Qingtian County

Qingtian (Template:Zh), is a county located in the southeastern part of Lishui, Zhejiang, China. It is split in two by the Ou River, which flows 388 kilometers before finally reaching the city of Wenzhou and emptying into the East China Sea. The county has a recorded history since 711 AD, and its name originates from its rich rice paddy fields. It has subtropical monsoon climate, with an annual average temperature of , and an annual rainfall of . It has a hilly territory with many ravines. Its capital is Hecheng, also known as Qingtian City.

The majority of inhabitants speak Qingtianese, while a small minority of residents in Wenxi town (温溪镇) speak Wenzhounese, both of which belong to the larger Wu language family.

The county is particularly famous in China for its diasporan communities spread all across the globe, forming the bulk of Chinese populations in many European states, especially in Spain where they constitute over 80% of the entire Chinese community. The area is also well known by its traditional stonecarving industry, that has been defined as "embroidery on stone" since the Northern and Southern dynasties period at least.

History

Tang dynasty

Qingtian county was officially established in the 2nd year of Jingyun (711) as a part of the Kuozhou prefecture (aliase of present-day Lishui). The etymology of its name derives from a grass with bamboo-like leaves that can be turned into cyan-colored dyes, which is abundant in the paddy fields at the foot of the mountain in the county's northern corner.

Song dynasty

In 1197 (3nd year of Qingyuan, Southern Song), in a major reconstruction project initiated by the local notable Zheng Ruxie (郑汝谐), all the shabby thatched cottages in the county town were replaced with houses built of ceramic tiles, significantly improving the county's sanitary conditions whilst reducing the risk of fire.

Ming dynasty

In the 35th year of Emperor Jiajing of Ming (1556), due to the constant attacks by Wokous coming from the coastal areas, the county magistrate Li Kai (李楷）ordered the construction of a 3 kilometers long stone wall surrounding the town, the section of wall along the Ou River still remains today, and Qingtian is henceforth the only county in Lishui to have its own walled fortifications.

In April, 1558, another assault on the town by Wokous was successfully repelled due to the protection by the wall.

File:青田县古城图 --- 光绪元年.jpg

Illustration of the Ancient City of Qingtian as of 1875

Modern history

In the early years of the Republic of China, almost the entire county was devastated by the flood brought by a heavy rainstorm on August 29, 1912. Record says that the flood had affected as many as 16,133 households and destroyed 76,623 buildings, and only 5000 people were left in Hecheng which had at once boasted more than 14,000 residents. Extreme hardship in the aftermath of the floods pushed many to emigrate abroad, which between 1912 and 1914, approximately a thousand people had left the county, and around two thousand Qingtianese were among the 140,000 Chinese Labour Corps that served on the Western Front, following China's entry into the World War I on the side of Entente Powers in 1917.

Owing to its scarce arable lands and its vibrant overseas communities that brought ideas and news from the Western world, Qingtian was the earliest region where the Chinese Communist Party began its activities in southwestern Zhejiang.

As part of Zhejiang's provincial road network, a gravel road with a total length of 124.08 km that ran from Lishui to Wenzhou via Qingtian was completed and opened to traffic in 1934.

File:Old photo of Qingtian, 1935.png

Town center of Qingtian, 1935

In 1948, to deal with the increasing Communist guerrilla activities and banditry in the climax of Chinese Civil War, Nantian township (南田乡), also known as the birthplace of Liu Bowen, was separated from Qingtian and incorporated into the newly established county of Wencheng (文成县); as a compensation, the town of Wenxi from the neighboring Yongjia county (永嘉县) was added into Qingtian, giving the county access to its inland port facility.

The Nationalist rule in Qingtian ended with the arrival of the People's Liberation Army on May 13, 1949, and the People's Government of Qingtian was officially established in November 4 the same year.

Waves of intense political violence occurred in Qingtian during the early phase of Cultural Revolution as part of the nationwide violent struggles.

The Jinhua-Wenzhou railway that runs through Qingtian, as the first railway with investment from a joint venture, between Chinese state-owned enterprise and privately held companies in the infrastructural history of China was opened on June 11, 1998.

Administrative divisions

The county of Qingtian is divided into 4 subdistricts, 10 towns, 18 townships, and 363 villages, with a total area of 2493 km².

Subdistricts:

• Hecheng (鹤城街道), Ou'nan (瓯南街道), Youzhu (油竹街道), Sanxikou (三溪口街道)

Towns:

• Wenxi (温溪镇), Dongyuan (东源镇), Chuanliao (船寮镇), Beishan (北山镇), Shankou (山口镇), Haikou (海口镇), Gaohu (高湖镇), Lakou (腊口镇), Renzhuang (仁庄镇)

Townships:

• Zhangcun (章村乡), Shuqiao (舒桥乡), Gui'ao (贵岙乡), Shixi (石溪乡), Zhenbu (祯埠乡), Zhenwang (祯旺乡), Wanshan (万山乡), Huangyang (黄垟乡), Jizhai (季宅乡), Haixi (海溪乡), Gaoshi (高市乡), Jupu (巨浦乡), Wanfu (万阜乡), Tangyang (汤垟乡), Fangshan (方山乡), Wukeng (吴坑乡), Renguan (仁宫乡), Zhangdan (章旦乡), Fushan (阜山乡), Linggen (岭根乡), Xiaozhoushan (小舟山乡)

Population

Year	Population
742	~36,000
1551	41,567
1776	89,667
1911	219,206
1942	271,073
1946	257,657
1949	227,800
2000	361,062
2010	336,542
2020	509,053

Transportation

• Highway:

By the end of 2013, the highway mileage in Qingtian county was 2,155.8 kilometers, including 67.3 kilometers of expressways, 145.7 kilometers of secondary roads, 16.8 kilometers of tertiary roads, 483.8 kilometers of quasi-fourth-class roads, and 1,442.2 kilometers of quasi-fourth-class roads. In 2013, the social passenger volume was 11.3 million, the freight volume was 4.53 million tons, the freight turnover was 717.49 million tons-kilometers, and the passenger turnover was 356.43 million person-kilometers. National Highway 330 passes through the county.

• Railway:

File:201701 JWR-DF4B hauls 25B coaches on Jinhua–Wenzhou Railway over Daxi River.jpg

A train passes Lishui Daxi River Bridge.

Qingtian is served by the Jinhua–Wenzhou high-speed railway.

• Waterway:

The Port of Wenxi is the only port in Lishui prefecture that has direct access to the outer sea, with an annual cargo throughput of more than 1.4 million tons. Cargo ships departing from the Port of Wenxi can directly reach major ports in mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Notable people

• Chen Cheng, National Revolutionary Army commander, Vice President and Premier of Taiwan
• Chen Li-an, electrical engineer, mathematician and Taiwanese politician
• Chen Muhua, Communist revolutionary and People's Republic of China politician
• Xia Chao, civil governor of Zhejiang 1924–1926
• Zhang Naiqi, People's Republic of China politician
• Shifuku Oh (Wang Shifu), chef, father of Japanese baseball player Sadaharu Oh

See also

• Qingtian dialect