Jiangyan District () is one of three urban districts of the city of Taizhou, Jiangsu province. It was a county-level city until December 2012. Jiangyan is noted for being the birthplace of the former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Hu Jintao. History Formerly called Taixian or Taihsien (), Jiangyan was a county by the end of the Western Han Dynasty. It has relics from the Zhou Dynasty and a Buddha statue from the Tang Dynasty. It became a town in the Qing Dynasty. Jiangyan has previously also been called Hailu (), Wuling (), and Taizhou (). In July 1994, the name was changed to Jiangyan and city status granted. The Qintong Boat Festival () has a long history going back to the Ming Dynasty. Jiangyan is growing in importance as a tourist destination in eastern China. The Baima Temple (, meaning white horse temple) in Jiangyan (now in Taizhou) is the birthplace of the Navy of the People's Liberation Army. The first Soviet base in northern Jiangsu was founded in Jiangyan by the No. 14 Red Army. Jiangyan has been working to modernize the district through enhanced education and technology opportunities. Many technologies have been developed in Jiangyan, and more than 70 patents have been registered. Jiangyan has been among the "Top 100 most economically competitive counties in China" since 1995. In 1990, Jiangyan was awarded the Global 500 Roll of Honor by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for its success in protecting the environment and increasing grain yield through wide use of marsh biogas ponds. Geography Located in the center of Jiangsu province, Jiangyan is bordered on the east by Hai'an and Dongtai. To the west lie the districts of Hailing and Gaogang. Taixing is to the south and Xinghua to the north. Climate Transportation The Nanjing-Jinjiang-Yancheng Highway runs north–south through the district, and National Highway 328 runs east–west. Water transportation is by the Yangzhou Canal and by the Zhonggan, Jiangyan-Qintong and Jiangyan-Huangqiao rivers. There is bus service to Jiangyan from Shanghai or Nanjing via National Highway 328 and the Nanjing-Jinjiang-Yancheng Highway. By road, Shanghai can be reached from Jiangyan in under three hours. Jiangyan's railway station, located north of the town, has both ordinary trains (K/Z), on long-distance routes, and modern, faster D-trains running from Nantong, Hai'an, Taizhou, Yangzhou, and Nanjing and since the Hutong Yangtze River bridge opened in 2020, through to Shanghai in