Lianzhou

Lianzhou 连州市
County-level city
Lianzhou Location in Guangdong
Coordinates:
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Guangdong
Prefecture-level city	Qingyuan
Townships	12
Area
• Total	2,663.33 km2 (1,028.32 sq mi)
Population (2010 Census)
• Total	367,859
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Website	www.lianzhou.gov.cn

Lianzhou (simplified Chinese: 连州; traditional Chinese: 連州; pinyin: Liánzhōu), formerly Lian County or Lianxian (postal: Linhsien), is a county-level city of northern Guangdong Province, China. Lianzhou is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Qingyuan. Lianzhou has become famous as the host city of Lianzhou International Photography Festival (LIPF) and as a historic and cultural city of Guangdong province.

History

During the Qin dynasty, Lianzhou became part of Changsha Commandery. In the Western Han Dynasty (206 A.D.), Yangxian prefecture consists of Lianzhou, Liannan and Lianshan three cities. In Sui dynasty (581-618), the Emperor Kaihuang set Lianzhou on the Ben prefecture.

On 8 December 1949, the Communist People's Liberation Army took over Lianxian from the Kuomintang. On 20 December in the same year, the People’s Government of Lianxian was set up. On 22 April 1994, approved by the State Council, Lianxian became Lianzhou City. In 1996, the government of Guangdong province authorized Lianzhou as a Historic and Cultural City.

There were four sayings about where the name of Lianzhou came from:

• Lianzhou was rich in coptis because of Coptis Mountain (now belongs to Lianshan Mountain).
• There were many mountains surrounding Lianzhou. So there was an old saying that "thousands of mountains were roll into one and so did the rivers"("连万山为一山，连众水为一水").
• Lianzhou was rich in tin ore. As an old saying says that "the plumbum before refined was called Lian" ("铅之未炼者曰连"或"铅锡璞名曰连").
• Because of the many mountains and rivers, the region was semi-isolated. Travelling by road was historically difficult.

Lian contained the meaning of vehicle and boat, pehaps expressing the desire of the people there to improve the transportation network.

Geography

Located in the northwestward portion of Guangdong, Lianzhou spans from 112° 47' to 112° 7' E longitude and 24° 37'N to 25° 12' N latitude. The city is located on the Lian River, up the Little Bei River, adjacent to the southeast of Yangshan prefecture, southwest of Liannan prefecture, and borders north of Linwu prefecture of Hunan province. The total area under the city's administration is 2663.33 square kilometres (1028.32 square miles).

Climate

Lianzhou has a subtropical monsoon climate and is affected by the monsoon: in the winter half of year (October - March) prevailing the northeast monsoon, and in the summer half of year (April - September) prevailing the summer monsoon, mainly southwest wind.

Lianzhou's resources of temperature, light and water are rich. Lianzhou has an obvious montanic three-dimensional climate, so it is good for crop grownth and four-season tillage.

Administrative Divisions

Lianzhou consists of ten towns (Lianzhou town, Bao'an town, Xingzi town, Longping town, Xian town, Dongbei town, Fengyang town, Xijiang town, Jiubei town, and Dalubian town), and two nationality townships (Yao'an, Sanshui).

Population

From 1953 to 2000, Lianzhou participated in five nationwide censuses.

Year	Households	Males	Females	Total Population
1953	57,622	124,762	113,886	238,648
1964	62,797	146,392	139,976	286,368
1982	83,053	218,370	207,795	426,165
1990	99,769	237,819	222,246	460,075
2000	112,692	212,292	197,068	409,360

Cityscape

Natural Landscapes

As an old poem “连州水石冠南陬” said, it was the nature herself who has sculpted such wonderful scenery of water and land in Lianzhou.

In Tang Dynasty, when the poet Liu Yuxi retreated as a feudal provincial official of Lianzhou, he wrote that "剡溪若问连州事，惟有青山画不如". Furthermore, Han Yu, a famous litterateur of Tang Dynasty, also praised Lianzhou's beautiful landscape in Yanxiting Ji (“吾州之山水名天下”).

In the late Ming Dynasty, Qu Dajun traveled around all the gorges in Lingnan area and wrote Guangdong Xinyu. What he praised highly in his book is the Huangchuan Three Gorges. Tanling Rae'era is the highest lake in Guangdong province, 640 meters above the sea level.

Running through four mountains, the Lianzhou Underground River is approximately 1,500 meters in length. Named as “The First Underground River in Guangdong Province”, it has many oddly-shaped stalactites, sea fogs, steep cliffs, old pines, thermal springs and waterfalls.

Cultural Landscapes

As a Historic and Cultural City of Guangdong Province, Lianzhou has many cultural monuments such as Huiguang Tower built in Northern and Southern Dynasties, and Yanxi Arbour built in Tang Dynasty.

Known as an important protected relic of Guangdong province, Huiguang Tower was built in the Northern and Southern Dynasties and has a history of more than 1,500 years. Named as “The Oriental Leaning Tower" with a tilt value is up to 1.0472 meters.

Fushan Old Temple was also built in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. It is one of Grotto-heavens of Taoists and has an extremely high religious value.

External links

• Lianzhou Tourism Network
• Lianzhou on Baidu Baike(in Chinese)