Changting County

Changting County Tingzhou
—  County  —
Chinese transcription(s)
- Simplified	长汀县
- Traditional	長汀縣
- Pinyin	Chángtīng Xiàn
Changting in Fujian
Country	China
Province	Fujian
Prefecture	Longyan
County seat	Tingzhou
Area
- Total	3,099 km2 (1,196.5 sq mi)
Population
- Total	480,000
- Density	154.9/km2 (401.2/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Website	http://www.changting.gov.cn/

Changting (simplified Chinese: 长汀; traditional Chinese: 長汀; pinyin: Chángtīng; Hakka Chinese: Tshòng-tin), also known as Tingzhou or Tingchow(汀州), is a county in western Fujian province, the People's Republic of China. With a population of 480,000 and an area of 3,099 square kilometers, Changting is the fifth largest county in Fujian province [1]. The majority of the population belongs to the Hakka people (客家人) and speaks Hakka (客家话) dialect.

The county town is Tingzhou.

History

Confucius Temple, Town of Tingzhou

• Main article : Tingzhou Prefecture

Changting was originally the name of a prefecture (called Tingzhou under the empires), established in the Year 2 of the Republic of China - 1913. During the Chinese Civil War, this prefecture was the economic and financial centre of the Chinese Soviet Republic. Tens of thousands of people from Changting joined the Chinese Red Army but not many survived the Long March.

With the founding of the People's Republic of China, the prefecture was redesignated "Longyan" (龙岩地区) and its government was moved down to Xinluo (新罗). Changting has since been the name of a county only, within the municipal region of Longyan.

With the prosperity of road and railway transportation and more and more dams built along the river, Tingjiang river gradually lost its advantage as a vital transportation means. Changting, once an important concentration place for travellers and goods, became isolated by big mountains. Changting lost its place as the center of western Fujian and became one of the poorest counties in Fujian province.

Today, the situation has improved a lot with first railroad in service in 2005 and first highway in service at the end of 2007.

Education

Changting No.1 Middle School, Town of Tingzhou

Geography

Changting borders Liancheng County to the east, Wuping and Shanghang counties to the south (all in Longyan municipality), Sanming municipality's Ninghua County to the north, Ganzhou municipality's Ruijin City in Jiangxi province to the west.

Located in the southern end of the Wuyi Mountains (武夷山脉), Changting belongs to subtropical zone. The region enjoys abundant precipitation as the warm maritime air meets the cool air in the mountains, generating a large amount of rainfall.

Administration

The county executive, legislature and judiciary are in Tingzhou Town, together with the CPC and PSB branches.

Towns (镇, zhen)

• Tingzhou (汀州) - the county seat
• Guanqian (馆前)
• Hetian (河田)
• Gucheng (古城)
• Tongfang (童坊)
• Xinqiao (新桥)
• Nanshan (南山)
• Zhuotian (濯田)
• Sidu (四都)
• Datong (大同)
• Tufang (涂坊)

Township (乡, xiang)

• Anjie (庵杰)
• Cewu (策武)
• Sanzhou (三洲)
• Tiechang (铁长)
• Yanggu (羊牯)
• Xuancheng (宣成)
• Hongshan (红山)

Famous Natives

(i.e., of Tingzhou/Changting Prefecture and of PRC's Changting County):

• Yang Chengwu (杨成武), 1914-2004 Revolutionarian and General of People's Liberation Army
• Chen Pixian (陈丕显), 1916-1995 Revolutionarian and CPC official
• Fu Lianzhang (傅连璋), 1894-1968 Christian, practitioner of western medicine, Long March veteran, PRC Health Ministry official and Cultural Revolution victim.
• Chen Hong (陈宏) (1979-), number 1 badminton player on the world ranking list from 2002 to 2003.

See also

• Hakka people
• Hakka (language)

Notes and references

External links

• Government website of Changting (in Simplified Chinese)
• 客家先贤孙中山与美国 (in Simplified Chinese)

Coordinates: 25°40′47″N 116°19′59″E / 25.6797°N 116.333°E / 25.6797; 116.333