Lishui
Lishui City is located in the southwest of Zhejiang Province, which is at the joint of Zhejiang and Fujian between longitude 118°41′～120°26′ east and latitude 27°25′～28°57′ north. It has Wenzhou City on the southeast, Ningde City and Nanping City of Fujian Province on the Southwest, Quzhou City on the northwest, Jinhua City on the north and Taizhou City on the northeast. The municipal government of Lishui City is located in Liandu District. It is 126 kilometers away from Wenzhou, 122 kilometers away from Jinhua, 292 kilometers away from Hangzhou and 512 kilometers away from Shanghai.
 Terrain and Landform
Most parts of Lishui City are middle mountains and hills. The surface relief is leaning from southwest to northeast. The southwest parts of Lishui are mainly middle mountains and there are low mountains, hills and intermountain valleys as well; the northeast parts are mainly low mountains and there are middle mountains and basin valleys as well. The land area of Lishui City is 17298 square kilometers, in which: the mountains cover 88.42% of the area, arable land covers 5.52% of the area and the streams, roads, villages, etc. cover 6.06% of the area. It is a region with “ninety percent of mountains, five percent of waters and five percent of fields”. The range of mountains of this city belongs to the system of Wuyi Mountain, mainly including Xianxia Mountain, Donggong Mountain and Kuocang Mountain, which run from the southwest to the northeast and stretch to the northwest part, southwest part and northeast part respectively. There are 3573 peaks with altitude over 1000 meters, 244 of which are the altitude of over 1500 meters. The Huangmaojian of Fengyang Mountain in Longquan City with an altitude of 1929 meters and Baishanzu in Qingyuan County with an altitude of 1856.7 meters are respectively the highest peak and the second highest peak of Zhejiang Province.
Waters
The water systems in Lishui City include Oujiang River, Qiantang River, Feiyun River, Lingjiang River, Minjiang River and Jiaoxi River, which all run parallel to the mountains. The Xianxia Mountain is the watershed of Oujiang River system and Qiantang River system, the Donggong Mountain is the watershed between Oujiang River system and Minjiang River, Feiyun River and Jiaoxi River, and the Kuocang Mountain is the watershed of Oujiang River system and Lingjiang River system. There are sheer cliffs along the river banks and they are all mountain rivers with short but rapid flows, quite deep beds, sharp rises or falls and big drops, thus, the water power resources are rich here. The Oujiang River is the biggest river in Lishui City, which originates from northwest foothill of Guomaojian of Donggong Mountain at the joint of Qingyuan County and Longquan City and runs through the city from the west to the east with 388 kilometers of main stream, 316 kilometers of the part flowing through the city and 12985.47 square kilometers of drainage area, accounting for 78% in the total area of the whole city. The Longquanxi Jinshuitan Power Station Reservoir (Xiangong Lake) located at the upper course of Oujiang River with an area of 43.6 square kilometers is the biggest artificial lake in the district.
Climate
Lishui City belongs to the subtropical monsoon climate with four distinctive seasons, warm and moist weather, abundant rainfalls and long nonfrost period and it possesses distinct mountain three-dimensional climate. The annual average temperature here is 18.3～11.5℃ and the annual average sunshine time is 1712～1825 hours. The nonfrost period is 180～280 days and the annual average rainfall is 1400～2275 mm. As for the regions below 400-meter altitude, the spring begins from the middle or last ten days of March; the summer begins from late May or first ten days of June; the autumn starts from the late middle or prior last ten days of September; the winter starts from the last ten days of November or the beginning of December. The spring lasts for 72~88 days and the summer, autumn and winter last for 102~116 days, 63~69 days and 105~124 days respectively. For every 100 meters the altitude rises, the spring and the winter will both begin 2~3 days late and the summer and autumn will both begin 3~4 days late; the spring will last for around one day more, the summer will be shortened by 7~9 days, the autumn will last for two days more and the winter will last for 4~6 days more. In spring, the weather changes fast, the temperature fluctuation is big and it is often cloudy, rainy, haily or windy. In summer, the early Meiyu period will bring mass rainfalls and frequent rainstorms, which often cause the floods; and except from occasional typhoons, which will lead to thundershowers locally, the midsummer is mostly sunny and hot with strong sunlight, high temperature and fast evaporation and drought disaster occurs quite frequently. In autumn, the rain spell is short, there are clear and crisp days at most of the time and drought appears quite a lot. The winter here is accompanied with northwest monsoon, cold and dry weather and the cold wave from the north and it is often frosty, icy and snowy.
History and Culture
Lishui has a long history. According to archeological discovery, as early as more than 4000 years ago, there were ancient human activities in today’s Lishui. In the ninth year of Kaihuang Era of Sui and Tang Dynasties (A.D.589), Chuzhou was established, which was changed to Kuozhou in A.D.592 and Yongjia County in A.D.607. In the fourth year of Wude Era of Tang Dynasty (A.D.621), it was changed back to Kuozhou again and in A.D.779, it was changed to Chuzhou. The name was altered to Chuzhoulu in the 13th year of Yuan Dynasty (A.D.1276), and it was changed to Annanfu in 1359 and Chuzhoufu soon after. In the 3rd year of Jingtai Era of Ming Dynasty (A.D.1452), there were ten counties including Lishui, Songyang, Jinyun, Qingtian, Suichang, Qingyuan, Xuanping, Yunhe, and Jingning under the jurisdiction of Chuzhoufu. After the Revolution of 1911, Chuzhou Military and Political Branch Government was established and in 1912, the branch government was terminated and it was under the jurisdiction of Ouhaidao and Lishui No.9, No.6, No.7 Administrative Divisions, with 8 counties including Lishui, Songyang, Jinyun, Longquan, Qingyuan, Xuanping, Jingning and Yunhe under its jurisdiction. It was liberated in May 1949 and Lishui Special Administrative Area was established in October. In 1952, the special administrative area was repealed and the counties were divided into the jurisdiction of Wenzhou, Jinhua and Quzhou special administrative areas respectively. In May 1963, Lishui Special Administrative Area was restored, having jurisdiction over Lishui, Qingtian, Jinyun, Suichang, Yunhe and Longquan. In 1968, it was changed to Lishui Area and Lishui Local Administrative Office was established in 1978. In which: Qingyuan County was restored in 1973; Songyang County was restored in 1982; Jingning She Autonomous County was set up in 1984; Lishui County was repealed in 1986 and Lishui City at county level was established; Longquan County was repealed in 1990 and Longquan City at county level was established; Lishui City at county level was repealed in 2000 and Liandu District was established. On July 19, 2000, the organizational structure of administrative office was revoked and Lishui City was set up, which has jurisdiction over Liandu District, Longquan City and seven counties of Qingtian, Jinyun, Yunhe, Qingyuan, Suichang, Songyang and Jingning.
Resources and Products
Lishui is rich in resources and products. The gross amount of the five natural resources including forest, water power, agricultural products, minerals and wild plants and animals all rank the top in Zhejiang Province. There are more than 3800 kinds of plants in Lishui City and it is the main place of production of valued Chinese traditional medicine such as magnolia officinalis, rhizoma corydalis, Tuckahoe, root of herbaceous peony, etc. There are 505 species of vertebrates, 60 of which are wildlife under special state protection including South China tiger, sika deer, etc. The mineral resources here are quite rich and there are 57 kinds of minerals. In which: the pyrophyllite reserves account for 1/3 in China; the Suichang gold mine is the biggest gold mine in Zhejiang Province; the Jinyun zeolite ore is the biggest zeolite ore with industrial value in use in China. There are many traditional handicrafts well-known both in China and abroad such as Qingtian stone sculpture, Longquan sword and celadon, Yunhe wooden toy, Suichang black pottery, etc. The counties (cities) have all formed their own characteristic regional advantages and six counties (cities) have been awarded as the First Homes of Special Local Products —— China Home of Orange, China Home of Dried Mushroom, China Home of Celadon, China Home of Sword, China Home of Stone Sculpture and China Home of Wooden Toy. |
