Xingshan County () is a county of western

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The p ...

, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of

Yichang Yichang (), alternatively romanized as Ichang, is a prefecture-level city located in western Hubei province, China. It is the third largest city in the province after the capital, Wuhan and the prefecture-level city Xiangyang, by urban populati ...

Prefecture-level City.

Geography

The county occupies the mountainous north-western corner of Yichang prefecture ("

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 Chi ...

"), bordering on

Badong County Badong County () is a county located in western Hubei province, People's Republic of China, bordering Chongqing municipality to the west. It is the northernmost county-level division under the administration of Enshi Prefecture. The Yangtze R ...

in the west and Shennongjia in the north. The highest mountains within the county are Mount Wanchao ( elevation) and Mount Wanfu (). The county seat is in Gaofu

town 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 o ...

; this is the location that is simply marked as "Xingshan" on less detailed maps. Although the county is away from the

Yangtze 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 rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains (Tibetan Plateau) and flows ...

River itself, and most of its land is at high elevations, the construction of the

Three Gorges Dam The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downstream of the Three Gorges. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world' ...

resulted in the flooding of the valley of the Yangtze's tributary Xiang Xi (香溪, "Fragrant Stream"), where many of the county's residents lived. Accordingly, some 20,000 residents had to be relocated from the flooded areas.Emigration
(from the county's official site) It is officially part of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region.

Climate

Administrative division

The county is administratively divided into 8 township-level divisions: 6

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 2

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, C ...

. Six towns: * Gufu (), Zhaojun (), Xiakou (),

Nanyang Nanyang is the romanization of two common Chinese place names. It may refer to: Written as 南洋 (Southern Ocean) * Nanyang (region), a Chinese term denoting the Southeast Asian lands surrounding the South China Sea ;China * Nanyang Fleet, Qing ...

(), Huangliang (), Shuiyuesi () Two townships: * Gaoqiao Township (), Zhenzi Township ()

Gallery

File:VM 5167 Xingshan County Baishahe Village.jpg, Baishahe Village, Nanyang Town File:VM_5122_Gaoqiao_Township,_Liangtai_River_Valley.jpg, In Liangtai River valley, near Gaoqiao Township File:VM 5202 Xingshan County Houzibao south hydroelectric plant.jpg, Houzibao Hydroelectric Power Station File:VM 5187 Xingshan County Nanyang Town.jpg, Regular bus service operates between the county seat (Gufu) and other major towns

Notes

External links

Xingshan County People's Government

Study on the impact of hydroelectric power at the Xiangxi River
''ScienceDirect''. Retrieved on June 1, 2013. {{Authority control Counties of Hubei Geography of Yichang