Chengbu Miao Autonomous County (; usually referred to as "Chengbu County", commonly abbreviated as "Chengbu", ) is an

autonomous county Autonomous counties () and autonomous banners () are county-level autonomous administrative divisions of China. The two are essentially identical except in name. There are 117 autonomous counties and three autonomous banners. The latter are ...

Miao people The Miao are a group of linguistically-related peoples living in Southern China and Southeast Asia, who are recognized by the government of China as one of the 56 official ethnic groups. The Miao live primarily in southern China's mountains, in ...

in the

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

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, Jiangx ...

, China, it is under the administration of Shaoyang City. Located on the south western margin of Hunan, the county is bordered to the northeast by Wugang City, to the northwest by Suining County, to the southwest by Longsheng Autonomous County of

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ...

, to the southeast by Ziyuan County of Guangxi, to the south by Xinning County. Chengbu County covers , as of 2015, it had a registered population of 285,845 and a permanent resident population of 262,245. o
chengbu.gov
/ref> The county has six

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an or ...

and six townships under its jurisdiction, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

is Chengbei Community of Rulin Town ().

Administrative division

In the present,Chengbu Miao Autonomous County has 6 towns and 6 townships. As of October 2015, Chengbu Miao Autonomous County has six townships and six towns under its jurisdiction. The county seat is the town of Rulin.

Geography

Chengbu Miao Autonomous County is located in the southwestern

province. It lies in the upper reaches of the Wu River. The county shares a border with Wugang to the north, Xinning County to the east,

Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ( ...

to the southeast and south, and Tongdao Dong Autonomous County and Suining County to the west. The county has a total area of . Chengbu Miao Autonomous County is surrounded by mountains in the east, south and west, high in the southern area and low in the northern area, with a large undulating terrain. The terrain is mainly mountainous and distributes in zones.

Climate

Chengbu Miao Autonomous County is in the subtropical monsoon climate zone and exhibits four distinct seasons. It has an average annual temperature of , total annual rainfall of , a frost-free period of 345 days and annual average sunshine hours between 1134.6 and 1601.5 hours.

Rivers

Chengbu Miao Autonomous County has 816 rivers and streams. Wu River, formerly known as "Xiong River" and commonly known as "Yun River", is a tributary of

Yuan River The Yuan River, also known by its Chinese name as the Yuanjiang, is one of the four largest rivers in Hunan province in southeast-central China. It is a tributary of Yangtze River. It is long and rises in Guizhou province in the Miao Mountains ...

and the largest river in Chengbu Miao Autonomous County. It rises on the southwestern slopes of the Wu Mountain and discharges to Yuan River in Hongjiang City. It is long and drains an area of in the county.

Xun River The Xun River ( Chinese: 浔江, pinyin: Xún Jiāng, jyutping: ''Cham4 Gong1'') is a short section of the main branch of the Pearl River system upstream from the Xi Jiang in China. Although less than 200km long, it is of considerable importan ...

, formerly known as "Tan River", is the second largest river in the county. It rises on the southeastern slopes of the Huangshan or Yellow Mountain and discharges to Rong River in

. It is long and is a tributary of

Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-a ...

, draining an area of .

Zi River The Zi River (资水) in Hunan, China, flows into the Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ; ) is the longest river in Asia, the third-longest in the world, and the longest in the world to flow entirely within one country. It ris ...

, also known as "Hao River", "Ji River" or "Duliang River", rises on the Guangfu Mountain and joins

Dongting Lake Dongting Lake () is a large, shallow lake in northeastern Hunan Province, China. It is a flood basin of the Yangtze River, so its volume depends on the season. The provinces of Hubei and Hunan are named after their location relative to the l ...

. It is long and drains an area of in the county. Qu River (), also known as "Changping River", rises on the northwestern slopes of the Nanshan or Southern Mountain and discharges to Yuan River. It is long and drains an area of in the county.

Mountains

There are more than 657 mountains over above sea level in Chengbu Miao Autonomous County. The highest point in the county is Mount Erbaoding () which stands above sea level. The lowest point is Kuangtang (), which, at above sea level. Other famous mountains are Mount Jinzi (; ), Mount Longxuyan (; ), Nanshan or Southern Mountain (; ), Laoshan or the Old Mountain (; ), and Mount Huangzhu (; ).

Demographics

As of 2017, the

National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China The National Bureau of Statistics (), abbreviated as NBS, is an deputy-cabinet level agency directly under the State Council of the People's Republic of China. It is responsible for collection, investigation, research and publication of stati ...

estimates the county's population now to be 292,033.

Ethnicity

According to the 2010 Census, the ethnic makeup of Chengbu Miao Autonomous County included: 148,232

(59.14%), 94,051

Han people The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive var ...

(37.53%), 3,288

Dong people The Kam people, officially known in China as Dong people (; endonym: , ), a Kam–Sui people of Southern China, are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. They are famed for their native-bred ''Kam ...

(1.31%), 2,363

Yao people The Yao people (its majority branch is also known as Mien; ; vi, người Dao) is a government classification for various minorities in China and Vietnam. They are one of the 55 officially recognised ethnic minorities in China and reside in t ...

(0.94%), and 1,654

Hui people The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the ...

(0.66%).

Language

Mandarin is the official language. The local people speak

Kam language The Kam language, also known as Gam (autonym: ''lix Gaeml''), or in Chinese, Dong or Tung-Chia, is a Kam–Sui language spoken by the Dong people. '' Ethnologue'' distinguishes three Kam varieties as separate but closely related languages. Di ...

, Hmongic languages, and

Dungan language Dungan ( or ) is a Sinitic language spoken primarily in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan by the Dungan people, an ethnic group related to the Hui people of China. Although it is derived from the Central Plains Mandarin of Gansu and Shaanxi, it is wr ...

Religion

The Dong and Miao people believe in

animism Animism (from Latin: ' meaning ' breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things— animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather syst ...

and worship ancestors.

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

is the earliest foreign religion introduced in the county.

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the ...

spread as Hui people moved into the area.

Education

By the end of 2017, Chengbu Miao Autonomous County had two county vocational secondary schools, 25 high schools and middle schools, 139 primary schools, and 47 kindergartens.

Transportation

Expressway

The S86 Wugang-Jingzhou Expressway runs northwest to east through the northern county's towns of Xiyan and Maoping and Jiangfang Township.

Provincial Highway

The Provincial Highway S219 connects the county to Wugang to the north and connects to Provincial Highway S319 to the west. The Provincial Highway S319 is a north–south highway passing through commercial and residential districts of the county limits.

Culture

Chengbu Miao Autonomous County is rich in culture and customs. The Meishan Culture (), Witchcraft Culture () and Folk Songs () are the most notable.

Tourism

Chengbu Miao Autonomous County enjoys rich natural landscapes. The most popular natural scenic spots are Nanshan Scenic Area or Nanshan Grasslands, Chang'anying Scenic Area, ''Shiwan Gutian'' (), Baiyun Lake (), Liangjiang Gorge (), Shajiaodong Nature Reserves (). Chengbu Miao Autonomous County is also the hometown for many celebrities. It has a large number of former residences, such as the Former Residence of Yang Wanzhe (), Former Residence of Wang Lin (), Former Residence of Lan Yu, and the Former Residence of Gong Jichang. Chengbu Miao Autonomous County's most notable feature is its ancient bridges, built in the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties (960–1911). The Fengyu Bridge () is the oldest bridge in the county, which was originally built in the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the res ...

(960–1279). Other ancient bridges are the Guma Bridge (), Fushou Bridge (), Yao Bridge (), Liuxi Bridge (), Luohan Bridge (), Huilong Bridge (), and Yongzhen Bridge (). The Confucian Temple () is the largest temple complex in the county. It was built in 1889 during the ruling of

Guangxu Emperor The Guangxu Emperor (14 August 1871 – 14 November 1908), personal name Zaitian, was the tenth Emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the ninth Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign lasted from 1875 to 1908, but in practice he ruled, w ...

of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

(1644–1911). The Baiyun Temple () is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in Buddhism repres ...

in the county and Feishan Temple () is a

Taoist temple A Taoist temple (, also called ''dàoguàn'' and , is a place where the Tao is observed and cultivated it is a place of worship in Taoism. Structure and function can vary according to the Taoist school the temple belongs to. For example, ''guà ...

in the county.

Notable people

Chengbu Miao Autonomous County is the birthplace of: * Yang Zaixing, a general in the

(960–1279). * Yang Zhengheng (), an official in late

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

(1271–1368). * Lan Yu, a general in late Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and early

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

(1368–1644). * Gong Jichang (), a general in the

(1644–1911). * Duan Menghui (), journalist. *

Chen Qiufa Chen Qiufa (; born December 1954) is a Chinese aerospace engineer and politician of Miao ethnic heritage. He is the Communist Party Secretary and the former Governor of Liaoning province. He formerly served as Director of the China Atomic Ener ...

, former Director of the

China National Space Administration China National Space Administration (CNSA; ) is the government agency of the People's Republic of China that is responsible for civil space administration and international space cooperation, including organizing or leading foreign exchanges ...

from 2010 to 2013.

References

Bibliography

External links

www.xzqh.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chengbu Miao Autonomous County County-level divisions of Hunan Shaoyang Miao autonomous counties