Tongwei County Explained

Tongwei County
Native Name:Chinese: 通渭县
Postal Code:743300
Postal Code Type:Postal code
Settlement Type:County
Image Map1:Location of Dingxi Prefecture within Gansu (China).png
Map Caption1:Dingxi in Gansu
Coordinates:35.2112°N 105.2424°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:China
Subdivision Type1:Province
Subdivision Name1:Gansu
Subdivision Type2:Prefecture-level city
Subdivision Name2:Dingxi
Seat Type:County seat
Seat:Pingxiang
Area Land Km2:2908.5
Population:438900
Population As Of:2018
Population Density Km2:auto
Timezone:China Standard
Utc Offset:+8

Tongwei County is located in the middle of Gansu province, the People's Republic of China, with east longitude between 104°57' and north latitude between 34°55' and 35°29'. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Dingxi. Its postal code is 743300. The total population at the end of 2009 was 458 thousand, including agricultural population of 405.8 thousand which accounts for 88.6% of the total population, and the total number of households were 110.1 thousand, including 87.5 thousand rural households that account for 79.47% of the total households. Tongwei County is thus an area that is predominant on agriculture. Due to the loess landscape with steep gullies, the roads and rural settlement layout is very unevenly distributed.

History

According to archaeological findings, people inhabited in Tongwei county four to five thousand years ago.[1] Pottery of Yuanyu culture and Qijia culture has been found in Tongwei. The area has been an administrative county since the 3rd year of Yuanding (元鼎三年, 113 BC).[2]

Tongwei county was formally created in fifth year of Congning era, Northern Song dynasty (1106 AD). It suffered extensive damage and saw 73,000 deaths during the 1718 Tongwei–Gansu earthquake.[3]

During Great Chinese Famine, at least 80,000 people died from famine.[4]

Administrative divisions

Tongwei is divided in 14 towns and 4 townships.[5]

Towns
  • Pingxiang (Chinese: 平襄镇)
  • Maying (Chinese: 马营镇)
  • Jichuan (Chinese: 鸡川镇)
  • Bangluo (Chinese: 榜罗镇)
  • Changjiahe (Chinese: 常家河镇)
  • Yigangchuan (Chinese: 义岗川镇)
  • Longyang (Chinese: 陇阳镇)
  • Longshan (Chinese: 陇山镇)
  • Longchuan (Chinese: 陇川镇)
  • Biyu (Chinese: 碧玉镇)
  • Xiangnan (Chinese: 襄南镇)
  • Shichuan (Chinese: 什川镇)
  • Huajialing (Chinese: 华家岭镇)
  • Beichengpu (Chinese: 北城铺镇)
Townships
  • Xinjing Township(Chinese: 新景乡)
  • Lijiadian Township(Chinese: 李家店乡)
  • Disanpu Township(Chinese: 第三铺乡)
  • Sizichuan Township(Chinese: 寺子川乡)

Economy

Up to 1000MW of wind energy capacity is installed in the county. Natural resources include geothermal (hot springs), granite, marble, andesite, ferrite and kaolin.

The county has a grain output of 1.2 million tonnes as well as growing significant amounts of corn, potato, other grains and fruit trees. Recently, Tongwei has become the largest grower of honeysuckle for traditional medicine.[6]

The county's GDP was 1,441 billion, and 3146.86 yuan per capita, rural per capita net income was 2259.27 yuan, the two are all lower than the average of the entire province, and the economic development is relatively backward.

It is one of the 18 drought counties, 23 provincial 'deep poverty counties', and 41 national help-the-poor counties. As of 2017, 17.% of the population still lived in poverty.[2]

See also

References

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 通渭县人民政府门户网站 历史沿革.
  2. Web site: 通渭县. 7 August 2018. Dingxi Government.
  3. Web site: Significant Earthquake Information. National Geophysical Data Center. National Geophysical Data Center. 6 October 2021.
  4. Book: Yang Jisheng. Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962. 30 October 2012. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 978-1-4668-2779-0.
  5. Web site: 统计用区划代码 www.stats.gov.cn . XZQH . zh . 2020-12-27.
  6. Web site: Across China: Honeysuckle Planting in Tongwei. New China TV. 17 November 2019.