Chikan (Chikan)
Chikan is a town in Kaiping (開平), Jiangmen, Guangdong Province, China. It is officially designated as a National Historic and Cultural Town of China (中国历史文化名镇). Historically it was a regional maritime hub, center for emigration, emigrant market town, and the administrative centre of Kaiping.
Chikan town was founded in the year 1649 and was originally part of Xinhui County. Due to it being surrounded by the Tan River on all sides, it thrived in waterway transport. According to the 1991 town chronicle, a pier was present by the year 1676. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Chikan became the major regional maritime transportation hub in Kaiping county and, through its numerous ferries via the Tan river (潭江) to Jiangmen, in the Pearl River Delta. This came to an end upon the silting of the Tan River in the 20th century.
As a riverport, Chikan became a center for emigration from the Tan river catchment area in the late 19th century, pushed by increasing population pressure, rural poverty and civil disorder, and pulled by opportunities elsewhere and overseas. In the early 20th century, Chikan grew rapidly from a rural market for nearby villages of two competing clans, the Guan (关族) and the Situ (司徒族), to an emigrant market town for all comers. In 1907 the Chikan Chamber of Commerce was founded jointly by a Guan and a Situ. The rapid growth of Chikan was fueled by (a) local merchants prospering from trade along the Tan, (b) emigrants investing in the local shops, in modern roads to supplant the Tan River trade route, and in new local schools, and (c) young locals graduating from modern schools. In addition to investing, emigrants started to return when civil order began to improve. Thus, by the 1930s, Chikan became one of the largest market towns in South China with about 1,000 shops, the vast majority of them operated by emigrants or their families.
Chikan town was founded in the year 1649 and was originally part of Xinhui County. Due to it being surrounded by the Tan River on all sides, it thrived in waterway transport. According to the 1991 town chronicle, a pier was present by the year 1676. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Chikan became the major regional maritime transportation hub in Kaiping county and, through its numerous ferries via the Tan river (潭江) to Jiangmen, in the Pearl River Delta. This came to an end upon the silting of the Tan River in the 20th century.
As a riverport, Chikan became a center for emigration from the Tan river catchment area in the late 19th century, pushed by increasing population pressure, rural poverty and civil disorder, and pulled by opportunities elsewhere and overseas. In the early 20th century, Chikan grew rapidly from a rural market for nearby villages of two competing clans, the Guan (关族) and the Situ (司徒族), to an emigrant market town for all comers. In 1907 the Chikan Chamber of Commerce was founded jointly by a Guan and a Situ. The rapid growth of Chikan was fueled by (a) local merchants prospering from trade along the Tan, (b) emigrants investing in the local shops, in modern roads to supplant the Tan River trade route, and in new local schools, and (c) young locals graduating from modern schools. In addition to investing, emigrants started to return when civil order began to improve. Thus, by the 1930s, Chikan became one of the largest market towns in South China with about 1,000 shops, the vast majority of them operated by emigrants or their families.
Map - Chikan (Chikan)
Map
Country - China
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| Flag of China | |
Modern Chinese trace their origins to a cradle of civilization in the fertile basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. The semi-legendary Xia dynasty in the 21st century BCE and the well-attested Shang and Zhou dynasties developed a bureaucratic political system to serve hereditary monarchies, or dynasties. Chinese writing, Chinese classic literature, and the Hundred Schools of Thought emerged during this period and influenced China and its neighbors for centuries to come. In the third century BCE, Qin's wars of unification created the first Chinese empire, the short-lived Qin dynasty. The Qin was followed by the more stable Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE), which established a model for nearly two millennia in which the Chinese empire was one of the world's foremost economic powers. The empire expanded, fractured, and reunified; was conquered and reestablished; absorbed foreign religions and ideas; and made world-leading scientific advances, such as the Four Great Inventions: gunpowder, paper, the compass, and printing. After centuries of disunity following the fall of the Han, the Sui (581–618) and Tang (618–907) dynasties reunified the empire. The multi-ethnic Tang welcomed foreign trade and culture that came over the Silk Road and adapted Buddhism to Chinese needs. The early modern Song dynasty (960–1279) became increasingly urban and commercial. The civilian scholar-officials or literati used the examination system and the doctrines of Neo-Confucianism to replace the military aristocrats of earlier dynasties. The Mongol invasion established the Yuan dynasty in 1279, but the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) re-established Han Chinese control. The Manchu-led Qing dynasty nearly doubled the empire's territory and established a multi-ethnic state that was the basis of the modern Chinese nation, but suffered heavy losses to foreign imperialism in the 19th century.
Currency / Language
| ISO | Currency | Symbol | Significant figures |
|---|---|---|---|
| CNY | Renminbi | ¥ or 元 | 2 |
| ISO | Language |
|---|---|
| ZH | Chinese language |
| UG | Uighur language |
| ZA | Zhuang language |