Nantong is an ancient city with over 1000 years of history. In Tang Dynasty (around AD 700), the city was named as ¡°Jinghai¡±, and was renamed as ¡°Tong Zhou¡± in the later Zhou Dynasty (AD 958). According to the records on ¡°Wan Li Tong Zhou History¡±, ¡°to the northeast of Tong Zhou, it is connected to foreign countries close to Liao Sea; to its southwest, it is connected to Wu, Yue, Chu and Shu through the river; it is further connected to Qi, Lu, Yan and Ji through inland roadways. Thus, it earns its name of Tong Zhou¡±. In Qing Dynasty (AD 1724), for the purpose of differentiating the city from another Tong Zhou located in Hebei province, it was renamed into Nantong Zhou. In 1912, the original administrative division based on ¡°Zhou¡± was abandoned, and the city was renamed then into Nantong county and a county-level government was established. On February 2 nd 1949, the city was liberated and the city of Nantong was first established. After multiple times of administrative division changes, the existing Nantong governs under itself two counties, four cities and three districts.
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