Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County (), or Shizhu County for short, is located in southeastern

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 ...

, China. It is south of 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 ...

, and borders the Chongqing divisions of Pengshui County to the south, Fengdu County to the southwest,

Zhong County Zhong County or Zhongxian () is a county of Chongqing Municipality, China. The name "Zhong" (忠) means "loyalty." It is named after the historical story of General Ba Manzi, who chose to be killed to keep his Kingdom together. Emperor 李世民 ...

to the northwest and

Wanzhou District Wanzhou District ( zh, s=万州区 , t=萬州區 , p=Wànzhōu Qū) is Chongqing's second most populated urban core area on the upper reaches of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River in China. It is currently governed as a district of Chongqing ...

to the north; to the east, it borders the

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 ...

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

of Lichuan. It's in the center zone of Three Gorges Reservoir Region, and the only

autonomous county Autonomous counties () and autonomous banners () are Counties of China, county-level autonomous administrative divisions of China. Autonomous counties tend to have a large number of ethnic minority citizens compared to ordinary counties (if not ...

which designated for only one of

ethnic minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

in this region. ( Chongqing Municipality has four counties that designated for

but because the other three counties are designated for more than one of

, this autonomous county is only one which is designated for only one of ethnic minotiry.)

Name

Shizhu literally means "''Stone Pillars''", which is named after two big human-like natural stone pillars standing on Wanshou Mountain. The two stone pillars were once a loving couple in a native ''"

Romeo and Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

''" style love story. To fight against

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

oppression of free love, they died together tragically, and turned into two stone pillars standing face-to-face on Wanshou Mountain, never to be apart again.

History

On June 4, 2018, the

Ministry of Ecology and Environment The Ministry of Ecology and Environment is an Ministries of the People's Republic of China, executive-department of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, responsible for the ecological and environmental affairs. It is the 15th-ran ...

criticized local government officials from Shizhu for allowing an industrial park to encroach onto protected nature reserves.

Geography

Shizhu County covers with 856,200 mu park and farm land. By the end of 1992, the population of Shizhu County had increased up to 462,100, of whom 424,900 are the rural residents of Shizhu County. The existing capital of the County is Nanbin Subdistrict which will not be involved in the submersion of the water storage of the reservoir region of the

Three Gorges Project 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 ...

. Shizhu County is located in the subtropical

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

zone with the clear seasons. It is warm and wet with enough rain.

Administrative divisions

The county administers 3 subdistricts, 17

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 13 townships. * Nanbin Subdistrict (南宾街道) * Wan'an Subdistrict (万安街道) * Xialu Subdistrict (下路街道) * Xituo Town (西沱镇) * Yuelai Town (悦崃镇) * Linxi Town (临溪镇) * Huangshui Town (黄水镇) * Mawu Town (马武镇) * Shazi Town (沙子镇) * Wangchang Town (王场镇) * Yanxi Town (沿溪镇) * Longsha Town (龙沙镇) * Yuchi Town (鱼池镇) * Sanhe Town (三河镇) * Daxie Town (大歇镇) * Qiaotou Town (桥头镇) * Wanchao Town (万朝镇) * Lengshui Town (冷水镇) * Huanghe Town (黄鹤镇) * Fengmu Town (枫木镇) * Lichang Township (黎场乡) * Sanxing Township (三星乡) * Liutang Township (六塘乡) * Sanyi Township (三益乡) * Wangjia Township (王家乡) * Hezui Township (河嘴乡) * Shijia Township (石家乡) * Zhongyi Township (中益乡) * Xixin Township (洗新乡) * Longtan Township (龙潭乡) * Xinle Township (新乐乡) * Jinling Township (金铃乡) * Jinzhu Township (金竹乡)

Climate

Resources

The forests cover 10.97% of the total area of Shizhu County. There are many precious varieties of trees in the forests, such as metasequoias, tricuspid trees, ormosia firs and ginkgos. There are also more than 50 varieties of trees in the territories of the county for production purposes, such as tung trees and mulberries. In addition, there are more than 170 varieties of wild animals in the forests of the county such as

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant cat species in the genus ''Panthera''. It has a pale yellowish to dark golden fur with dark spots grouped in rosettes. Its body is slender and muscular reaching a length of with a ...

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

s and

wild boar The wild boar (''Sus scrofa''), also known as the wild swine, common wild pig, Eurasian wild pig, or simply wild pig, is a Suidae, suid native to much of Eurasia and North Africa, and has been introduced to the Americas and Oceania. The speci ...

s. One can also see more than 10 varieties of

edible mushroom Edible mushrooms are the fleshy fruit bodies of numerous species of macrofungi (fungi that bear fruiting structures large enough to be seen with the naked eye). Edibility may be defined by criteria including the absence of poisonous effect ...

s, such as xianggu mushrooms, edible

fungus A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

and zhusun mushrooms. In addition, there are various Chinese medical herbs such as ''

Coptis chinensis ''Coptis chinensis'', the Chinese goldthread, is a species of goldthread flowering plant native to China. Etymology *''Coptis chinensis'' Franch. var. ''chinensis''

'' and '' Gastrodia elata''. Shizhu County is particularly famous for ''Coptis chinensis'' and the Chinese people usually call it the home town of ''Coptis chinensis''. More than 20 varieties of

ore Ore is natural rock or sediment that contains one or more valuable minerals, typically including metals, concentrated above background levels, and that is economically viable to mine and process. The grade of ore refers to the concentration ...

s have been found in Shizhu County, such as

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

natural gas Natural gas (also fossil gas, methane gas, and gas) is a naturally occurring compound of gaseous hydrocarbons, primarily methane (95%), small amounts of higher alkanes, and traces of carbon dioxide and nitrogen, hydrogen sulfide and helium ...

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

silver Silver is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ag () and atomic number 47. A soft, whitish-gray, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, and reflectivity of any metal. ...

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12 element, group 12, zinc and mercury (element), mercury. Like z ...

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and

barite Baryte, barite or barytes ( or ) is a mineral consisting of barium sulfate (Ba S O4). Baryte is generally white or colorless, and is the main source of the element barium. The ''baryte group'' consists of baryte, celestine (strontium sulfate), ...

Three Gorges Reservoir Region

4 townships, 26 villages and 16 fabrication/ ore-mining enterprises have been/ will have been involved in the submersion of the reservoir water storage of the

. Shizhu County is involved in the submersion of the reservoir water storage of the

as follows. · The emigrants living below the water level of the reservoir storage of the Three Gorges Project are 8,400 in Shizhu County; · The houses/ buildings with the total construction area of 329,700 m² have been/ will have been submerged; · 6900 mu citrus and farm land has been/ will have been submerged, representing 4.59% of the total area of citrus and farm land in Shizhu County; · highways have been/ will have been submerged; · The relocation compensation investment is 272 million RMB yuan.

References

External links

The official website of Shizhu Tujia Autonomous County
(in Chinese) {{authority control County-level divisions of Chongqing Tujia autonomous counties