Lianjiang (; BUC: Lièng-gŏng) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

on the eastern coast in

Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

, the provincial capital of

Fujian Province Fujian is a province in 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 prefecture city by population is Qua ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Most of the county is administered by the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(PRC), while a number of outlying

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

s, collectively referred to as the

Matsu Islands The Matsu Islands; Foochow Romanized: Mā-cū liĕk-dō̤ ( or ), officially Lienchiang County; Foochow Romanized: Lièng-gŏng-gâing (), are an archipelago of 36 islands and islets in the East China Sea governed by the Republic of China ...

, are administered as

Lienchiang County The Matsu Islands; Foochow Romanized: Mā-cū liĕk-dō̤ ( or ), officially Lienchiang County; Foochow Romanized: Lièng-gŏng-gâing (), are an archipelago of 36 islands and islets in the East China Sea governed by the Republic of China (T ...

(same Chinese character name in

traditional Chinese characters Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to written Chinese, write Chinese languages. In Taiwan, the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education (Taiwan), Ministry of Educat ...

and referred to using

Wade–Giles Wade–Giles ( ) is a romanization system for Mandarin Chinese. It developed from the system produced by Thomas Francis Wade during the mid-19th century, and was given completed form with Herbert Giles's '' A Chinese–English Dictionary'' ...

romanization) by 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 ...

(ROC) (now based in Taiwan) ever since their return to ROC control after Japanese occupation in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

Lianjiang, in 282, during the

Jin dynasty Jin may refer to: States Jìn 晉 * Jin (Chinese state) (晉國), major state of the Zhou dynasty, existing from the 11th century BC to 376 BC * Jin dynasty (266–420) (晉朝), also known as Liang Jin and Sima Jin * Jin (Later Tang precursor) ...

, was Wenma, named after a shipyard there, Wensha Ship-hamlet (溫麻船屯). It was incorporated into Min Prefecture (閩縣) in 607, during the

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty ( ) was a short-lived Dynasties of China, Chinese imperial dynasty that ruled from 581 to 618. The re-unification of China proper under the Sui brought the Northern and Southern dynasties era to a close, ending a prolonged peri ...

. Wenma was changed to the present name and made its own county in 623, during the

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

, when Baisha (白沙) or Fusha (伏沙) of Aojiang was the capital of Lianjiang County. The capital was changed to Fengcheng as today in 742. After the

was established, Lianjiang switched back and forth numerous times between two special regions: * Minhou Special Region (閩侯專區): 18 years in total * Fu'an (Ningde) Special Region (福安（寧德）專區): 16 years in total During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

on 10 September 1937, Japan seized the two Lianjiang islands of Beigan and Nangan via the

Collaborationist Chinese Army The term Collaborationist Chinese Army refers to the military forces of the puppet governments founded by Imperial Japan in mainland China during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. They include the armies of the Provisional Government ...

, making the islands the first in Fujian to fall to Japan. This led the county government to relocate to Danyang Township on April 19, 1941, before returning at the end of the war. In 1949, the county was split in two due to 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 ...

, as it remains today. On 4 March 1964, a

Chinese Nationalist Chinese nationalism is a form of nationalism that asserts that the Chinese people are a nation and promotes the cultural and national unity of all Chinese people. According to Sun Yat-sen's philosophy in the Three Principles of the People, Chin ...

commando raid on the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

headquarters of the county captured and returned a commune file to Taipei. Beginning on 1 July 1983, the PRC side reverted control to Fuzhou Municipality. In the late 1980s, people living in Lianjiang County began a massive emigration wave to western countries like the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Geography

Gaodeng Island in Lienchiang County (the Matsu Islands), ROC (Taiwan), is located away from the Beijiao Peninsula () in Lianjiang County, China (PRC). * Geographic coordinates: 26°03'-26°27' N, 119°17'-120°31' E *Coastline length:

Climate

Administrative divisions

The PRC (China) administers 16 towns and 6 townships: Towns (镇, ''zhen''): * Fengcheng () ("Phoenix City Town") * Mabi (Ma-pi; ) ("Horse Snout Town") * Danyang () * Dongdai (Tungtai; ) * Donghu () ("East Lake Town") * Guanban () (

Traditional A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examp ...

: 官阪镇) * Tailu (T'ai-lu; ) * Aojiang () ("Ao River Township") * Pukou (P'u-k'ou; ) ("River Mouth Township") * Toubao (T'ou-pao; ) * Huangqi (Huang-ch'i, Huangchi; ) * Xiao'ao (Hsiao-ao; ) * Guantou (Kwantow, Kuan-t'ou; – Guǎntóu) * Xiaocheng (Hsiao-ch'eng; – Xiǎochéng) * Changlong (, formerly ) ("Long Dragon") * Kengyuan (K'eng-yüan; , formerly ) Townships (乡, ''xiang''): * Xiagong (Hsia-kung; ) * Xiaocang She Ethnic Township (;

: 小滄畲族鄉) * Ankai () * Liaoyan () * Pandu () * Jiangnan () * ''Mazu ()''* :*The

("Mainland China") claims the

(Mazu in

Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means ' Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin'' literally ...

) as Mazu township of Lianjiang county but has never controlled them; they are de facto administered under

of the

(

Taiwan 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 ...

). These townships are divided into 266 villages.

Culture

Residents of Lianjiang – both on the Mainland and Matsu – speak the Lianjiang dialect, a subdialect of the

Fuzhou dialect The Fuzhou language ( zh, t=福州話, s=福州话, p=Fúzhōuhuà; FR: ), also Foochow, Hokchew, Hok-chiu, or Fuzhounese, is the prestige variety of the Eastern Min branch of Min Chinese spoken mainly in the Mindong region of Eastern Fujian ...

, a branch of

Eastern Min Eastern Min or Min Dong (, Foochow Romanized: ) is a branch of the Min group of the Chinese languages of China. The prestige form and most commonly cited representative form is the Fuzhou dialect, the speech of the capital of Fujian. Geogra ...

. The dialect is also known as ''Bàng-uâ'' (平話).

Language

The Lianjiang dialect is a subdialect of

(the most prestigious dialect of

). The Lianjiang dialect is mutually intelligible with Fuzhou dialect. It differs from Fuzhou dialect in its tonal sandhi pattern and vowel

sandhi Sandhi ( ; , ) is any of a wide variety of sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. Examples include fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of one sound depending on nearby sounds or the grammatical function o ...

system. Small lexical differences also exist on object names, e.g. waxmelon is called "卷瓜" in Fuzhou but "冬瓜" in Lianjiang. Generally speaking, the tonal sandhi system of Lianjiang is more conservative than that of Fuzhou, in that the Lianjiang tonal sandhi is still largely controlled by the

Middle Chinese Middle Chinese (formerly known as Ancient Chinese) or the Qieyun system (QYS) is the historical variety of Chinese language, Chinese recorded in the ''Qieyun'', a rime dictionary first published in 601 and followed by several revised and expande ...

tonal registers, while the Fuzhou tonal sandhi shows more deviation and irregularity. Lianjiang vowel sandhi is more complicated than that of Fuzhou. Both Lianjiang and Fuzhou have systematic vowel variations between citation forms and non-final forms of the same morpheme, e.g. "地" /tei/ "land" – "地主" /ti-tsuo/ "landlord". However, not all morphemes have such variations. Only the morphemes with low-starting tones show such variation. The morphemes with high-starting tones instead only have the more close variant, e.g. "迟" /ti/ "late"- "迟早" /ti tsia/ "early or late".Wu, J., & Chen, Y. (in prep.) Lianjiang. However, some

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

s are produced with different vowels in Lianjiang and Fuzhou, e.g. "江 river" is produced as /kyeŋ/ in Lianjiang, but /kouŋ/ in Fuzhou. Also, the rimes in Lianjiang are generally more close and front than that in Fuzhou, which is especially salient in the open vowels, e.g. "下 down" is �in Fuzhou, but in Lianjiang. Surrounded by mountains, Lianjiang used to be a relatively isolated from the inland part of China for centuries. This explains why the Lianjiang phonological system is relatively more conservative. However, with the construction of the high-speed railway system and the improvement of tunnel system, northern migrants are flooding into Lianjiang in the past decade, which may bring language contact into perspective. Just like in Fuzhou, most young or middle-aged Lianjiang speakers speak

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

fluently, but usually with a local accent influenced by the local dialect. However, due to the misleading language policy (Not speaking Mandarin Chinese is taken as "immoral".) and disadvantageous status of the dialect, both Fuzhou and Lianjiang dialects are losing speakers in the youngest generation. More and more young people and children are only receptive bilinguals in Lianjiang.

Economy

Lianjiang County - Dongdai Town - Yangguang Dragong Fruit Farm - P1510431

Food products: * Farm:

loquat The loquat (''Eriobotrya japonica'', Chinese: 枇杷; Pinyin: pípá) is a large evergreen shrub or tree grown commercially for its orange fruit. It is also cultivated as an ornamental plant. The loquat is in the family Rosaceae, subfamily Spi ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

sweet potato The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae. Its sizeable, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a root vegetable, which is a staple food in parts of ...

bean A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

sugar cane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fib ...

tea plant ''Camellia sinensis'' is a species of evergreen shrub or small tree in the flowering plant family Theaceae. Its leaves, leaf buds, and stems can be used to produce tea. Common names include tea plant, tea shrub, and tea tree (unrelated to '' M ...

jasmine Jasmine (botanical name: ''Jasminum'', pronounced ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family of Oleaceae. It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are wid ...

watermelon The watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a Glossary of botanical terms#scandent, scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is plant breeding ...

mushroom A mushroom or toadstool is the fleshy, spore-bearing Sporocarp (fungi), fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or another food source. ''Toadstool'' generally refers to a poisonous mushroom. The standard for the n ...

grapes A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

dragon fruit Pitaya () or pitahaya () (common names strawberry pear or dragon fruit) is the fruit of several cactus species indigenous to the region of southern Mexico and along the Pacific coasts of Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. Pitaya is cult ...

rhubarb Rhubarb is the fleshy, edible stalks ( petioles) of species and hybrids (culinary rhubarb) of ''Rheum'' in the family Polygonaceae, which are cooked and used for food. The plant is a herbaceous perennial that grows from short, thick rhizomes. ...

. * Sea: hairtail,

shad The Alosidae, or the shads, are a family (biology), family of clupeiform fishes. The family currently comprises four genera worldwide, and about 32 species. The shads are Pelagic fish, pelagic (open water) schooling fish, of which many are anadr ...

pomfret Pomfrets are scombriform fish belonging to the family Bramidae. The family currently includes 20 species across seven genera. Several species are important food sources for humans, especially ''Brama brama'' in South Asia. The earlier form of ...

cuttlefish Cuttlefish, or cuttles, are Marine (ocean), marine Mollusca, molluscs of the order (biology), suborder Sepiina. They belong to the class (biology), class Cephalopoda which also includes squid, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique ...

, garoupa,

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve mollusc. The word is often applied only to those that are deemed edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the sea floor or riverbeds. Clams h ...

mudskipper Mudskippers are any of the 23 extant species of amphibious fish from the subfamily Oxudercinae of the goby family (biology), family Oxudercidae. They are known for their unusual body shapes, preferences for semiaquatic habitats, limited terrestria ...

s. * Other: Yuanhong wine ("元紅")

Transportation

Luochang Expressway runs through Lianjiang's section of National Highway 104 in . navigable river length. Guantou and Kemen (可門) are the largest seaports in Lianjiang with national access. Lianjiang railway station is serviced by the Wenzhou-Fuzhou railway, preceded by Luoyuan and followed by Fuzhou South.

Tourism

There are

hot spring A hot spring, hydrothermal spring, or geothermal spring is a Spring (hydrology), spring produced by the emergence of Geothermal activity, geothermally heated groundwater onto the surface of the Earth. The groundwater is heated either by shallow ...

s in Gui'an (貴安) and Tanghui (湯尾) of Pandu. There is a

Dragon King The Dragon King, also known as the Dragon God, is a Chinese water and weather god. He is regarded as the dispenser of rain, commanding over all bodies of water. He is the collective personification of the ancient concept of the '' lóng'' in ...

Palace-Temple (龍宮廟) in the Xiaocang She Ethnic Township.

Notable persons

Chen Di Chen Di / Chʻen Ti () (1541–1617), courtesy name: Jili (), was a Chinese philologist, strategist, and traveler of the Ming dynasty. A native of Lianjiang County, Fuzhou, Fujian, China, he was versed in both pen and sword. As a strategist, he ...

, Ming philologist, strategist, and traveler * Huang Rulun * Zheng Sixiao (Cheng Suu-hsiao; )

Notes

References

External links

Tourism website

Food culture – mudskippers
{{Authority control County-level divisions of Fujian Fuzhou