MORPHOLOGY AND LAND-USE OF THE COASTAL ZONE OF THE NORTH JIANGSU PLAIN JIANGSU PROVINCE, EASTERN CHINA

The North Jiangsu Plain is a vast flat coastal area in eastern China w hich formed over the last 5,000 to 6,000 years by reworking of sedimen ts from the Yellow and Yangtze rivers along the coast of the Yellow Se a. The plain has sandy and rocky shores on the north, an eroding coast line along the old abandoned delta of the Yellow River in the centre, and vast tidal flats on the south. Salt is produced along the northern coasts. Aquaculture, primarily of shrimps and eels, is practised ever ywhere. A wheat-and fruit-based agriculture predominates in the drier north and a rice-and silk-based agriculture in the wetter south. The p olitical and sociological goals are to increase the industrial output of this area. The main hindrance to this is energy supply and communic ations. Plans exist to enlarge one of the existing harbours in Lianyun gang in the north, and built large offshore anchorages for oil tankers and coal cargo ships along tidal channels in the flatter central part of the coast.