Chóngmíng

Chongming is a land of shifting sandbanks at the mouth of the Yangtze. River silt builds new shoals even as currents erode old ones, giving the coastline an uncertain shape. Settlers cleared fields and fished among the channels, while salt makers boiled brine on the exposed flats.

The Southern Song established the Tianci salt field, and under the Ming its salt workers were permitted to choose where to make and sell their salt. The unstable ground forced the county seat to move repeatedly: in 1420 it was rebuilt north of the old town after the water undermined the site. As neighbouring sandbanks joined in the Ming and Qing, they formed the core of a larger island, though the river continued to reshape its shores.