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Songzi 松滋
—  County  —
松滋市
Songzi Location in Hubei
Coordinates: 30°20′N 112°13′E / 30.333°N 112.217°E / 30.333; 112.217Coordinates: 30°20′N 112°13′E / 30.333°N 112.217°E / 30.333; 112.217
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Hubei
Prefecture-level city	Jingzhou
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)

Songzi (Chinese: 松滋市; pinyin: Sōngzī) is a city in the southwest of Hubei province, People's Republic of China, located in the middle reach and southern bank of the Yangtze River. It is a county-level city under the administration of Jingzhou City, and controls 16 townships and 2 development zones, 235,000 households and a population of 896,800 (according to Songzi Statistic Yearbook 2000). It is a long-historied but young and robust city.

With its beautiful scenery, abundant resources, plentiful products, wealthy people, it earns itself the good reputation of “Gold Songzi” ("金松滋").

Geography[link]

Longitude 110º14′—112º03′ east, latitude 29º53′—30º22′ north, 77 kilometres (48 mi) lengthwise from east to west, 55 kilometers widthwise from north to south, the total land area is 2,235 square kilometres (863 sq mi), with an arable land of 923,000 mu. Songzi is conjoining with Jianghan Plain (江汉平原) in the east {neighbouring with Jingzhou (荆州), Gong'an (公安)}, adjoining with Yichang (宜昌) in the west {connecting to Wufeng and Yidu (五峰、宜都)}, bordering with Wuling (武陵) in the south {adjacent to Lixian, Shimen (澧县、石门) in Hunan Province}, and being bounded by Yangtse River in the north{looking across the river to Zhicheng (枝城)}. Situated in the crossing point between Jiaoliu (焦柳) Railway and Yangtze River, it is a newly flourishing city prospering from industry, agriculture, commerce and trade, tourism, etc.

Songzi has a long and splendor history, as far as back to Palaeolithic Period (the Old Stone Age) when the primitive human beings had already settled down here. Awaking from Spring and Autumn Period, continuing into two Han Dynasties, bustling at Wei and Jin Dynasties, thriving at Ming and Qing Dynasties, now it is prospering at the time of Reforming and Opening Period in contemporary China.

Songzi has excellent natural conditions – fertile land, rich resources, mild climate, and moderate rainfall. It has beautiful mountains and rivers, with quite versatile landscapes. There are mountains, hills, uplands, plains linking to each other - “six-tenths of hills, one-tenth of waters and three-tenths of farmland”. The climate is a subtropical transitional monsoon one. The yearly average temperature is 16.5 °C (61.7 °F). The non-frost period is about 232~301 days in a year. The annual average hours of sunshine is 1,600~1,900H. The annual amount of precipitation is 1,200 millimetres (47 in).

Economy[link]

It is very suitable for agricultural development. It already has the famous brands like Weishui siniperca shuatsi (洈水鳜鱼), Mashui sweet pomelo (麻水蜜柚), Shangming-brand mandarin orange (上明牌柑桔), Babao cotton (八宝棉), etc. The total products of cotton, animal husbandry (pork, beef, mutton) make Songzi to have entered into the rank of Top 100 counties and cities in its kind in China. The city has been named by the State as the produce base for marketable grains, high-quality cotton, Changjiang-River-Upper-and-Middle-Stream Fruit Development.

It is rich in natural resources. The exploitable ones include crude oil, coal, halite (rock salt), canbyite, barytes, limestone, and others, 22 kinds in total. It has become the important coal and cement output area in Hubei Province.

It has a relatively good industry foundation and now primarily with a framework of 10 industries - mining, metallurgy, glass and ceramics, textile, electric lighting, brewery, chemical engineering, machinery, building materials, paper-making. It is a light industry base in Hubei Province.

The well-known Hubei winery "Baiyunbian" ("白云边") is a key enterprise in Songzi. Baiyunbian Liquor is a representative of mix-flavored Chinese liquors, with its aroma close to that of "Maotai".

Tourism[link]

Songzi’s tourism is also richly endowed by nature. There is the state-level scenic spot – Weishui Resort (洈水风景区), which integrates the mountains, waters, caves, forests, springs into one natural wonder. It provides the multi-functions for tourism, adventure, scientific exploration, summer resort, and sanatorium. It is located within the Golden Triangle for Tourism among Three Gorges of Yangtse River (长江三峡), Jingzhou Ancient City (荆州古城), Zhangjiajie Scenic Spot (张家界风景区).

Weishui Resort is made up of three parts - Weishui Lake (Reservoir_洈水湖), Weishui National Forest Park (洈水国家森林公园) and Cluster of Karst Caves and Hot Springs (溶洞温泉群). The Resort presents to tourists the tenderness and gentleness of Southern China’s mountains and waters as well as the majesty and grandeur of Northern China’s scenery and beauty.

Weishui Lake is called as “Fairyland in the Southern Chu”. Meandering through the green hills and blue waters, Weishui Waterdam has a total length of 8969m and is said to be the longest earth-filled man-made dam in Asia. Dotted on the clear blue water are innumerable islets covered by green trees and bushes. Surrounding the lake are dark green hills stretching far into distance and disappearing into Wuling Mountains. “Mountains go alive with water, water becomes enchanting with mountains (山得水而活，水得山而媚)”. Under the blue sky and white clouds, with the hordes of white cranes flying from the woods to the water while the fish popping out their heads occasionally for making a scene of bustle and excitement, Weishui Lake and National Forest Park form a beautiful country scene, like a traditional Chinese ink and wash.

Besides Weishui Lake there is a Buddhist Temple famous in Southern Chu (“楚南名刹”) – Lingjiu Si (灵鹫寺), whose history can be dated back to Jin Dynasty (晋朝).

Taking the boat and sailing to northwest about 20 kilometers and arriving to the other end of Weishui Lake, you climb to a mountain very close to the lake and then you find the ancient caves which can bring you back to the early stages in the Earth’s life.

Have come into being at Cambrian system about 500 million years ago, with its “one superb, three wonders, ten focal points” and close to one hundred geological scenic spots, the New God Cave incorporates the charm, danger, queerness, rareness and magnificence altogether. In view of the complex geological structures, the continuous geological strata, the clear topographic features, the area where the Cave locates have been picked up as “the teaching and practicing base for Science of the Earth” by Changjiang University (长江大学).

The underground stream flows through the cave and a 10-meter-high waterfall is formed near the entry of the cave. Inside the cave, there are many stalactites and stalagmites in various shapes – like stone curtain, stone column, stone shoot, stone flowers, etc. There is also a swarm of miraculous rimstone dams which have been developed with the underground river by hundreds of millions of years – one is three-staged and the height of the top stage reaches 4 meters, at least 1.5 meters higher than other known ones in China. At one of the very inner corner, there is even a huge Performing Stage with a very rare background of a 16 meters x 7 meters stone curtain hanging, which comprises 262 pleats.

Weishui National Forest Park occupies an area of 52.8 square kilometres (20.4 sq mi), with the 96% forestation rate. There are rich living things resources - more than 1,000 different kinds of plants and more than 20 kinds of wild beast animals and close to 40 kinds of birds and numerous amphibious animals, reptiles, insects and fishes. Even there were reports of sighting Southern China Tiger, Leopard (panthera pardus), White Swans and other rare animals in the forest.

Historic Chronology[link]

In ancient time, Songzi was under the administration of Jingzhou (荊州), which belonged to Chu (楚) State in Warring States (戰國) Period and Nanjun (南郡) in Qin (秦) Dynasty.

In Gaozu (高祖) Year 5 (BC 202) of Han (漢) Dynasty, a county administration was established here, named as Gaocheng (高成). In Jianwu (建武) Year 6 (AD 30) of East Han (東漢) Dynasty, Gaocheng county was dissolved and merged into Chanling (孱陵) {Gong’an (公安) county today}.

In Three Kingdom Period, it belonged to Wu (吳) State, under the administration of Chanling (孱陵), but with a Lexiang Magistrate (樂鄉督治) being appointed to rule the area.

Till Xiankang (咸康) Year 3 (AD 337) of East Jin (东晋) Dynasty, the refugees, who emigrated from the then Songzi (松滋) of Lujiangjun (廬江郡) {Huoqiu (霍丘) county in Anhui (安徽) Province today} to flee from the disorder by the wars, settled down and established here the Songzi county.

From then on the name of the county continued down to the present days, lasting for more than 1,600 years.

In December, 1995, the county administration was lifted to a city level. The city seat is Xinjiangkou (新江口) Town since September 1945.

Infrastructures[link]

Songzi has the convenient transportation system with complete and good infrastructures. The whole city is crisscrossed with a network of high-grade roads. It is just 90 kilometres (56 mi) away from Three-Gorge International Airport and 50 kilometres (31 mi) away from Shashi Airport. Jiao-Liu Railway runs across the city, with two level-3 railway stations. Along the main passage of Changjiang River, there are 3 thousand-ton berths, 1 mechanized dock.

There is the ample electricity supply. It has one coal power plant, 4 hydro-power stations and also the transformation substations with the power supply from Three-Gorge Hydro-Power Stations.

Demographics[link]

The following nationalities are represented: Han, Hui, Manchu, Tujia, Miao, Mongols.

Trey Songz
Background information
Birth name	Tremaine Aldon Neverson
Born	(1984-11-28) November 28, 1984 (age 27) Petersburg, Virginia, United States
Genres	R&B, hip hop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, record producer, actor
Instruments	Vocals, keyboards, sampler
Years active	2004–present
Labels	Atlantic, Songbook
Associated acts	Drake, Troy Taylor, Twista, Juvenile, Bun B, Rick Ross, Plies
Website	www.treysongz.com

Tremaine "Trey" Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), better known by his stage name Trey Songz, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. His debut album, I Gotta Make It, was released in 2005, while his second album, Trey Day, was released in 2007. His third album, Ready, was released in 2009 while his fourth studio album, Passion, Pain & Pleasure, was released on September 14, 2010.

Life and career[link]

1984–2004: Early life and career beginnings[link]

Songz was born Tremaine Aldon Neverson on November 28, 1984, in Petersburg, Virginia.^[1] Raised as a military brat, Songz did not have aspirations to have a musical career as a child due to his shyness, saying "Singing wasn't a reality for me, until other people started noticing I sounded good."^[2] He recognized his vocal abilities at the age of 14.^[2] Reluctant to sing, he began performing with encouragement by friends and family in high school. Record producer Troy Taylor discovered Songz during a talent show in 2000, which led him to signing a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 2002.^[2] After graduating from high school in 2002, Songz moved to New Jersey to begin recording his debut album, though recording didn't actually begin until 2003.^[1]

[edit] 2004–2008I Gotta Make It and Trey Day

While recording his debut album in 2004, Songz released multiple mixtapes under the alias Prince of Virginia.^[1] One of the mixtapes featured an "answer track" to R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet", entitled "Open the Closet". The song gave Trey some notoriety.^[3] His debut album, I Gotta Make It was released on July 26, 2005.^[4] It debuted at #20 on the Billboard 200, selling 40,000 copies in its first week of sales.^[5] It has sold 300,000 records in the US, but was never certified by the RIAA. Songz's debut single, Gotta Make It, featuring Twista, was released in March 2005 and reached #87 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #21 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. It garnered success in the R&B/urban community but failed to make a mark in mainstream music. The album's second and final single, Gotta Go, was released in July 2005 and reached #67 on the Hot 100 and #11 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming even more successful than his debut single in the R&B/urban community and in the mainstream community. After promotion for his debut concluded, he was featured on the lead single from Twista's fifth album, The Day After. The single, "Girl Tonite", reached #14 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a huge hit.

Trey Songz performing in 2007.

In mid-2006, Songz began work on a follow-up album to his debut with longtime collaborator Troy Taylor and also employed hitmakers Bryan-Michael Cox, Danja, Stargate (production team) and R. Kelly to help create the album. Trey aimed for the album to be more mainstream-oriented than his debut album. His second studio album, Trey Day, was released on October 2, 2007. The album reached #11 on the Billboard 200,^[6] selling 73,000 copies in its first week. It has since sold 400,000 records in the US, becoming his second album not to be certified by the RIAA. The album was going to be released on May 8, 2007, but was continually delayed in order for a successful single to precede the album, as the lead single failed to impact charts.

His second album was preceded by the lead single, "Wonder Woman", which was released in February 2007. It reached #54 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, but failed to impact the Hot 100. Because of the single's failure, his second album was delayed from May 2007 to October 2007. The album's second single, "Can't Help but Wait", was released in August 2007 and was released to promote his second album and the film Step Up 2 the Streets soundtrack as a single for it. The single reached #14 on the Hot 100, and #2 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. It became Songz's first Top 20 hit on the Hot 100, and helped to boost his second album's sales. The single was also nominated for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 2008 50th Grammy Awards. The third single from the album, "Last Time", was released in January 2008 and reached #69 on the Hot 100, and #9 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The fourth and final single from the album, "Missin' You", was released in May 2008, but failed to chart completely. In mid-2008, Songz was nominated for a BET Award for Best Male R&B Artist but did not win the award.^[7]

[edit] 2009–2011: Ready and Passion, Pain & Pleasure

In late 2008, Trey began work on his third studio album with Bryan-Michael Cox, Sean Garrett, Stargate and Troy Taylor and aimed for the record to be more mature than his first two. Before releasing his third album, Songz released a mixtape titled Anticipation in June 2009 through his blog, which featured songs from his third album.^[8] Another mixtape from Trey was released in the summer of 2009, called Genesis. Genesis was a collection of Trey Songz's first recordings when he was fifteen years old and was released to show his fans the dedication that he had to making a record when he was young.^[9] Trey released his third studio album, Ready, on August 31, 2009. The album reached #3 on the Billboard 200, selling 131,000 copies in its first week.^[10] These are his best first week sales to date and the album was his first to reach the Top 10 on the Billboard 200. The album has since sold over 800,000 records in the US, earning a Gold certification from the RIAA in February 2010, becoming his first album to be certified by the RIAA.

Trey Songz performing at Summer Jam on June 5, 2010.

The lead single from the album, "I Need a Girl", was released in April 2009 and reached #5 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart and #59 on the Hot 100, becoming an R&B/urban hit but not a mainstream hit. A promotional single, "Successful", featuring rapper Drake, was released in June 2009 and reached #17 on the Hot 100, becoming Songz's third Top 20 hit. The single also served as the second and final single from Drake's EP, So Far Gone. The second official single from his third album, "LOL Smiley Face", featuring Soulja Boy Tell 'Em and Gucci Mane, was released in August 2009 and reached #51 on the Hot 100 and #12 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third single from the album, "I Invented Sex", featuring Drake, was released in October 2009 and reached #42 on the Hot 100 but #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first single to top that chart. Like the first two singles from the album, it achieved success in the R&B/urban community but only some mainstream success. charted within the Billboard Hot 100, and topped the R&B chart. The fourth single from the album, "Say Aah", featuring rapper Fabolous, was released in January 2010 and reached #9 on the Hot 100 and #3 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The single has become Trey's highest charting single on the Hot 100 and one of his most successful singles on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

The fifth and final single from the album, "Neighbors Know My Name", was released in February 2010 and reached #43 on the Hot 100 and #4 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. A sixth single, "Yo Side of the Bed", was going to be released in June 2010, but its release was canceled due to unknown reasons. A music video, featuring singer Keri Hilson, was filmed and released, however. Songz was also the opening act for Jay-Z on his Jay-Z Fall Tour in late 2009. The album was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards in 2010, but lost to Beyoncé's I Am... Sasha Fierce. On April 1, 2010, he recorded an episode of MTV Unplugged, which aired on April 26, 2010.^[11] A documentary-series about Trey, Trey Songz: My Moment, began in June 2010 to positive reviews and high ratings. The 10-part series will end in August 2010 and follows Trey during his time as opening act on Jay-Z's Jay-Z Fall Tour in late 2009.

Songz's fourth studio album, Passion, Pain & Pleasure, was released on September 14, 2010.^[12] Trey began work on the album in early 2010 with Sean Garrett, Troy Taylor and Stargate and has stated that the album will be his most personal to date. The album was completed in July 2010. The album's lead single, "Bottoms Up", featuring female rapper Nicki Minaj, was released on July 27, 2010 and has reached number twenty-four on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and was shared enough on Facebook to appear as a trending video on ItsTrending. Its video was filmed on July 31, 2010 and is pending release.^[13] Trey also filmed the video for the album's second single, "Can't Be Friends", on August 1, 2010.^[13] "Can't Be Friends" was released as the album's second single in August 2010.^[13] Songz embarked on the Passion, Pain & Pleasure Tour on August 6, 2010 with singer Monica. The tour is his first headlining tour to date and consists of shows in venues that seat 3,000 to 5,000 people. Songz also contributed the song "Already Taken" to the Step Up 3D soundtrack, which was released on July 27, 2010. He filmed a video for the song, which was released in July 2010. The leading lady in the video is former girlfriend and professional dancer Helen Gedlu. Songz appeared at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards on September 12, 2010.^[14] Songz performed at BET Awards 2011 which broadcasted on June 26, 2011.^[15]

In July 2011, he was cast in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D as Ryan, the male lead role.^[16]

[edit] 2011–present: Inevitable and Chapter 5

On August 18, 2011, it was announced Songz will be working on his fifth studio titled Chapter 5.^[17] In an interview Trey said the album, which will act as the follow-up to Passion, Pain & Pleasure, is said to be nearing completion. He also carried on to say "It’s my sixth year in the game so I’ve been here for a while now. You can expect the best me you’ve ever heard. I don’t have any release dates in mind right now but I’m just making music and enjoying myself in the studio and having fun. When I get to a place where I feel comfortable saying a date or all of that, people will definitely know. I have a few dream collaborations on that album that I want, but they say if you blow out your candle and make a wish you can’t tell people what you ask for or it won’t come true."^[18]

On November 28, 2011, on his birthday, Songz released his Inevitable EP to prepare for the release of his album. In February 2012, Songz will embark on his Anticipation 2our to promote his mixtape Anticipation 2 and to raise awareness of his new album.

Discography[link]

• I Gotta Make It (2005)
• Trey Day (2007)
• Ready (2009)
• Passion, Pain & Pleasure (2010)
• Chapter V (2012)

Tours[link]

• Passion, Pain & Pleasure Tour (headliner) (2010)
• OMG Tour (opening for Usher) (2010)
• Anticipation 2our (headliner) (2012)

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Trey Songz

• Official website
• Trey Songz at the Internet Movie Database