Every 1M+ Chinese City #4

Name

Simplified Chinese: 安阳

Traditional Chinese: 安陽

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: ān yáng

Cantonese jyutping: on1 joeng4

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,860,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,398,867

Anyang is famous for being the site of the first stable capital in China, Yin, which was the capital between 15th to 13th century BC. The archaeological site is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 濮阳

Traditional Chinese: 濮陽

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: pú yáng

Cantonese jyutping: buk6 joeng4

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,600,000

census 2020 (metro): 963,512

Puyang is another petrol-chemical city where its economy revolves around oil and natural gas. Other than that, it is a rather obscure city that not many people have heard of. 

Name

Simplified Chinese: 焦作

Traditional Chinese: 焦作

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: jiāo zuò

Cantonese jyutping: ziu1 zok3

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,570,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,085,474

Jiaozuo was known for being the origin of Tai chi, a form of slow moving Taoist martial art that you may see some old Chinese people practise in parks in the morning. Other than that, most Chinese would have only heard of this city because of its funny name, which can be translated as "burnt work".

Name

Simplified Chinese: 新乡

Traditional Chinese: 新鄉

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: xīn xiāng

Cantonese jyutping: san1 hoeng1

Population

citypopulation.de: 2,525,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,374,414

Xinxiang, literally "new village", used to be the capital of the short-lived Pinyuan province. It is another typical industrial city that is not well known.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 洛阳

Traditional Chinese: 洛陽

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: luò yáng

Cantonese jyutping: lok3 joeng4

Population

citypopulation.de: 3,450,000

census 2020 (metro): 3,512,947

Luoyang was the longest serving capital in Chinese history and the cradle of Chinese civilisation. Unfortunately, after thousand years of wars and destructions, there are no palaces left here. The two main attractions here are the UNESCO listed Longmen Grottoes, and the White Horse Temple, the first Buddhist temple in China since 68 AD.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 郑州

Traditional Chinese: 鄭州

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: zhèng zhōu

Cantonese jyutping: zeng6 zau1

Population

citypopulation.de: 9,450,000

census 2020 (metro): 5,015,887

Zhengzhou is a major transportation hub where the north-south Beijing-Guangzhou line and the east-west Lianyungang-Lanzhou line meet. In addition, as a more centrally located city compared to Kaifeng, the Communist government decided to move the provincial capital here in the 1950s. Since then it has grown to become the largest city in Henan. Nowadays, it is widely known for its Foxconn iPhone factory (Designed in California, assembled in Zhengzhou).

Name

Simplified Chinese: 开封

Traditional Chinese: 開封

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: kāi fēng

Cantonese jyutping: hoi1 fung1

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,270,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,735,581

Kaifeng is known for being the capital of the Northern Song dynasty between the 10th-12th century. As the country's political and economical centre started to move eastward from Xi'an and Luoyang, at the time it was the largest and richest city in the world. It was depicted in the famous painting Along the River During the Qingming Festival, based on which a new theme park was built.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 商丘

Traditional Chinese: 商丘

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: shāng qiū

Cantonese jyutping: soeng1 jau1

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,600,000

census 2020 (metro): 2,831,814

Shangqiu, literally "commercial hill", has a long history that can be dated back to circa 25th century BC. It was where the ancestor of the ancient Shang dynasty came from.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 平顶山

Traditional Chinese: 平頂山

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: píng dǐng shān

Cantonese jyutping: ping4 deng2 saan1

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,980,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,180,340

Pingdingshan, literally the "flat top mountain", is a coal mining city being transformed into a tourism area with attractions in its nearby mountains, hot springs, temples and lakes.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 许昌

Traditional Chinese: 許昌

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: xŭ chāng

Cantonese jyutping: heoi2 coeng1

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,320,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,337,940

Xuchang is famous for being Cao Cao's base where he held the last emperor of Han hostage in the 2nd century. Today, people associate this city and its attractions with the Three Kingdoms Period.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 周口

Traditional Chinese: 周口

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: zhōu kŏu

Cantonese jyutping: zau1 hau2

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,010,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,720,663

Zhoukou is another ancient city dating back to pre-historical time. It was one of the worst affected cities by the 1938 Yellow River flood when the Nationalist Army broke the dykes in an attempt to halt the advancing Japanese troop.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 南阳

Traditional Chinese: 南陽

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: nán yáng

Cantonese jyutping: naam4 joeng4

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,550,000

census 2020 (metro): 2,085,680

Nanyang is known as the start of the South-North Water Transfer Project, which transfers fresh water via aqueduct to the draught-stricken north (Beijing and Tianjin).

Name

Simplified Chinese: 信阳

Traditional Chinese: 信陽

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: xìn yáng

Cantonese jyutping: seon3 joeng4

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,130,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,515,750

Xinyang is in southern Henan province just north of Wuhan. It was where a million peasants starved to death during the Great Leap Forward in 1959-60. Today, with this part of history buried, people would only relate the city to its famous Xinyang Maojian tea.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 十堰

Traditional Chinese: 十堰

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: shí yàn

Cantonese jyutping: sap6 jin2

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,010,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,428,629

Shiyan, literally "ten weirs", was turned from a small village into a city in the 1960s when the Communist Party looked for a remote base to build the Second Automobile Works (which later became Dongfeng Motor) out of fear of possible enemy attacks. The city location is protected by the nearby Wudang Mountains, which in itself is an UNESCO listed site renowned for the Taoist temples and martial arts (a rival to the Buddhist Shaolin Temple).

Name

Simplified Chinese: 襄阳

Traditional Chinese: 襄陽

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: xiāng yáng

Cantonese jyutping: soeng1 joeng4

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,750,000

census 2020 (metro): 2,319,611

Xiangyang, located on the bank of Han River upstream from Wuhan, was a military stronghold in Chinese history, defending the south from the northern invasions. The most famous battle was the Siege of Xiangyang by the Mongols in the 13th century, which was fictionalised in the popular novel The Return of the Condor Heroes by the legendary author Louis Cha. The city put up bronze statues of the protagonists from the novel despite opposition, although supporters pointed out the similarity to the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 宜昌

Traditional Chinese: 宜昌

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: yí chāng

Cantonese jyutping: ji4 coeng1

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,340,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,604,740

Yichang is famous for the Three Gorges Dam, the largest power station in the world (generates 20 times more power than the Hoover Dam), around 40 km upstream. The Yangtze River Cruise travels between Chongqing and Yichang passing through the gigantic dam.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 武汉

Traditional Chinese: 武漢

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: wŭ hàn

Cantonese jyutping: mou5 hon3

Population

citypopulation.de: 11,800,000

census 2020 (metro): 12,326,518

Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, is the largest and most important city in Central China, and sometimes referred to as the "Chicago of the East". It was formed from the conglomeration of Wuchang, Hankou and Hanyang, three cities located at the confluence of Han River and Yangtze River. Wuchang was the location of the Wuchang Uprising in 1911, which sparked the Chinese Revolution that ended over 2000 years of dynastic rules. However, Wuhan is now mostly known for the origin outbreak of Covid-19 (which was originally called the Wuhan pneumonia), and was the first city in the world that experienced a lock-down in early 2020.

Name

Simplified Chinese: 鄂州

Traditional Chinese: 鄂州

Pronunciation

Mandarin pinyin: è zhōu

Cantonese jyutping: ngok6 zau1

Population

citypopulation.de: 1,130,000

census 2020 (metro): 1,079,353

Ezhou gave the name of the province's abbreviation "鄂" (È pronounced like er in English). It is only ~30 km from the outskirt of Wuhan; and together with the adjacent cities of Huanggang and Huangshi, I can expect these to be counted as part of Wuhan in future citypopulation statistics.