XikouXikou is sometimes transliterated as Chikow/Qikou/Kikow. Until the 20th century, 溪 was pronounced [t͡ɕʰi55], as evidenced by its fanqie reading (苦奚切). This archaic pronunciation of 溪 gives rise to the spelling 'Chikow', or 'Qikou' in the Hanyu Pinyin system. The old Postal Romanization 'Kikow' reflects the 19th century pronunciation of 溪 in conservative Mandarin dialects (e.g. Nanking dialect) in which velars had not undergone palatalization (from [kʰ] to [t͡ɕʰ] in this case). () is a town of 84,000 in northeastern Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It is located west of Ningbo and covers . It is under the administration of Fenghua District, and is the of the former President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek. Mao Fumei, divorced wife of ROC President Chiang Kai-shek and mother of ROC President Chiang Ching-kuo, was killed during the Japanese bombing of Xikou on December 12, 1939.
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