Yongding County

Yongding County is a under the jurisdiction of Longyan prefecture-level city, in Fujian Province, China. It is the home of many Hakka families. Yongding has a population of about 400,000, of which more than 99% are Hakka, the rest being Minnan people.

Geography

Yongding county lies on the Fujian-Guangdong border. To the south lies Dabu County of Guangdong province. The other neighboring counties are all in Fujian: Shanghang County to the west, Longyan city to the north, and Nanjing County to the east. Both Dabu and Shanghang are Hakka counties. and Nanjing are predominantly Minnan.

Yongding is about 2,500 km? in area. Like other regions of Fujian province, Yongding is 80% hills and mountains, 10% water or rivers, and 10% fields. Two major rivers run through the county: Yongding River and Xiayang creek . Both are tributaries of the Ting River or Han River . Located in a sub-tropical area and subject to typhoons, Yongding has high annual precipitation of about 1200 to 1500 mm per year.

Culture

Yongding is the home of many famous Tu lou. Four towns in the county have ''tu lou'' buildings. One of the famous town is Tsuchi , as seen in the Lonely Planet TV programme.

Economy

As a result of abundant precipitation, hydroelectric power is abundant. There are numerous hydro plants in the county, one notable one being the provincial Mianhuatan Hydroelectric Power Station. The plant has a water storage capacity of 2.035 billion cubic meters and is able to generate 1.52 billion kilowatt hours of electricity a year. The Mianhuatan hydrodam contributes greatly to the rapidly growing economy of Fujian and neighboring Guangdong province.

In agriculture, rice is the main crop for the county. Most low-lying fields can yield two rice crops per year, while in high land fields, because of the earlier frost, only one harvest can be assured.

Yongding is an important tobacco producer. The cultivation of tobacco started in Wan Li era of the Ming Dynasty. Yongding was honored as the "home of tobacco" in the early 20th century. Although its significance has declined in recent years, Yongding is still one of the most important tobacco producing areas in the region. Many top brand Chinese cigarettes contain Yongding leaf.

Yongding is rich in mineral deposits, most notably coal. Most of the county's coal is shipped to Guangdong, where economic growth has created huge demand for energy. This in turn has created demand for heavy trucks. As a result, Yongding is one of the top counties for number of trucks.

Miscellaneous

There have been many famous overseas Chinese with their roots in Yongding. Hu Wenhu was one of the most famous overseas Chinese in 1930s and 40s.

Xiangcheng District, Zhangzhou

Xiangcheng District or called as Sin Kang District in . Xiangcheng is a county within the prefecture of Zhangzhou in China.

Location

Xiangcheng is surrounded by the Chuan Chiam Boey Mountain in the south, a bay in the north, the Khor Chu Village in the east, and the Hui Chor Village in the west, where the clan village residents with the surname 邱 Qiū are the majority.

Xiangcheng was developed as a clan village with specific surnames for more than 600 years ago since the Ming Dynasty, with various small communities settled within the clan were formed. Clusters of houses with red-tiled roofs scatter among the labyrinthine alleys, and westward, in the near mid-west of the village, the main street runs from north to south. In the middle part of it stands the marketplace. Xiangcheng is the second place where dominated by 邱 or surnames settlers, and second is Penang, Malaysia.

The village has thirteen ancestral halls of different sizes, each representing a branch of the Qiu clan. There are two main temples in the village, namely the Cheng Soon Keong and the Hock Leng Keong. The former enshrines Ong Soon Yah and Tua Sai Yah, the patron saints of the Qiu clan, while the latter houses Poh Seh Tai Tay, the God of Medicine.

Landmarks

The original Cheng Soon Keong temple collapsed due to lack of maintenance during the Cultural Revolution . The present building was rebuilt in 1997 with a donation of US$0.84 million from , Penang. Situated at the downstream of Kew Leong River, Xiangcheng was near to the trading ports of Southern China from where people of Southern Fujian went overseas during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In 1567, Guek Kang, a new port which was located about 22 kilometres from Xiangjang, replaced Chuan Chiew as the major port in Southern Fujian. Guek Kang was then superseded by Amoy during the Qing dynasty.


After the 1842 Opium War, Amoy was declared as one of the five treaty ports. Since the 1920s, it has been an important international trading port of China. People in this area were good seafarers. They had been keeping in touch with foreign traders since the the imperial government. Migration was a common practice among them during the heyday.

Taining County

Taining County is a county in , Fujian Province of China.

Area: 1535 km².

Population: 130,000.

Postal Code: 354400.

The county government is located in Shancheng town.

Shouning County

Shouning County is a small county located in the Fujian province of China, under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Ningde. It is near the Zhejiang province. The Min Dong dialect of the is spoken there.

There are a number of covered bridges located there, and of the 100 or so woven timber arch "lounge bridges" throughout China, Shouning County has 19. The county hosted the second international conference on Chinese covered bridges from September 20 to 23, 2007.

Beilu opera , a variety of Min opera, is popular in Shouning County.

Administrative divisions

Shouning County comprises 10 , 4 , and 201 administrative villages. These include:

Townships

*Da'an
*Kengdi
*Qingyuan
*Zhuguanlong
*Qinyang
*Xixi
*Tuoxi
*Pingxi
*Fengyang
*Xiadang

Towns

*Aoyang
*Xietan
*Nanyang
*Wuqu

Pingnan County, Fujian

Pingnan County is a county-level city located west of Ningde, Fujian, China. Pingnan is located in Ningde Prefecture Level City. The population of Pingnan stands at 181 000 residents.

History

Pingnan was established as a county in Qing Dynasty in 1735. It covers an area of 1485 km². It administers 4 towns and 7 villages.

Pingnan is "the capital of summer mushrooms", and the annual produce of Xiangu mushrooms is more than 6,000 tons. It is the largest export base of summer mushrooms in China. Pingnan also is famous for fruits such as Younai plums, seedless persimmons, chinquapis, yangtaos, and Wuyan peas.

Mingxi County

Mingxi County is a county in , Fujian Province of China.

Area: 1709 km².

Population: 110,000.

Postal Code: 365200.

The county government is located in Xuefeng town.

Lianjiang County

Lianjiang is a county on the coast of Fujian , China. Most of the county is controlled by the People's Republic of China , while a number of outlying islands, collectively referred to as the Matsu Islands, are administered as a separate by the Republic of China , based in Taiwan since 1949. As a result, the county has two governments governing separate jurisdictions.

See Matsu Islands for a description of ROC-governed Lienchiang County.

PRC jurisdiction:
* Capital:
* Population: 620,000
* Area: 1168.1
* Geographic coordinates: 26°03'-26°27' N, 119°17'-120°31' E

Townships

The PRC governs 14 townships and 7 rural townships :
* Fengcheng Township "Phoenix City Township"
* Mabi Township "Horse Snout Township"
* Danyang Township
* Dongdai Township
* Donghu Township "East Lake Township"
* Guanban Township
* Tailu Township
* Aojiang Township "Ao River Township"
* Pukou Township "River Mouth Township"
* Toubao Township
* Huangqi Township
* Xiao'ao Township
* Guantou Township : officially Guāntou
* Xiaocheng Township
* Xiagong Rural Township
* Xiaocang Rural Township
* Changlong Rural Township "Long Dragon Township"
* Ankai Rural Township
* Kengyuan Rural Township
* Liaoyan Rural Township
* Pandu Rural Township

These townships are divided into 266 villages.

History

Lianjiang, in 282, during the , was Wenma, named after a shipyard there, Wensha Ship-hamlet . It was incorporated into Min Prefecture in 607, during the Sui Dynasty.

Wenma was changed to the present name and made its own county during in 623, during the Tang Dynasty, when Baisha or Fusha of Aojiang was the capital of Lianjiang County. The capital was changed to Fengcheng as today in 742.

After the Republic of China was established, Lianjiang switched back and forth numerous times between two special regions:
* Minhou Special Region
* Fu'an Special Region

In 1949, the county was split in two due to the Chinese Civil War, as it remains today.

Beginning on July 1, 1983, the PRC side reverted control to .

Culture

Residents of Lianjiang, both mainland and Matsu speak Fuzhou dialect, a branch of . The dialect is also known as Bàng-u? .

Geography

Coastline length: 209

Economy

Food products:
* Farm: loquats, rice, sweet potato, bean, cotton, sugar cane, tea plant, jasmine, watermelon, mushroom, grapes.
* Sea: rhubarb, hairtail, shad, , cuttlefish, garoupa, prawn, crab, clam.
* Other: Yuanhong wine

Transportation

104 national roads in 500,300 metres. 42,600-metre navigable river length.

Guantou and Kemen are the largest seaports in Lianjiang with national access.

Tourism

There are hot springs in Gui'an and Tanghui of Pandu. There is a Dragon King Palace-Temple in the Xiaocang She Nationality Rural Township.