Jinhua
prefecture-level city in Zhejiang, China
Jinhua is a prefecture-level city in central-western Zhejiang province in eastern China. It borders the provincial capital of Hangzhou to the northwest, Quzhou to the southwest, Lishui to the south, Taizhou to the east, and Shaoxing to the northeast. Its population was 7,050,683 as of the 2020 census including 1,463,990 in the built-up (or metro) area made of two urban districts (not including yet the satellite city of Lanxi, which has become essentially a suburban offshoot of Jinhua's main urban area).
Jinhua is rich in red soil and forest resources. The Jinhua or Wu River flows through the Lan and Fuchun to the Qiantang River beside Hangzhou, which flows into Hangzhou Bay and the East China Sea. In medieval China, it formed part of the water network feeding supplies to the southern end of the Grand Canal. It is best known for its dry-cured Jinhua ham.
History and culture
The history of Jinhua dates back to the 2nd century BC, when it was a county subordinate to Shaoxing. It was given the name Jinhua under the Sui dynasty in AD 598 and later became the seat of a prefecture. The present city and its walls date to the Yuan dynasty in 1352.
“Jinhua” enters the record as prefecture-level city in Zhejiang, China. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jinhua, prefecture-level and city can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Jinhua” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Jinhua, prefecture-level and city provides the most credible route into that argument.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q58210. VIAF identifies the subject as 157213987. The Library of Congress control number is n88199562. Authority coordinates are 29.105, 119.649. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020 and 1352.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Jinhua”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Jinhua primary sources, Jinhua archive and Jinhua research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jinhua”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Jinhua” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.