Changting County

History

Early History

As early as 3,000 to 4,000 years ago, there were ancient Minyue people thrived along the Tingjiang river, which originates in the north and runs through the county toward the south and enters the South China Sea in Shantou, Guangdong province. Since early years Tingjiang river has been serving as an important water path for traveling and, more importantly, shipping of goods between coastal areas and mountainous in-lands. It was said that the early Hakka ancestors traveled from north through the same path to other parts of China and overseas, so Tingjiang river also gained its name as "Hakka's Mother River".

In year 24 of Kaiyuan, Tang Dynasty , in order to better administer people migrating from north, Tingzhou prefectural administration was set up. Since then and until the end of Qing Dynasty, Tingzhou had been where Zhou, Jun, Lu and Fu was located, and economic and political center of western Fujian. Being the first such place set up by administration for migrants and one of the main concentration places for Hakka people, Tingzhou was also referred to as "Capital of Hakkas". Many Hakkas can trace their origins from Tingzhou.

Revolution Era and Beyond

Tingzhou was changed to Changting in 1913, two years after the Republic of China began. During Chinese Civil War, Changting was the economic and financial center of the Chinese Soviet Republic. Tens of thousands of people from Changting joined the Chinese Red Army but not many survived the Long March.

Since 1949, Changting has been a county under Longyan Prefecture-level city.

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.

Geography

Changting borders Liancheng county to the east, Wuping and Shanghang counties to the south , Sanming municipality's Ninghua county to the north, Ganzhou municipality's Ruijin county in Jiangxi province to the west.

Located in the southern end of the Wuyi Mountains , 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 of Changting administers 18 ''xiang'' -level divisions :

Anjie , Cewu , Sanzhou , Tiechang , Yanggu , Xuancheng , Hongshan .


11 of these divisions have been promoted to ''zhen'' :

, Guanqian , Hetian , , Datong , Tongfang , Xinqiao , Nanshan , Zhuotian , Sidu , & Tufang .

Famous people of Changting

* Yang Chengwu , 1914-2004 Revolutionarian and General of People's Liberation Army
* Chen Pixian , 1916-1995 Revolutionarian and CPC official
* Fu Lianzhang , 1894-1968 Revolutionarian and General of People's Liberation Army
* , number 1 badminton player on the world ranking list from 2002 to 2003.