Badong County () is a county located in western

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

province, People's Republic of China, bordering

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

municipality to the west. It is the northernmost

county-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since 1412, due to mainland China's large population and geographical area. In the People's Republic of China, the constitution provides for three levels of government. Ho ...

under the administration of Enshi Prefecture. The

Yangtze River The Yangtze or Yangzi ( or ) is the longest river in Eurasia and the third-longest in the world. It rises at Jari Hill in the Tanggula Mountains of the Tibetan Plateau and flows including Dam Qu River the longest source of the Yangtze, i ...

flows through the county and the county seat is located just east of the

Wu Gorge Wuxia Gorge (), sometimes called Great Gorge (), is the second gorge of the Three Gorges system on the Yangtze River, People's Republic of China. Formed by the Wu River, it stretches from Wushan to Guandukou, and is located downstream of Q ...

in the

Three Gorges The Three Gorges () are three adjacent and sequential gorges along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River path, in the hinterland of the People's Republic of China. With a subtropical monsoon climate, they are known for their scenery. The T ...

region. Badong County is famous for the

Shennong Stream Shennong Stream () is a left tributary of the Yangtze River, located in the Hubei Province of central China. Fed by tributaries some of which come from the Shennongjia Forestry District, the stream flows south, falling into the Yangtze opposite t ...

gorges located near Badong town. The stream itself falls into the Yangtze opposite the Badong center city. The Badong county seat, commonly referred to simply as "Badong", is in the

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

of Xinling (), located on the high southern banks of the

channel. The Yangtze valley was flooded during the first decade of the 21st century after the construction of the

Three Gorges Dam The Three Gorges Dam (), officially known as Yangtze River Three Gorges Water Conservancy Project () is a hydroelectric gravity dam that spans the Yangtze River near Sandouping in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, central China, downs ...

to the east, but Badong county seat was mostly above the flood line, and so more of the original town survives than is the case in many other river towns along this section of the Yangtze.

Administrative divisions

Badong County is divided into 10

towns A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

and 2

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

. Ten towns: * Xinling () * Dongrangkou () * Yanduhe () * Guandukou () * Chadianzi () * Lücongpo () * Dazhiping () * Yesanguan () * Qingtaiping () * Shuibuya () Two townships: * Xiqiuwan () * Jinguoping () The main urban area of the county (i.e., the place typically labeled "Badong" on less-detailed maps) consists of Xinling Town—the seat of the county government—on the right (southern) bank of the Yangtze, and the smaller Dongrangkou and Guandukou towns on the opposite side of the river. They two sides of the Yangtze are connected by the

Badong Bridge The Badong Yangtze River Bridge is a cable-stayed bridge over the Yangtze River in Badong County, Hubei, China. Completed in July 2004, it carries 4 lanes of traffic on China National Highway 209. The bridge's highest tower measures and the bridg ...

Climate

Economy

Coal mining in small pits is the main commercial activity in the region, along with farming. There is also a large cement factory on the river to the east of the town, which is a significant polluter. The rural population of Badong County, as with many other parts of inland China, has seen major changes in the past two decades. The Chinese government's population control policies in the 1980s and beyond resulted in a sharp drop in births, and also in a change in attitudes, making many couples uninterested in having more than one child. The new freedom to travel and work in other parts of China has also led to a major exodus of workers to the coastal areas of China to find work. The older people tend to stay in the villages, and the workers often return to have their children, but they then generally return to the factories. The overall result is that many villages in Badong are shrinking and some terraced farmland in this largely mountaintainous region is being abandoned and allowed to return to its original state.

Transportation

VM 5086 Xiqiuwan xiang Baishawan cun fields

Due to the difficult terrain and the road conditions, the most convenient way to reach Badong's county seat is with a Yangtze riverboat. Both regular boats and

hydrofoil A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water. They are similar in appearance and purpose to aerofoils used by aeroplanes. Boats that use hydrofoil technology are also simply termed hydrofoils. As a hydrofoil craft gains sp ...

s call in the busy Badong harbor on the way up and down between

Yichang Yichang ( zh, s= ), Postal Map Romanization, alternatively romanized as Ichang, is a prefecture-level city located in western Hubei province, China. Yichang had a population of 3.92 million people at the 2022 census, making it the third most pop ...

and

. The county has one Yangtze crossing, the

, carrying

China National Highway 209 China National Highway 209 (G209) runs from Sonid Left Banner, Inner Mongolia to Beihai, Guangxi province. It is 3,435 kilometres in length and runs south from Huhhot towards Shanxi province, Henan province, Hubei province, Hunan province, and ...

. The highway crosses the northern half of the county from the northeast to the southwest. As of 2009, Highway 209 was little more than a dirt road for a 20-km stretch north of the bridge.

China National Highway 318 China National Highway 318 (G318) is a trunk road in China that runs east-west from Shanghai in East China to Zhangmu on the China-Nepal border. It is the longest of the China National Highways at in length and runs west from Huangpu District ...

crosses the southern part of the county from the east to the west. The new

G50 Shanghai–Chongqing Expressway The Shanghai–Chongqing Expressway (), designated as G50 and commonly referred to as the Huyu Expressway () is an east-west bound expressway that connects the cities of Shanghai, China in Yangtze River Delta, and Chongqing in western China. The e ...

and Yichang-Wanzhou Railway have been recently completed along the same corridor as well. The Siduhe Bridge on the new highway, located near Yesanguan town, is one of the longest bridges of its kinds; the nearby Zhijinghe Bridge is one of the world's tallest

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its structural load, loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either si ...

s. The

Yesanguan railway station Yesanguan railway station () is a railway station located in Yesanguan Town, Badong County, Enshi, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China, on the Yiwan Railway which is operated by China Railway Corporation. The railway station is located ...

, located near Yesanguan Town in the south-central part of the county, is the only railway station within the county. It renamed from Badong railway station to Yesanguan railway station in 2022. A high-speed rail station, Badong North railway station (now renamed Badong railway station), will open on the

Zhengzhou–Wanzhou high-speed railway Zhengzhou–Wanzhou high-speed railway () is a high-speed railway connecting Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, and Wanzhou District in Chongqing. The section between Zhengzhou East and Xiangyang East started operation on 1 December 2019 ...

. A number of provincial highways run north to south through the county.

Gallery

File:VM 5088 Guodao 209 Jingu Tea Plantation and factory near Xiangshan County - Badong County border.jpg, Jingu Tea Co's tea plantation in Xiqiuwan Township File:VM 5070 Xiqiuwan morning.jpg, Morning in Xiqiuwan Township File:ShennongXi-fall-into-Yangtze-5058.jpg, The fall of the

(in front) into the Yangtze File:VM 5038 Badong Harbor Hydrofoil.jpg, A hydrofoil boat leaving the Badong Port File:Badong-dockside-funicular-5046.jpg, The passenger terminal in the Badong Port, with the funicular system File:Badong-dockside-funicular-5047.jpg, Badong Port passenger funicular File:VM 5035 Changjiang below Badong A coal ship.jpg, A coal barge on the Yangtze File:On-the-Badong-Bridge-going-north-5053.jpg, On the Badong Bridge, which carries G209 across the Yangtze File:VM 5079 Xiqiuwan xiang Baishawan cun government offices.jpg, Government offices of Baishawan village, in Xiqiuwan Township

References

External links

Official website of Badong County Government
{{authority control Counties of Hubei Enshi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture