Qingtian 青田县 Chin1-dia2 | |
|---|---|
 Hecheng (seat of Qingtian)  Qingzhen Zen Temple  Wangfeitan Village  Stone bridge in Fushan Township | |
| Nickname: Little Europe (小欧洲) | |
 Location of Qingtian County within Lishui | |
  Qingtian Location of the seat in Zhejiang | |
| Coordinates:28°8′3″N120°17′27″E / 28.13417°N 120.29083°E /28.13417; 120.2908328°07′23″N120°16′59″E / 28.123°N 120.283°E /28.123; 120.283 | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Province | Zhejiang |
| Prefecture-level city | Lishui |
| Area | |
• County | 2,493 km2 (963 sq mi) |
| Population (2022) | |
• County | 568,800 |
| • Urban | 168,500 |
| Demonym | Qingtianese |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
| Postal code | 323900 |
| Area code | 0578 |
| Website | https://www.qingtian.gov.cn/ |
Qingtian (Chinese:青田;pinyin:Qīngtián;Wade–Giles:Ch'ing-t'ien;lit. 'azure field'), is acounty located in the southeastern part ofLishui,Zhejiang,China. It is split in two by theOu River, which flows 388 kilometers before finally reaching the city ofWenzhou and emptying into theEast China Sea. The county has a recorded history since 711 AD, and its name originates from its rich rice paddy fields. It has a subtropical monsoon climate, with an annual average temperature of 18.3 °C (64.9 °F), and an annual rainfall of 1,747 mm (68.8 in). It has a hilly territory with many ravines. Thecounty's seat is Hecheng (鹤城, literally 'the town ofcranes'), also known as Qingtian City.
The majority of inhabitants speakQingtianese, while a small minority of residents in Wenxi town (温溪镇) speakWenzhounese, both of which belong to the largerWu language family.
One of China's best-knownqiao'xiangs (侨乡, hometown of overseas Chinese), Qingtian is particularly famous for itsdiasporas, whose strong commercial networks and family ties have created highly visible diasporan communities across the globe, forming the bulk of Chinese populations in many European states, especiallyin Spain where they constitute over 80% of the entire Chinese community. The area is also well known by its traditionalstonecarving industry, that has been defined as "embroidery on stone" since theNorthern and Southern dynasties period at least.[1][2]
Qingtian county was officially established in the 2nd year ofJingyun (711) as a part of the Kuozhouprefecture (aliase of present-day Lishui).[3] 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.[4]
In 1197 (3nd year of Qingyuan, Southern Song), in a major reconstruction project initiated by the local notableZheng 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.[5]
In the 35th year of EmperorJiajing ofMing (1556), due to the constant attacks byWokous 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 theOu River still remains today,[6] and Qingtian is henceforth the only county in Lishui to have its own walled fortifications.[7]
In April 1558, another assault on the town by Wokous was successfully repelled due to the protection by the wall.[6]
In the early years of theRepublic 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,[3] 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,[8] and around two thousand Qingtianese were among the 140,000Chinese Labour Corps that served on theWestern Front, followingChina's entry into the World War I on the side ofEntente Powers in 1917.[citation needed]
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 theChinese Communist Party began its activities in southwestern Zhejiang.[citation needed]
As part ofZhejiang's provincial road network, a gravel road with a total length of 124.08 km that ran from Lishui toWenzhou via Qingtian was completed and opened to traffic in 1934.[9]
In 1948, to deal with the increasing Communist guerrilla activities and banditry in the climax ofChinese Civil War,Nantian township (南田乡), also known as the birthplace ofLiu Bowen, was separated from Qingtian and incorporated into the newly established county ofWencheng (文成县); as a compensation, the town of Wenxi from the neighboringYongjia county (永嘉县) was added into Qingtian, giving the county access to itsinland port facility.[10]
TheNationalist rule in Qingtian ended with the arrival of thePeople's Liberation Army on May 13, 1949, and the People's Government of Qingtian was officially established on November 4 the same year.[11]
Waves of intense political violence occurred in Qingtian during the early phase ofCultural Revolution as part of the nationwideviolent struggles.[12]
TheJinhua-Wenzhou railway that runs through Qingtian, as the first railway with investment from a joint venture, between Chinesestate-owned enterprise andprivately held companies in the infrastructural history of China was opened on June 11, 1998.[citation needed]
The county of Qingtian is divided into 4 subdistricts, 10 towns, 18 townships, and 363 villages, with a total area of 2493 km2.[13]
Subdistricts:
Towns:[14]
Townships:
| Year[15][16] | 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 |
| Climate data for Qingtian, elevation 58 m (190 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–2010) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 26.7 (80.1) | 30.6 (87.1) | 32.5 (90.5) | 35.3 (95.5) | 39.3 (102.7) | 39.4 (102.9) | 41.9 (107.4) | 40.6 (105.1) | 40.1 (104.2) | 36.7 (98.1) | 31.7 (89.1) | 26.4 (79.5) | 41.9 (107.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 12.8 (55.0) | 14.9 (58.8) | 18.2 (64.8) | 23.6 (74.5) | 27.7 (81.9) | 30.5 (86.9) | 34.4 (93.9) | 33.9 (93.0) | 30.3 (86.5) | 26.0 (78.8) | 20.7 (69.3) | 15.3 (59.5) | 24.0 (75.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 8.3 (46.9) | 9.9 (49.8) | 13.0 (55.4) | 18.1 (64.6) | 22.5 (72.5) | 25.7 (78.3) | 29.0 (84.2) | 28.6 (83.5) | 25.6 (78.1) | 20.9 (69.6) | 15.8 (60.4) | 10.3 (50.5) | 19.0 (66.2) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.3 (41.5) | 6.6 (43.9) | 9.6 (49.3) | 14.3 (57.7) | 19.0 (66.2) | 22.6 (72.7) | 25.4 (77.7) | 25.2 (77.4) | 22.3 (72.1) | 17.3 (63.1) | 12.5 (54.5) | 6.9 (44.4) | 15.6 (60.0) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −3.7 (25.3) | −3.7 (25.3) | −2.7 (27.1) | 3.4 (38.1) | 10.2 (50.4) | 13.3 (55.9) | 19.1 (66.4) | 19.9 (67.8) | 14.1 (57.4) | 6.5 (43.7) | 0.6 (33.1) | −4.1 (24.6) | −4.1 (24.6) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 56.9 (2.24) | 76.2 (3.00) | 142.5 (5.61) | 142.4 (5.61) | 167.7 (6.60) | 283.7 (11.17) | 207.2 (8.16) | 266.4 (10.49) | 185.8 (7.31) | 81.6 (3.21) | 65.8 (2.59) | 53.6 (2.11) | 1,729.8 (68.1) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 0.1 mm) | 11.8 | 12.4 | 16.6 | 16.2 | 17.0 | 19.0 | 14.5 | 16.5 | 12.9 | 7.9 | 9.9 | 9.3 | 164 |
| Average snowy days | 1.5 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 | 3.7 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 71 | 73 | 74 | 74 | 76 | 80 | 76 | 76 | 75 | 71 | 74 | 70 | 74 |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 97.2 | 97.1 | 107.4 | 128.7 | 132.7 | 116.8 | 203.4 | 189.5 | 152.3 | 156.7 | 115.1 | 118.6 | 1,615.5 |
| Percentagepossible sunshine | 30 | 31 | 29 | 33 | 32 | 28 | 48 | 47 | 42 | 44 | 36 | 37 | 36 |
| Source:China Meteorological Administration[17][18] | |||||||||||||
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.
Qingtian is served by theJinhua–Wenzhou high-speed railway.
ThePort 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.
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