Zhongshan

Zhongshan ([ʈʂúŋ ʂán]; Chinese: 中山) is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China, with a population of over 3 million (2012). The city used to be called Shekki (石岐).

Zhongshan is one of a very few cities in China named after a person. It is named after Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1866–1925), who is known in Mandarin as Sun Zhongshan. Sun, the founding father of the Republic of China who is also regarded positively by the People's Republic, was born in Cuiheng village in Nanlang Township of what was then Xiangshan County. In 1925, the year after his death, Xiangshan was renamed Zhongshan in his honor.

Names

Until 1925, Zhongshan was generally known as Xiangshan or Heung-san (Chinese: 香山; literally: "Fragrant Mountain"), in reference to the many flowers that grew in the mountains nearby. The city was renamed in honor of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, who had adopted the name Zhongshan. Sun is considered by both the China and the Republic of China to be the "Father of Modern China", and was from Cuiheng village – now part of Nanlang Town in Zhongshan.

Zhongshan (disambiguation)

Zhongshan (中山) is a city in Guangdong, China.

Zhongshan may also refer to:

See also

Chinese coastal defense ship Zhongshan

Zhong Shan (中山) (Chinese: 中山艦; pinyin: Zhōngshān jiàn), originally named Yung Feng (Chinese: 永豐艦; pinyin: Yǒngfēng jiàn), is a Chinese coastal defense ship built in Japan in 1913 of 830 tons and later renamed in 1925 Chung Shan in honor of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the Republic of China. This ship and other ships of the same class are also frequently classified as gunboats.

Construction

Coastal defense ship Yongfeng (永丰) is the first unit of a total of four Yongfeng-class coastal defense ship ordered by the government of the Qing dynasty in 1910 and was built by Mitsubishi. Under the deal signed between the Qing navy minister Zaixun, his deputy admiral Sa Zhenbing and the Japanese, the first two ships were built by Japan, and the last pair were built by Jiangnan Shipyard in China with technical help from Japan. All four ships differed slight from one another. Due to their small size (less than 1000 tons displacement), these ships are also frequently referred as gunboats.

Zhongshan (state)

Zhongshan (Chinese: 中山; pinyin: Zhōngshān, c. 6th century BC – c. 296 BC) was a Di state created by the nomadic Xianyu tribe in China during the later Zhou Dynasty. It was located on the plain east of the Shanxi plateau near the modern city of Baoding in Hebei. Its name means "Central Mountains", as opposed to the Western Mountains of Shanxi or the Eastern Mountains of Shandong.

In Chinese sources, it is called a state of the Baidi.

Origins and location

The state was founded in the sixth century BC (or in 414 BC) by descendants of the Baidi (lit. "White Di") who had been driven from Shaanxi into Hebei, where they founded their first city with assistance from the State of Wei. By around 400 BC, it had adopted much of Chinese culture, but it was not considered fully Chinese.

Around 300 BC, Zhongshan's capital was at either Pingshan or Lingshou, both about 75 miles southwest of Baoding and 25 miles northwest of Shijiazhuang. It was surrounded by the State of Zhao to the west and the State of Yan to the east. It had fortified cities and 1,000 war chariots in its army. Archeology shows a material culture similar to the rest of China at that time.