Jingzhou

Jingzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Hubei, China, situated along the banks of the Yangtze River. Its name comes from an ancient province—one of China’s nine traditional provinces—which in turn was named after the nearby Jing Mountains. According to the 2020 census, the city’s total residential population was 5,231,180, with 1,068,291 people living in the built-up metro area, which consists of two urban districts.

The central urban area grew out of Shashi City and Jingzhou Town (historically called Jiangling). These names survive in Shashi District, Jingzhou District (which contains the historical center), and Jiangling County, which governs the suburban parts of the larger historical Jiangling area. The name “Shashi” also appears in local facilities like Jingzhou Shashi Airport and a railway freight station.

Jingzhou covers 14,067 square kilometers, with terrain rising from east to west. It sits on the Jianghan Plain in the middle reaches of the Yangtze, crisscrossed by waterways and dotted with lakes. To the east lies Wuhan, the provincial capital; to the west are Yichang, the Three Gorges, and Chongqing Municipality. Jingmen City lies to the north, while Yueyang and Changde (both in Hunan) are to the south. About 12.42% of the area is forested. The climate is humid subtropical, with hot, humid summers and damp, chilly but drier winters. Average daily temperatures range from 4.1°C in January to 28.0°C in July. The area gets 1,800 to 2,000 hours of sunshine annually and enjoys a frost-free period of 242 to 263 days.

At the 2010 census, the prefecture-level city had 5,691,707 inhabitants and a population density of 405 people per square kilometer. By the seventh municipal census, the population had shrunk slightly to 5,231,180, living in about 1,833,292 households. Of these, 2,664,658 (50.94%) were male and 2,566,522 (49.06%) were female, giving a sex ratio of 103.82 males per 100 females. Some 534,914 residents had a university education. Compared to 2010, the number of university-educated people per 100,000 rose from 6,828 to 10,225, average years of schooling for those aged 15 and above increased from 8.81 to 9.29 years, and the illiteracy rate dropped from 4.41% (251,100 people) to 2.79% (145,900). In Shashi and Jingzhou districts, average schooling for those aged 15 exceeded 10 years.

Administratively, Jingzhou governs two districts, three county-level cities, three counties, and one economic and technological development zone.

In 2019, Jingzhou’s GDP was ¥251.648 billion, growing at 7.5% annually. The primary sector contributed 17.3% of GDP, the secondary sector 37.1%, and the tertiary sector 45.6%. Most growth came from the secondary and tertiary sectors, which expanded at 8.1% and 8.8%, respectively. Per capita disposable income averaged ¥26,543, a 9.8% increase. Urban residents earned ¥35,910 on average, while rural residents earned ¥18,893. Urban income grew 10.2% and rural income 9.2%.

Agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and aquaculture together were worth ¥76.645 billion in 2019. The city produced 4.5117 million tons of grain, 433,000 tons of vegetable oil, 38,000 tons of cotton, and 3.1332 million tons of vegetables. That year, 2.9777 million swine and 63.9012 million poultry were slaughtered. Aquaculture yielded 1.1195 million tons, of which 45.77% (512,400 tons) were shrimp and crabs.

In 2019, light industry output fell 2.3%, while heavy industry output rose 17.0%. The state-owned economy shrank 3.4%, the collectively-owned economy grew 2.4%, and the privately owned economy grew 7.2%. The construction industry was prominent, earning ¥29.877 billion, and the city had 385 construction firms.

Consumer retail sales in 2019 totaled ¥144.735 billion, growing 11.5% annually. The insurance industry earned ¥16.293 billion in premiums, up 15.0% from 2018. Personal insurance brought in ¥12.213 billion (up 12.7%), and property insurance ¥4.08 billion (up 22.3%). Insurers paid ¥5.171 billion in compensation, a 1.8% increase. Foreign trade amounted to 1.697 billion USD, a 6.8% decline, with imports at 0.335 billion USD and exports at 1.363 billion USD.

People have lived in the Jingzhou area for about 5,000 to 6,000 years; the prehistoric Daxi culture once resided here. Because of its position in the middle reaches of the Yangtze, the area has been a strategic military location since ancient times. It was also the founding place of the State of Chu, whose ancient capital, Ying, was located within what is now Jingzhou.