modern textile industry. It was also under the Yuan that the city first had enough Hui to establish Shanghai's first mosque.

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  A detail of Jan Janszoon's 1664 map of Huguang, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, and Fujian
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  An map of early modern Songjiang (1818) showing the importance of its many canals
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  A map of the canals around Songjiang during the 19th century
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  One of the canals today

In 1404, headwaters previously emptying into the Wusong were rerouted by local officials, diminishing the size of Suzhou Creek and expanding the Huangpu River to its modern importance. Songjiang was better fortified under the Ming in response to attacks by the Japanese "Wokou" pirates, who sometimes raided and sometimes occupied to the town. The Ming also saw the Jesuits—who counted the influential Shanghainese official Xu Guangqi among their converts—establish the town's first known church. Owing to the importance of Portuguese and Latin at the time, the town's name was romanized Sumkiam.

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  The city wall in the 1880s, following the battles of the Taiping Rebellion
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  A restored gatehouse from Songjiang's Ming-era city wall
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  A Songjiang shrine to General Ward, founder of the Ever-Victorious Army
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  The counties of Songjiang Prefecture under the Qing dynasty

Following Dorgon's 21 July 1645 edict mandating the queue, the people of Songjiang rose up against the Qing to protect their hair, viewed as a symbol of virility and filial piety. Li Chengdong (李成東, d. 1649) retook the city and massacred its population on 22 September 1645. Nonetheless, Songjiang remained the primary metropolis of the area of present-day Shanghai as late as the mid-19th century, when its name was typically romanized as Sungkiang. It continued to serve as the prefectural capital under the "Right" Governor of Jiangnan based in Suzhou and then later under the governor of Jiangsu at Jiangning (now Nanjing). Unlike the foreign-held area of Shanghai, however, it fell to rebels during the Taiping Rebellion's Eastern Expedition. About a hundred Europeans under Frederick Townsend Ward failed to retake the town in June 1860. After gathering more Westerners, over 80 Philippine "Manilamen", and several pieces of artillery, a second assault in July 1860 retook the town with heavy losses. Out of about 250 men, 62 were killed and about 100 wounded, including Ward. Songjiang was then used by Ward, Henry Andres Burgevine, their Ever-Victorious Army, and Cheng Xueqi's division of the Huai Army as a base for raids and attacks on other Taiping positions under Li Xiucheng throughout the "Battle of Shanghai".

Despite Shanghai's greater importance by the beginning of the 20th century, its international settlement meant Songjiang was still used as the formal center of Chinese government for the region. Under the Republic of China, the Zhili clique leader Sun Chuanfang's Songhu (淞滬市) or Songjiang Special Administrative District covered most of what is now Shanghai Municipality, extending as far north as Chongming Island.[3]

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  Tianfei Palace, an 1883 Chinese temple to the sea goddess Mazu, in Fangta Park, Songjiang
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  Sheshan Basilica, constructed from 1924 to 1935 on She Hill
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  A 1932 map showing Sungkiang on Shanghai's southern railway
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  Xilin Temple after its 1980s reconstruction

During World War II, Japan occupied Songjiang from 9 November 1937 until 1945. Afterwards, both the Nationalist and Communist regional government was moved to Shanghai proper, leaving Songjiang a comparatively rural county. The city's many ancient religious structures and examples of traditional architecture were seriously damaged during the 1960s and 1970s amid the Cultural Revolution. Following the PRC's Opening Up Policy, Songjiang restored its more important religious buildings and developed into a college town hosting several large universities. In 1998, it was elevated to its current status as an urban district.

Some of the notable features in Songjiang District include:

• Songjiang New City is a major new-town development located within Songjiang District. It was developed as part of Shanghai's "One City, Nine Towns" plan. The New City will encompass an area of 60 square kilometers (23 sq mi) when completed, and will have a total population of 500,000 residents.[4] The New City reflects Garden City design principles, with a large proportion of land allocated to green-space and parks.
• Thames Town is a residential and commercial development located within the Songjiang New City that both imitates and is influenced by classic English market town styles. Some of the architecture has been directly copied from buildings found in England.
• Songjiang University Town is a major higher education sector located in the district. It is the largest higher education sector in mainland China.
• Shanghai First People's Hospital has a campus located within the Songjiang New City.
• Shanghai Film Studios are located in Songjiang District.
• InterContinental Hotel Shanghai Wonderland is built against the walls of a former quarry, and partly underwater: it claims to be the world's first underground five-star resort.[5]

Cultural sights in Songjiang include:

• Sheshan Hill with Sheshan Basilica
• Fangta Park, one of the first celebrations of traditional Chinese architecture following the Cultural Revolution, including the city's Square Pagoda and Mazu Temple
• Huzhu Pagoda on Tianmashan

The Shanghai Women's Prison is in Songjiang District.[6]

Songjiang District is located approximately 25 kilometers (16 mi) from Hongqiao International Airport and 70 kilometers (43 mi) from Pudong International Airport. Songjiang is currently served by one metro line operated by Shanghai Metro, one suburban line operated by China Railway, and two tram lines.

Songjiang District has six subdistricts, eleven towns and three special township-level divisions.

Xilin Chan Temple is a Buddhist temple in Yueyang Subdistrict, which is also a famous tourist attraction.

Zuibaichi is one of the five ancient Chinese gardens in Shanghai that dates back to the Song dynasty.

The Songjiang Mosque is the oldest mosque in Shanghai with its latest rebuild in 1391.

Songjiang's emblematic tower is the 9-story Fangta Pagoda, or Songjiang Square Pagoda.

Dacang Bridge is a historic stone arch bridge over the Old City River in the district.

Songjiang Tangjing Building is located in the Zhongshan Primary School, Songjiang District and it is the oldest surviving above-ground relic in Shanghai built in 859 AD.

Birthplace:

• Han Bangqing – Author of The Sing-song Girls of Shanghai (Lou County, Songjiang Prefecture)[11]

Heroes: Hou Shaoqiu, Jiang Huilin, Xia Yunyi, Chen Zilong, Xia Wanchun;

Statesmen: Gu Yong, Lu Xun, Xu Jie;

Litterateurs: Lu Ji, Lu Yun, Chen Jiru, Qian Fu, Gu Qing;

Chinese Painting and Calligraphy (Songjiang was listed among "cities of Calligraphy" in 2013[12]) Artists: Shen Du, Dong Qichang, Zhang Nanheng, Zhang Zhao, Shi Zhecun, Cheng Shifa;

Craftsmen: Zhu Kerou, Huang Daopo, Ding Niangzi;

Experts: Tao Zongyi, Zhu Shunshui, Chen Yongkang;

Educators: He Dong, Ping Hailan, Ma Xiangru;

Intelligent woman: Ye Gu.

• "Songjiang District". Encyclopedia of Shanghai. Shanghai Municipal Government. 2010. Archived from the original on 2013-03-02.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Songjiang District.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Songjiang District.

• Songjiang Official Local Government Website
• Downtown Songjiang - English travel guide of Songjiang

31°00′21″N 121°14′00″E