Haimen (simplified Chinese: 海门; traditional Chinese: 海門; pinyin: Hǎimén; lit. 'sea gate', Qihai dialect: [haɪ.məŋ], Shanghai: [hɛ̝.məŋ]) is a district of Nantong, Jiangsu province, with a population of approximately 1 million. It is located at the opposite side of the Yangtze River to Shanghai and is directly north of Chongming Island except for a small portion that forms Haimen District's Haiyong Town. Haimen is the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Haimen. Haimen is located in the poorer north Jiangsu region and together with Qidong City, traditionally has one of the highest rates of liver cancer in China and in the world, with upwards of 1 out of every 10 adults in the rural areas dying from liver cancer.^[7]

Quick Facts 海门区, Country ...

Haimen 海门区
District
Nickname:  The River Gateway to the Sea (江海门户)
Haimen in Nantong
Haimen Location of the city center in Jiangsu
Coordinates: 31°52′08″N 121°10′55″E
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Jiangsu
Prefecture-level city	Nantong
Established (as a county)	958
Became independent subprefecture	1768
Became county-level city	June 1994
Became district	July 2020
Seat	Haimen Town
Government [1][2]
• Deputy Mayor	Lu Yifei (陆一飞) (Communist Party of China)
Area [3]
• Total	1,148.77 km2 (443.54 sq mi)
Elevation [4]	4.96 m (16.27 ft)
Highest elevation [4]	5.2 m (17.1 ft)
Lowest elevation [4]	2.5 m (8.2 ft)
Population  (2017)[5]
• Total	998,200
• Density	870/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code	226100[6]
Area code	0513[6]
Website	www.haimen.gov.cn

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The area that is now Haimen was formed from silt deposits from the Yangtze River. Several sandbanks, including Dongzhou (东洲; 東洲) and Buzhou (布洲), joined with the mainland in the Tang dynasty. In 958 CE, during the Later Zhou dynasty in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, Haimen County was established with the county seat at Dongzhou Town.^[8] At this time, Haimen and Jinghai District (静海) were merged into the newly formed Tongzhou District (通州).^[9]

Because the mouth of the Yangtze River moved northward during the Ming dynasty, Haimen has dealt with flooding that destroyed parts of the county, including Lüsi (吕四; 呂四), Yudong (余东; 余東), and Sijia (Chinese: 四甲).^[8]

In 1672, under the Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty, the seat moved to Jinghai Township (静海乡; 靜海鄉). Starting from 1701, the river's course moved south, creating more than 40 new sandbanks. In 1768, the county became an independent subprefecture with the seat moving to Maojia Town (茅家镇; 茅家鎮).^[8]

In 1912, one year after the Republic of China was founded, Haimen once again became a county. However, in 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, Haimen became governed under Nantong Prefecture. Once county-level governments started to reappear in 1983, Haimen was reinstated as a county, and in June 1994, Haimen became a county-level city.^[8]

In 2020, Haimen became a district of Nantong.^[10]

Haimen is divided into twenty-one towns and one township, the pene-exclave of Haiyong on Chongming. These towns are further divided into 231 villages and three fish villages.^[14]

21 towns^[15]

1 township

• Haiyong (海永乡)

- It is only township and its area is 9 km2 (3.5 sq mi). It is pene-enclave on Chongming Island, most of which belongs to Shanghai.

With easy access to the Sea and Yangtze River, transportation is very convenient. Less than 2 hours driving distance to Shanghai Pudong International Airport, about 40 mins driving distance to Nantong Xingdong Airport and Nantong Railway Station, which has high speed bullet train. There are multiple entries to the national Highway system, e.g. G40 Expressway. Close to Port of Nantong, Haimen is currently developing its own county level sea port in DongZaoGang town. There is an easy access to Sutong Yangtze River Bridge to cross the Yangtze, as well as ferry service.

Haimen railway station opened in 2019 as an intermediate stop on the Nanjing–Qidong railway.