A look at host city Kunshan in East China's Jiangsu province

Kunshan is prepared for the fourth China Import Expo, a professional international expo aimed at promoting and expanding imports of foreign products.

The city is located in the southeastern part of East China's Jiangsu province, between Shanghai and Suzhou. It lies within the Yangtze River Delta, China's most developed area in terms of economy.

It is an important newly emerged industrial and commercial city in the Shanghai economic circle.

Kunshan is where Kunqu Opera, known as the ancestor of Chinese opera, originated.

It is also one of the strongest county-level cities in the Chinese mainland in terms of economic strength. Last year Kunshan's GDP reached 300 billion yuan ($48.35 billion), ranking No 1 among all Chinese county-level cities.

With a long history, lush fields and rich produce, Kunshan has long been dubbed "a land of fish and rice south of the Yangtze River".

Geographical features

The city is 33 kilometers long from east to west and 48 km from south to north.

Its total area is 931 square kilometers, more than 24 percent of which is water area.

Kunshan has a population of 1.66 million, administrating three national-level open economic zones, two provincial-level development zones and eight towns.

The city is known for its lakes and rivers. Wusong River and Lou River pass through the city from west to east. The biggest lakes are Dianshan Lake, Yangcheng Lake, Cheng Lake and Kuilei Lake.

Food and tourism sites

With a long history, profound culture and unique natural scenery, Kunshan has abundant tourism resources. It is a plentiful rice-growing area and Yangcheng Lake's mitten crabs are nationally renowned. Also popular among locals and tourists are Aozao noodles, Zhoushi Town's long-cooked duck, Zhangpu Town's cured pork, Qiandeng Town's goat meat, Zhengyi Town's green glutinous rice balls, Jinxi Town's Wadi crispy cake and Zhouzhuang's Wansan brand foods.

The city's three biggest draw cards for tourists are Kunqu Opera, a world intangible cultural heritage, China's top water town Zhouzhuang and Yangcheng Lake's mitten crabs.

Tinglin Park combines natural scenery with cultural sites and relics. Yufeng Mountain has beautiful scenery and produces kunshi, a unique, white and semi-transparent stone. Zhaoling Mountain's Liangzhu cultural relic site was named one of the top 10 archaeological findings of China in 1992.

Kunshan has some historical sites that are renowned in China, including the tomb of ancient Chinese scholar Gu Yanwu (1613-1682), Qingfeng Pagoda and Wenchang Tower.

Convenient transport

Kunshan is 57 km west of Shanghai and 43 km east of Suzhou. The Beijing-Shanghai Railway and Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Railway also cross the city. It takes just 18 minutes to get to Shanghai from Kunshan by bullet train.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 05/20/2015 page24)