Changzhou is a prefecture-level city in southern Jiangsu, China. It was previously known as Yanling, Lanling, and Jinling. Located on the southern bank of the Yangtze River, Changzhou borders the provincial capital of Nanjing to the west, Zhenjiang to the northwest, Wuxi to the east, and the province of Zhejiang to the south. The population of the Changzhou Municipality was 5,278,121 at the 2020 census. The city is the birthplace of Zhou Youguang who created the pinyin romanization system.
Sesame Bing – A local speciality is a small round cake of flaky pastry studded with sesame seeds. Fillings between the crunchy layers of pasty have two flavours – salty and sweet. The salty has a thin layer of preserved vegetable while the sweet has a globular core of sugar syrup. Patience is key to eating the sugary one, especially if bought hot off the stove, as a too hasty bite will send a wave of tongue-scaldingly hot liquid squirting out onto both your mouth and fingers.
Some people bemoan the lack of bar scene here, compared with Wuxi or Shanghai. Nonetheless there are a couple of decent joints to drown your sorrows in.
Most of the accommodation in Changzhou is geared toward business travellers, so upmarket international style hotels are abundant but decent budget options are limited.
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The cities main attractions are within a walkable radius of the train station, with the outlying spots on the main bus routes.
Settlement here stretches back to at least the Spring and Autumn period (770-426 BC) when Yancheng, a city surrounded by three concentric moats was established.
Changzhou has been visited by many people over the years including Song dynasty poet Dongpo, Emperor Qianlong, and the Japanese Army on their way to destroy Nanjing. !--
