Changting
Changting County, also known as Tingzhou (Tingchow), is located in the west of Fujian Province, its adjacent the border of Fujian and Jiangxi provinces. Changting county, which is fame as "Capital of Hakka", consists of 11 towns and 8 villages, with a total population of 480,000 and a total area of 3,099 square kilometers, count as the fifth largest county in Fujian Province.
The Tingjiang River, originated within Changting, is the mother river of the Hakkas; Tingzhou County was a representative place inhabited by the Hakkas in history and quite a lot of Hakkas from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan as well as Southeast Asian countries came here to trace their roots.
Changting boasts a historic cultural heritage of a long history and well-preserved relics inside the county include the ancient city gate, the Sanyuan Pavilion and the Baozhu Gate of the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the Chaotian Gate of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the ancient city walls from the Tang to the Ming Dynasty, the Temple of Literature of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and the Tingzhou Examination Hall of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the twin cypresses of the Tang Dynasty, the Shuangyin Tower of the Song Dynasty and the Zhuzi Ancestral Temple of the Qing Dynasty, etc. In the county, there are altogether seven key cultural relics sites under the national protection, six cultural relics sites under the provincial protection, and twenty-seven cultural relics sites under the county-level protection.
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.
Changting has a hilly upland terrain and is of a subtropical maritime monsoon climate. It has an average temperature of 18.3 °C with the lowest temperature of 7.4°C and highest 39.4°C, and an average annual precipitation of 1,731.9mm, suitable for growing several kinds of grains and cash crops.
Longyan Prefecture |
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District Name |
Xinluo District |
City and County Name |
Changting County - Liancheng County - Shanghang County- Wuping County - Yongding County - Zhangping City |