PUBLISHED IN INDUSTRIAL ARCHAEOLOGY NEWS (ISSN 1354-1455) 191, p. 8-9 Nantong is the modern name of a thousand-year-old settlement crossed by the Yangtze River and located in Jiangsu province, eastern-central China. Its strategic position, together with the availability of land and the presence of enlightened entrepreneurs, paved the way for the transformation of this territory into the first modern city of China. Since 1895, the place has become the scene of a series of important changes, such as the setting up of factories, the reclamation of mudflats for growing cotton, the development of a multimodal transportation network, the construction of major hydraulic infrastructures and canals, and the creation of a modern education system. In other words, at the turn of the twentieth century Nantong experienced a remarkable process of modernization. Many of these changes were promoted by the industrialist and educator Zhang Jian (1853-1926).