Chenzhou () is a

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China' ...

located in the south of

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangxi ...

province, China, bordering the provinces of

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north into h ...

to the east and

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020 ...

to the south. Its administrative area covers , 9.2% of the provincial area, and its total population reached 4,581,779 in the 2010 census, 26% of them living in urban areas, 74% of them live in rural areas.

History

Chenzhou is a historical city dating back from the

Qin Dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin state (modern Gansu and Shaanxi), ...

. The area was historically named Guiyang (simplified Chinese: 桂阳; traditional Chinese: 桂陽; pinyin: Guìyáng) Commandery before being renamed to the current name in the year 735 during the

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdo ...

. The Chinese character 郴, meaning "City in the Forest", uniquely refers to only the area. Known to be popular among the literacy circle of the Tang courts, poets such as Wang Changling, Du Fu,

Han Yu Han Yu (; 76825 December 824), courtesy name Tuizhi (), and commonly known by his posthumous name Han Wengong (韓文公), was a Chinese essayist, poet, philosopher, and politician during the Tang dynasty who significantly influenced the devel ...

Liu Yuxi Liu Yuxi ( Wade-Giles: Liu Yü-hsi; ; 772–842) was a Chinese poet, philosopher, and essayist, active during the Tang dynasty. Biography Family background and education His ancestors were Xiongnu nomadic people. The putative ‘seventh gene ...

and

Qin Guan Qin Guan (; 1049 – c. 1100) was a Chinese poet of the Song Dynasty. His courtesy name was Shaoyou (). Taixu was also his courtesy name. His pseudonym was Huaihai Jushi () and Hangou Jushi (). He was honored as one of the "Four Scholars of Sumen ...

have visited and wrote

poems Poetry (derived from the Greek '' poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...

to the natural beauty of the area. According to unsourced claims from

Jung Chang Jung Chang (, , born 25 March 1952) is a Chinese-British writer now living in London, best known for her family autobiography '' Wild Swans'', selling over 10 million copies worldwide but banned in the People's Republic of China. Her 832-page ...

and

Jon Halliday Jon Halliday (born 28 June 1939) is an Irish historian specialising in modern Asia. He was formerly a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at King's College London. He was educated at University of Oxford and has been married to Jung Chang since 199 ...

in their book Mao: The Unknown Story, Chenzhou, along with neighboring

Leiyang Leiyang () is a county-level city and the third most populous county-level division in Hunan Province, China. Leiyang is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Hengyang. Located on the south of the province, the city is bordere ...

city was razed in 1928 by troops (

Chinese Red Army The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army or Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, commonly known as the Chinese Red Army or simply the Red Army, are the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party. It was formed when Communis ...

) under the command of

Zhu De Zhu De (; ; also Chu Teh; 1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party. Born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan, he was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...

, who was following directives which originated in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

and passed on by higher officials of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

. The strategy was to leave large numbers of peasants from the cities with no option but to join communist uprisings. Chenzhou was the site of a large investigation when its municipal government and party committee, led by Secretary Li Dalun, was charged on multiple counts of corruption in June 2006.

Geography

Chenzhou is situated at the juncture of Hunan and Guangdong provinces at the foot of small Qitian Mountains of the Nanling Mountain Range. Places of interest, natural scenic spots, ancient relics and buildings make for over 100 tourism spots in the city. The major ones are the Suxian Hill, the Wanhuayan, the Dongjiang Lake, and the Wugai Mountain Hunting Field.

Climate

Chenzhou has a humid subtropical climate (

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, nota ...

: ''Cfa''), with four distinct seasons. Spring is subject to heavy rainfall, while the summers are long, hot, and humid with lesser rainfall, and autumn is comfortable and rather dry. Winter is rather brief, but cold snaps occur with temperatures occasionally dropping below freezing, and while not heavy, rain can be frequent.

Administrative divisions

* Beihu District (), . Population: 300,000 (2003). * Suxian District (), . Population: 249,900 * Zixing City () . Population: 360,000 *

Guiyang County Guiyang County () is a county in Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of Chenzhou prefecture-level City. Located on the southern part of the province, it is adjacent to the east of the city proper in Chenzhou. The county is bor ...

(), . Population: 790,000 * Yongxing County (), . Population: 630,000 *

Yizhang County Yizhang County () is a county in Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Chenzhou. Yizhang County covers . As of 2015, it had a registered population of 644,300 and a resident population of 589,400. ...

(), . Population: 560,000 *

Jiahe County Jiahe County () is a county in Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of Chenzhou prefecture-level City. Located on the southern part of the province and the west of Chenzhou, the county is bordered to the northwest by Xintian C ...

(), . Population: 340,000 *

Linwu County Linwu County () is a counties of China, county in Hunan, Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Chenzhou. Located on the southern margin of the province, it is adjacent to the southwest of the city p ...

(), . Population: 310,000 * Rucheng County (), . Population: 360,000 *

Guidong County Guidong County () is a county in Hunan Province, China, bordering Jiangxi province to the east. It is under the administration of Chenzhou prefecture-level City. Located on the southeastern margin of the province, it is the easternmost county-le ...

(), . Population: 170,000 *

Anren County Anren County () is a county in Hunan Province, China, it is under the administration of Chenzhou prefecture-level City. Located on the southeast of the province, it is the northernmost county-level division of Chenzhou City. The county is borde ...

(), . Population: 390,000

Economy

Major deposits of

tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...

bismuth Bismuth is a chemical element with the symbol Bi and atomic number 83. It is a post-transition metal and one of the pnictogens, with chemical properties resembling its lighter group 15 siblings arsenic and antimony. Elemental bismuth occurs ...

and

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element with the symbol Mo and atomic number 42 which is located in period 5 and group 6. The name is from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'', which is based on Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with le ...

make Chenzhou a production base for non-ferrous metals.

Colleges and universities

* Xiangnan University

Notable people

Duan Yixuan Duan Yixuan (; born August 19, 1995 in Chenzhou, Hunan, central southern part of China) is a Chinese singer and actress, and member of Chinese idol group SNH48, of which she is the Captain of Team SII. Career On July 25, 2015, during SNH48 ...

, a singer and actress *

Long Yang Long Yang (; born December 17, 1989) is a Chinese television hostess for China Central Television. She is from Chenzhou, Hunan, China. In 2009, she made her debut as a contestant on host show ''I am the master on screen'' and got into Top 48. I ...

, a hostess in

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly tr ...

Ouyang Jingling Ouyang Jingling (born 27 November 1987) is a Paralympic athlete from China who competes in throwing events for F37 classification athletes. Athletic career Ouyang became involved in sport in 2002, after her father noticed a talent and took her ...

, a paralympic athlete *

Xue Yiwei Xue Yiwei (, born in 1964) is a Chinese-born Canadian author. His hometown is Changsha, Hunan, and his birthplace was Chenzhou in the same province. He attended the Beijing University of Aeronautics (now Beihang University) in a computer scien ...

, Chinese writer living in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

*Li Xingxue (李星学), Chinese botanist and member of

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Repub ...

Government

The current CPC Party Secretary of Chenzhou is Yi Pengfei and the current Mayor is Liu Zhiren.

Tourism

The areas of interest in Chenzhou include: Wanhua Rock (), Wugai Mountain Hunting Field,

Suxian Hill Suxian Hill () also known as the 18th blessed land of China, is located 2 kilometers east of Chenzhou, Hunan, China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous count ...

and

Dongjiang Lake Dongjiang Lake () is a reservoir located in Chenzhou city, southeast Hunan province, China. It is close to the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway and China National Highway 107. Situated 38 km away from the downtown area, it covers an area of 200 squar ...

. The city is served by

Chenzhou Beihu Airport Chenzhou Beihu Airport () is an airport serving Chenzhou city in Hunan province, China. Its location in Tashui Village, Huatang Town, Beihu District was approved by the Civil Aviation Administration of China The Civil Aviation Administratio ...

References

External links

Chenzhou News Website
run by Chenzhou Government
Official website of Chenzhou Government
{{Prefectural-level divisions of the People's Republic of China Cities in Hunan