Longde County
Encyclopedia
Longde County is a county under the administration of Guyuan
city in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China
.
Longde County is located in the southern part of Ningxia. It gets its name from the town of Long and the Deshun army. Historically, the county was under the control of Pingliang
city in Gansu
province. It borders the rest of Ningxia, as well as Shaanxi
and Gansu provinces. It also connects the important northwestern cities of Xi'an
and Lanzhou
. To the north of the county is Guyuan
, to the east is Pingliang
, to the south is Jingyuan County, and to the west is Jingning County
.
Although Longde County is in the southern part of Ningxia, air temperature is usually lower than the surrounding areas, because Longde is, on average, 2000 meters above sea level. In addition, because the county is located in the northern foothills of the Liupan mountain range, there is relatively little water. The water that is added is commonly lost to earth flows, so agriculture in the county is poorly developed. These factors, coupled with the gangs of bandits who historically roamed the region, made Longde a county famous for its impoverishment.
There are many mountains in Longde County. The highest peak in the Liupan range rises 2900 meters above sea level. The range became famous when Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong
wrote a poem with the phrase, "On the summit of Liupan, the red flag waves freely in the western wind". This mountain has some stretches of verdant forest, unlike the treeless hills of the surrounding Loess Plateau
. During the 1960s
, the mountain was still the haunt of panther
s, wolves, and other predators. On the hilltop, there is a memorial pavilion for the Long March
of the Red Army
, a television relay tower, a meteorology
station, and other things. The Liupan Public Highway stretches for more than 5000 meters, tunneling through the hillside. Before the tunnel was open to traffic, the Liupan range was a natural moat dividing the highway between Xi'an and Lanzhou. The road twists and winds, an exceptional and imposing sight. During the heavy snow of winter, cars often flip over because of the road's difficult conditions.
Because the Liupan range, which is over 200 kilometers long in total, is in the southeast part of Longde, and the county is generally high above sea level in the east and lower in the west, river water is said to flow backwards here. There are not many rivers in the county, but major ones include the Yu River and the Hulu River. There are also a number of sizable reservoirs and natural ponds (known locally as "Flooded Dams").
Since the county is on the periphery of the Loess Plateau, there are many mountains and ravines. Flat land is called "Chuan". It is generally quite fertile and yields a plentiful variety of products. The mountains have many terrace fields.
Large numbers of Han Chinese
and Hui people
live in the county. The local dialect of Chinese
is similar to that spoken in Shaanxi, but slightly different. It is rather different from that spoken in the northern part of Ningxia. Farmers grow wheat
, potato
es, corn
, soy beans, and peas
, among other things. They also raise cattle like cows, sheep, and pig
s. Products produced in the county include apple
s, pear
s, apricot
s, watermelon
s, and traditional Chinese medicine
. Local folk traditions are similar to those in surrounding Gansu and Shaanxi. Important holidays often include popular celebration activities. For example, the Spring Festival includes a "Juggling Group Fire" activity. There are also some customs not often seen in other places in China. For example, "singed rickets" during the first month of the lunar new year, sauteed peas on the second day of February, hanging picked sallow outside one's door on the fifth of May, giving winter clothes to one's ancestors on October 1st, and others.
Because there is little space and many people in some mountainous areas, the environment has been seriously destroyed, and the areas are no longer suitable for living. In recent years, the local government has successively organized residents to move to the plains areas in northern Ningxia. Resettlement is known locally as "Hanging condolences on the village farm". There are also many rural young people who leave the county to find work opportunities in China's coastal regions.
Towns: Chengguan, Shatang, and Liancai.
Townships: Guanzhuang, Shanhe, Fengling, Yanghe, Haoshui, Chenjin, Shenlin, Zhangcheng, Dian'an, and Wenbao.
's short story Returning For Yan, the female main character Yang Yanqiu is from Jingning County, in Gansu, but grew up in Longde and sees it as her home. The book depicts the drought of 1928-1929 in Gansu and Shaanxi, when people in the region lived in dire poverty. They were forced to survive on grass and tree bark, without any way to eat boiled food. One of Yang Yanqiu's family members has already gone east to escape the poverty, and she sells herself to save her parents. Another family member has disappeared. Later, Yang Yanqiu follows her parents to Nanjing
, but returns to Longde after her father's death to find her family members. She also must do some work for northwestern development. Thus she is "Returning for Yan".
Guyuan
Guyuan is a prefecture-level city in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. It occupies the southernmost section of the region.-Administrative divisions:-Geography and climate:...
city in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
.
Longde County is located in the southern part of Ningxia. It gets its name from the town of Long and the Deshun army. Historically, the county was under the control of Pingliang
Pingliang
Pingliang is a prefecture-level city in eastern Gansu Province in China. Pingliang is famous for a local mountain range that includes Kongtong Mountain, a site sacred to Taoism and mythical meeting place of the Yellow Emperor and Guangchengzi, an immortal....
city in Gansu
Gansu
' is a province located in the northwest of the People's Republic of China.It lies between the Tibetan and Huangtu plateaus, and borders Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Ningxia to the north, Xinjiang and Qinghai to the west, Sichuan to the south, and Shaanxi to the east...
province. It borders the rest of Ningxia, as well as Shaanxi
Shaanxi
' is a province in the central part of Mainland China, and it includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River in addition to the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of this province...
and Gansu provinces. It also connects the important northwestern cities of Xi'an
Xi'an
Xi'an is the capital of the Shaanxi province, and a sub-provincial city in the People's Republic of China. One of the oldest cities in China, with more than 3,100 years of history, the city was known as Chang'an before the Ming Dynasty...
and Lanzhou
Lanzhou
Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. A prefecture-level city, it is a key regional transportation hub, allowing areas further west to maintain railroad connections to the eastern half of the country....
. To the north of the county is Guyuan
Guyuan
Guyuan is a prefecture-level city in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. It occupies the southernmost section of the region.-Administrative divisions:-Geography and climate:...
, to the east is Pingliang
Pingliang
Pingliang is a prefecture-level city in eastern Gansu Province in China. Pingliang is famous for a local mountain range that includes Kongtong Mountain, a site sacred to Taoism and mythical meeting place of the Yellow Emperor and Guangchengzi, an immortal....
, to the south is Jingyuan County, and to the west is Jingning County
Jingning County
Jingning County is an administrative district in Gansu, the People's Republic of China. It is one of 58 counties of Gansu. It is part of the Pingliang prefecture, with the city of the same name being the prefecture seat. Its postal code is 743400, and in 2006 its population was 463,400 people...
.
Although Longde County is in the southern part of Ningxia, air temperature is usually lower than the surrounding areas, because Longde is, on average, 2000 meters above sea level. In addition, because the county is located in the northern foothills of the Liupan mountain range, there is relatively little water. The water that is added is commonly lost to earth flows, so agriculture in the county is poorly developed. These factors, coupled with the gangs of bandits who historically roamed the region, made Longde a county famous for its impoverishment.
There are many mountains in Longde County. The highest peak in the Liupan range rises 2900 meters above sea level. The range became famous when Chinese Communist Party leader Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
wrote a poem with the phrase, "On the summit of Liupan, the red flag waves freely in the western wind". This mountain has some stretches of verdant forest, unlike the treeless hills of the surrounding Loess Plateau
Loess Plateau
The Loess Plateau , also known as the Huangtu Plateau, is a plateau that covers an area of some 640,000 km² in the upper and middle reaches of China's Yellow River. Loess is the name for the silty sediment that has been deposited by wind storms on the plateau over the ages...
. During the 1960s
1960s
The 1960s was the decade that started on January 1, 1960, and ended on December 31, 1969. It was the seventh decade of the 20th century.The 1960s term also refers to an era more often called The Sixties, denoting the complex of inter-related cultural and political trends across the globe...
, the mountain was still the haunt of panther
Panthera
Panthera is a genus of the family Felidae , which contains four well-known living species: the tiger, the lion, the jaguar, and the leopard. The genus comprises about half of the Pantherinae subfamily, the big cats...
s, wolves, and other predators. On the hilltop, there is a memorial pavilion for the Long March
Long March
The Long March was a massive military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Communist Party of China, the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the Kuomintang army. There was not one Long March, but a series of marches, as various Communist armies in the south...
of the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
, a television relay tower, a meteorology
Meteorology
Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...
station, and other things. The Liupan Public Highway stretches for more than 5000 meters, tunneling through the hillside. Before the tunnel was open to traffic, the Liupan range was a natural moat dividing the highway between Xi'an and Lanzhou. The road twists and winds, an exceptional and imposing sight. During the heavy snow of winter, cars often flip over because of the road's difficult conditions.
Because the Liupan range, which is over 200 kilometers long in total, is in the southeast part of Longde, and the county is generally high above sea level in the east and lower in the west, river water is said to flow backwards here. There are not many rivers in the county, but major ones include the Yu River and the Hulu River. There are also a number of sizable reservoirs and natural ponds (known locally as "Flooded Dams").
Since the county is on the periphery of the Loess Plateau, there are many mountains and ravines. Flat land is called "Chuan". It is generally quite fertile and yields a plentiful variety of products. The mountains have many terrace fields.
Large numbers of Han Chinese
Han Chinese
Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to China and are the largest single ethnic group in the world.Han Chinese constitute about 92% of the population of the People's Republic of China , 98% of the population of the Republic of China , 78% of the population of Singapore, and about 20% of the...
and Hui people
Hui people
The Hui people are an ethnic group in China, defined as Chinese speaking people descended from foreign Muslims. They are typically distinguished by their practice of Islam, however some also practice other religions, and many are direct descendants of Silk Road travelers.In modern People's...
live in the county. The local dialect of Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
is similar to that spoken in Shaanxi, but slightly different. It is rather different from that spoken in the northern part of Ningxia. Farmers grow wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, potato
Potato
The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Solanum tuberosum of the Solanaceae family . The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species...
es, corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, soy beans, and peas
PEAS
P.E.A.S. is an acronym in artificial intelligence that stands for Performance, Environment, Actuators, Sensors.-Performance:Performance is a function that measures the quality of the actions the agent did....
, among other things. They also raise cattle like cows, sheep, and pig
Pig
A pig is any of the animals in the genus Sus, within the Suidae family of even-toed ungulates. Pigs include the domestic pig, its ancestor the wild boar, and several other wild relatives...
s. Products produced in the county include apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s, pear
Pear
The pear is any of several tree species of genus Pyrus and also the name of the pomaceous fruit of these trees. Several species of pear are valued by humans for their edible fruit, but the fruit of other species is small, hard, and astringent....
s, apricot
Apricot
The apricot, Prunus armeniaca, is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus. The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation.- Description :...
s, watermelon
Watermelon
Watermelon is a vine-like flowering plant originally from southern Africa. Its fruit, which is also called watermelon, is a special kind referred to by botanists as a pepo, a berry which has a thick rind and fleshy center...
s, and traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese medicine
Traditional Chinese Medicine refers to a broad range of medicine practices sharing common theoretical concepts which have been developed in China and are based on a tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage , exercise , and dietary therapy...
. Local folk traditions are similar to those in surrounding Gansu and Shaanxi. Important holidays often include popular celebration activities. For example, the Spring Festival includes a "Juggling Group Fire" activity. There are also some customs not often seen in other places in China. For example, "singed rickets" during the first month of the lunar new year, sauteed peas on the second day of February, hanging picked sallow outside one's door on the fifth of May, giving winter clothes to one's ancestors on October 1st, and others.
Because there is little space and many people in some mountainous areas, the environment has been seriously destroyed, and the areas are no longer suitable for living. In recent years, the local government has successively organized residents to move to the plains areas in northern Ningxia. Resettlement is known locally as "Hanging condolences on the village farm". There are also many rural young people who leave the county to find work opportunities in China's coastal regions.
Administrative divisions
Longde County administers three towns and ten townships.Towns: Chengguan, Shatang, and Liancai.
Townships: Guanzhuang, Shanhe, Fengling, Yanghe, Haoshui, Chenjin, Shenlin, Zhangcheng, Dian'an, and Wenbao.
Related literary works
In Zhang HenshuiZhang Henshui
Zhang Xinyuan was a highly prolific, popular Chinese novelist who wrote under the pen name Zhang Henshui . He published more than 100 novels in his 50 years of fiction writing.-Biography:...
's short story Returning For Yan, the female main character Yang Yanqiu is from Jingning County, in Gansu, but grew up in Longde and sees it as her home. The book depicts the drought of 1928-1929 in Gansu and Shaanxi, when people in the region lived in dire poverty. They were forced to survive on grass and tree bark, without any way to eat boiled food. One of Yang Yanqiu's family members has already gone east to escape the poverty, and she sells herself to save her parents. Another family member has disappeared. Later, Yang Yanqiu follows her parents to Nanjing
Nanjing
' is the capital of Jiangsu province in China and has a prominent place in Chinese history and culture, having been the capital of China on several occasions...
, but returns to Longde after her father's death to find her family members. She also must do some work for northwestern development. Thus she is "Returning for Yan".