Huangchuan County (; local pronunciation: ''Huāngchuǎn Xiàn'') is a county of southeastern

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

province, People's Republic of China. It is located in the center of

Xinyang Xinyang ( zh, s= , t=信陽 , p=Xìnyáng; Postal romanization, postal: Sinyang) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Henan province of China, province, People's Republic of China, the southernmost administrative division in the province. It ...

City, straddling the Huang River. The 13th five-year plan of Xinyang City proposes to support the withdrawal of Huangchuan County to apply for the construction of Guangzhou City, build a sub central city in the city area, and accelerate the integrated development of Huangchuan and Guangshan.

History

Origin and early development

According to the ancient Chinese text ''

Bamboo Annals The ''Bamboo Annals'' ( zh, t=竹書紀年, p=Zhúshū Jìnián), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' ( zh, t=汲冢紀年, p=Jí Zhǒng Jìnián), is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow E ...

'', Huangchuan was the national capital of the first Kingdom of Huang in the

Xia dynasty The Xia dynasty (; ) is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, it was established by the legendary figure Yu the Great, after Emperor Shun, Shun, the last of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors, Fiv ...

during the 21st century BCE. Later, in the beginning of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ) was a royal dynasty of China that existed for 789 years from until 256 BC, the longest span of any dynasty in Chinese history. During the Western Zhou period (771 BC), the royal house, surnamed Ji, had military ...

, a second and separate Kingdom of Huang was founded by

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Huang Huilian, and he re-established his national capital in Huangchuan like his early predecessor in the Xia dynasty. His name Huang is considered to be the root origin of the

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Ill ...

ancient

Chinese surname Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicization, Sinicized ethnic groups in Greater China, Korea, Vietnam and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, ...

Huang (or Hwang). The Kingdom of Huang was later invaded and annexed by the

Kingdom of Chu Chu (, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was an ancient Chinese state during the Zhou dynasty. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BC. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou heartland and lasted during the Spring and A ...

and became a vassal state under the Zhou dynasty in 648 BCE, during the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period () was a period in History of China, Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou (256 BCE), characterized by the gradual erosion of royal power as local lords nominally subject t ...

. Remains of the capital of the Kingdom of Huang were discovered in Longgu, a

township 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 ...

six kilometers northwest to the urban area of Huangchuan.

Empire period

After the Qin dynasty. Huangchuan was generally established as a '' zhou'', a

commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and G ...

or a county. According to ''

Brief Sketch of North Parts of Ming Dynasty Brief, briefs, or briefing may refer to: Documents * Brief (architecture), a type of educational or business document including desires and requirements * Brief (law), any of a number of formal document types * Briefing note, or memo, a written m ...

'' (), a book by

Ji Liuqi Ji may refer to: Names and titles * Ji (surname), the pinyin romanization of several distinct Chinese surnames * Ji (Korean name), a Korean surname and element in given names (including lists of people with the name) * -ji, an honorific used a ...

() recording the transitional period from the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

to the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

, Huangchuan (then

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

) was devastated and the residents massacred by the peasant army. And now residents in Huangchuan are mainly descendants of migrants from

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

settled down during the

Kangxi era The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 165420 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, personal name Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign of 61 ye ...

in the Qing dynasty.

Republic period

In 1913, Huangchuan was renamed to its current name. In 2009, Huang-Guang Integration project was launched aiming to integrate Huangchuan County and neighboring

Guangshan County Guangshan County (; postal: Kwangshan) is a county in the southeast of Henan province, China. It is under the administration of Xinyang city. The regional dialect is the Xinyang city dialect of Southwestern Mandarin. The 13th five-year plan of Xi ...

Former names

* , the surname Huang (黃) is derived from this state * * *

Geography

Huangchuan borders the

Huai River The Huai River, formerly romanized as the Hwai, is a major river in East China, about long with a drainage area of . It is located about midway between the Yellow River and Yangtze River, the two longest rivers and largest drainage basins ...

in the north, which is regarded as part of the geographical dividing line between

North China North China () is a list of regions of China, geographical region of the People's Republic of China, consisting of five province-level divisions of China, provincial-level administrative divisions, namely the direct-administered municipalities ...

and

South China South China ( zh, s=, p=Huá'nán, j=jyut6 naam4) is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is ...

. Huang River, a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of Huai River, is pronounced the same as

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

yet with different characters. Local residents usually call it Little Huang River (). The annual mean temperature is and precipitation averages .

Climate

Administrative divisions

Huangchuan County currently has 4

subdistricts A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, Indon ...

, 9

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 8

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 ...

. The county was reorganized in 2005, when the townships of Xiaoludian () and Pengjiadian (), and the town of Niugang () were assimilated into neighboring towns and townships.

Subdistricts

Towns

Townships

Transport

China National Highway 106 China National Highway 106 (G106; , 106 Guo Dao) is a road from Beijing to Guangzhou. It leaves Beijing at Yuquanying and heads to Gu'an County, Bazhou (Hebei), Kaifeng (Henan), Ezhou (Hubei), and eventually Guangzhou (Guangdong) on the sout ...

(G106) *

China National Highway 312 China National Highway 312 (312国道), also referred to as Route 312, is a key east-west route beginning in Shanghai and ending at Khorgas, Xinjiang in the Ili River valley, on the border with Kazakhstan. In total it spans , passing through Ji ...

(G312) *

G40 Shanghai–Xi'an Expressway The Shanghai–Xi'an Expressway (), designated as G40 and commonly referred to as the Hushaan Expressway () is an expressway that connects the cities of Shanghai and Xi'an, Shaanxi. It is in length. The expressway was completed after Chongqi B ...

G45 Daqing–Guangzhou Expressway The Daqing–Guangzhou Expressway (), designated as G45 and commonly referred to as the Daguang Expressway () is an expressway that connects the cities of Daqing, Heilongjiang, and Guangzhou, Guangdong in China. When fully complete, it will be i ...

* Huangchuan railway station

References

{{authority control County-level divisions of Henan Xinyang