An aerial view of the Tonghai Kenmu Site in Qidong, a county-level city in Nantong, East China's Jiangsu province. [Photo/WeChat account: qdrmt0513]

The Jiangsu Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism recently announced eight new national 4A-level tourist attractions, including one in Qidong - the Tonghai Kenmu Site.

This scenic spot is located in Haifu town, Qidong, and covers about 65,000 square meters. It has a bronze statue of Zhang Jian, the top scholar of the late Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), who founded Tonghai Kenmu Co Ltd in the city in 1901.

The company was the first agricultural joint-stock company in Chinese history and aimed to provide cotton for the Dasheng Cotton Mill and improve the lives of poor farmers. It also developed a unique sandy land paddy field agricultural system.

The original site of the company was rebuilt in 2021 in its original style. 

When Zhang Jian planned the Tonghai Kenmu Co Ltd, he formulated a complete system of unified planning, design and implementation for various aspects such as farmland water conservancy, planting layout, farming customs and even residential customs, forming a sandy land paddy field agricultural system, which became a pearl of Qidong's agricultural cultural heritage.