Current Time in Changyi, China

Changyi lies in the northeast of Shandong province in eastern China, on the coastal plain that slopes gently toward Laizhou Bay and the Bohai Sea. Administered as part of the larger city of Weifang, it occupies flat country crossed by the Wei River, where farmland gives way near the coast to a pale expanse of salt pans, reed beds and tidal flats. The climate is temperate and monsoon influenced, with hot humid summers, dry sunny autumns and cold windy winters.

Around six hundred thousand people live in the county level city. Its economy is unusually distinctive, resting on three pillars that have all grown from the character of the land itself, namely salt and bromine chemistry, textiles, and the cultivation of trees and ornamental plants.

Salt has been produced along this coast for more than two thousand years, and archaeological finds of ancient salt making vessels show the industry flourishing here in the Shang and Zhou periods. Beneath the coastal plain lies a vast reservoir of underground brine, far more concentrated than seawater, and its exploitation has made the district one of the most important sources of salt and bromine in China, supplying chemical industries across the country. Driving toward the shore, visitors pass a geometric landscape of evaporation ponds shimmering in pink and white under the sun.

Textiles are the second tradition. The area has woven cloth for centuries, and printed and dyed fabrics from Changyi were once traded far along the coast. Today large mills produce yarn, denim and finished garments, and the city describes itself as a centre of the printing and dyeing trade.

The third and most visible industry is nursery cultivation. Changyi has become one of the largest producers of landscaping trees and shrubs in northern China, with vast plantations of ginkgo, willow, elm and flowering varieties supplying parks and streets in cities throughout the country. This green industry gave rise to the Green Expo garden, a large horticultural park with themed gardens, greenhouses and exhibition halls that hosts an annual trade fair and attracts visitors from across the province.

The city has a long history under various names, and the surrounding region is rich in the culture of Shandong, the home province of Confucius. Nearby Weifang is famous throughout the world as the capital of kite making and hosts an international kite festival each April, while the coastal wetlands attract migratory birds in spring and autumn. Local cuisine follows the Shandong style, known for seafood, fresh vegetables, wheat noodles and steamed buns.

Expressways and the coastal railway link Changyi with Qingdao, Yantai and Jinan, and Weifang's airport and high speed rail station are close at hand. Vocational colleges serve local industry, with universities in the neighbouring cities.

Changyi is interesting as a place where an ancient salt trade, a textile tradition and a modern green industry come together on the Bohai coast.