In the early Qin Dynasty, Yancheng had the custom of cooking salt. At that time, the Huaihe River estuary was in the north of Yancheng, which had no city name. Later, more and more people cooked salt, and people learned more about salt. People can't live without salt. Therefore, the circulation of salt is getting wider and wider, and the profit of salt is getting bigger and bigger. "Boiling salt is like a city wall!"

Because it is close to the Huaihe River, the boiled salt is called "Huai salt".

Because of the production of salt, many people around were attracted to immigrate to Yancheng to cook salt, and the court also planned to immigrate some people to Yancheng to cook salt. Salt has also become the main official tax of the imperial court, and salt has also become a monopoly commodity of the imperial court. The influence of salt is growing. By the Western Han Dynasty, the tax revenue of salt had reached 1/3-2/3 of the national fiscal revenue. As a city, Yancheng has begun to take shape. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established "Du Yan" county in the name of salt.

In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the emperor personally named the city named after salt "Yancheng". This name has been passed down to this day.

Extended data:

Yancheng folk custom:

In the rural areas around Yancheng and Funing, there have been witchcraft meetings in history, including: praying for a bumper harvest, holding a small seedling meeting and adding seedlings; Extend happiness and eliminate disasters, and make a Taiping meeting, a Mars meeting and so on. With the change of history, this kind of performance has been enriched, and after a long-term evolution, it has gradually developed into a fragrant opera.

Xiang Opera is a kind of local opera closely related to folk belief in ghosts and gods, also known as Three Fires and Three Fires, which was finally formed around the first year of Tongzhi in Qing Dynasty (1862). Its singing is composed of incense popular in China and Huaibangzi popular in Huaiyin and Baoying areas. At the same time, incense performers often join hands with gate artists, so many tunes in incense plays come from gate valves.

References:

Baidu encyclopedia-Yancheng