(;

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

: Tshòng-tin), also known as Tingzhou or Tingchow (), is a county in western

Fujian Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...

province, People's Republic of China. With a population of 397,470 in 2020 and an area of , Changting is one of the largest counties in the province. The majority of the population belongs to the

Hakka people The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka-speaking Chinese, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas, are a southern Han Chinese subgroup whose principal settlements and ancestral homes are dispersed widely across the provinces of southern China ...

and speaks Changting dialect, a dialect of

Hakka Chinese Hakka ( zh, c=, p=Kèjiāhuà; '' Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: '', zh, c=, p=Kèjiāyǔ; '' Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: '') forms a language group of varieties of Chinese, spoken natively by the Hakka people in parts of Southern China, Taiwan, some diaspora areas ...

. The Changting dialect is mutually unintelligible with the Meixian dialect, which is another Hakka language spoken in

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

. The county seat is the town of Tingzhou.

History

Pre-modern era

Changting was originally the name of a

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin word, "''praefectura"'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain inter ...

(called Tingzhou in imperial times), established in the second year of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...

- 1913.

Jiangxi Soviet

During the early stages of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

, this prefecture was part of the economic and financial centre of the

Chinese Soviet Republic The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was a state within China, proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. The discontiguous territories of the CSR incl ...

(the

Jiangxi Soviet The Jiangxi Soviet, sometimes referred to as the Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet, was a soviet area that existed between 1931 and 1934, governed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It was the largest component of the Chinese Soviet Republic and hom ...

). Tens of thousands of people from Changting joined the Chinese Red Army but not many survived the

Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...

Post-Mao era

With the founding of

the People's Republic of China ''The'' is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the ...

, the prefecture was redesignated "Longyan" () and its government was moved down to Xinluo. Changting has since been the name of a county only, within the municipal region of

Longyan Longyan ( zh, s=龙岩 , t=龍巖, p=, poj=Lêng-nâ or Liong-nâ, l=dragon rock; Hakka: ''Liùng-ngàm''; Longyan dialect: ''Liông-nâ iɔŋ˩nã˩') is a prefecture-level city in south-western Fujian Province, China, bordering Guangdong t ...

. With the prosperity of road and railway transportation and more and more dams built along the river, Ting River gradually lost its advantage as a vital transportation means. Changting, once an important concentration place for travellers and goods, became isolated by big mountains. Changting lost its place as the center of western Fujian and became one of the poorest counties in Fujian province. Today, the situation has improved a lot with first railroad in service in 2005 and first highway in service at the end of 2007.

Education

*Changting No.1 Middle School in Tingzhou

Geography

Changting borders Liancheng County to the east, Wuping and Shanghang counties to the south (all in

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

), Sanming municipality's Ninghua County to the north,

Ganzhou Ganzhou (), alternately romanized as Kanchow, is a prefecture-level city in the south of Jiangxi province, China, bordering Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, and Hunan to the west. Its administrative seat is at Zhanggong District. His ...

municipality's Ruijin City in

Jiangxi ; Gan: ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = , translit_lang1_type3 = , translit_lang1_info3 = , image_map = Jiangxi in China (+all claims hatched).svg , mapsize = 275px , map_caption = Location ...

province to the west. Located in the southern end of the

Wuyi Mountains The Wuyi Mountains or Wuyishan ( zh, c=武夷山, p=Wǔyí Shān, poj=Bú-î-soaⁿ; formerly known as Bohea Hills in early Western documents) are a mountain range located in the prefecture of Nanping, in northern Fujian, Fujian province near t ...

(), Changting belongs to subtropical zone. The region enjoys abundant precipitation as the warm maritime air meets the cool air in the mountains, generating a large amount of rainfall.

Climate

Administration

The county executive, legislature and

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

are in Tingzhou Town, together with the CPC and PSB branches.

Towns (镇, ''zhen'')

* Tingzhou (汀州) - the county seat * Guanqian () * Hetian (河田) * Gucheng () * Tongfang () * Xinqiao () * Nanshan () * Zhuotian () * Sidu () * Datong () * Tufang ()

Township (乡, ''xiang'')

* Anjie () * Cewu () * Sanzhou () * Tiechang () * Yanggu () * Xuancheng () * Hongshan ()

Notable natives

(i.e., of Tingzhou/Changting Prefecture and of PRC's Changting County): * Yang Chengwu (), 1914-2004 Revolutionarian and General of

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

* Chen Pixian (), 1916-1995 Revolutionarian and CPC official * Fu Lianzhang (), 1894-1968

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

, practitioner of western medicine,

veteran, PRC Health Ministry official and

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

victim. * Bei Cun () (1965-), avant-garde Christian novelist. * Chen Hong () (1979-), number 1

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

player on the world ranking list from 2002 to 2003.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control County-level divisions of Fujian Longyan National Famous Historical and Cultural City