(;

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

: Tshòng-tin), also known as Tingzhou or Tingchow (), is a county in western

Fujian Fujian (; alternately romanized as Fukien or Hokkien) is a province on the southeastern coast of 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 capi ...

province, People's Republic of China. With a population of 480,000 and an area of , Changting is the fifth largest county in the provinc

The majority of the population belongs to the

Hakka people The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhe ...

and speaks Changting dialect, a dialect of

Hakka Chinese Hakka (, , ) forms a language group of varieties of Chinese, spoken natively by the Hakka people throughout Southern China and Taiwan and throughout the diaspora areas of East Asia, Southeast Asia and in overseas Chinese communities around th ...

. The Changting dialect is mutually unintelligible with the

Meixian dialect Meixian may refer to the following places in China: * Meixian District, a district in Meizhou, Guangdong ** Meixian dialect, the local dialect of Hakka spoken there * Mei County, also known as Meixian, a county in Shaanxi * Meixian, Fujian (), t ...

, which is another Hakka language spoken in

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

. The county seat is the town of Tingzhou.

History

Pre-modern era

Changting was originally the name of a

prefecture A prefecture (from the Latin ''Praefectura'') is an administrative jurisdiction traditionally governed by an appointed prefect. This can be a regional or local government subdivision in various countries, or a subdivision in certain international ...

(called Tingzhou in imperial times), established in the second year of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

- 1913.

Jiangxi-Fujian Soviet

During the early stages of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

, this prefecture was the economic and financial centre of the

Chinese Soviet Republic The Chinese Soviet Republic (CSR) was an East Asian proto-state in China, proclaimed on 7 November 1931 by Chinese communist leaders Mao Zedong and Zhu De in the early stages of the Chinese Civil War. The discontiguous territories of the ...

( Jiangxi-Fujian soviet). Tens of thousands of people from Changting joined the

Chinese Red Army The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army or Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, commonly known as the Chinese Red Army or simply the Red Army, are the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party. It was formed when Communist ...

but not many survived the

Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Chinese Red Army, Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Revolut ...

Post-Mao era

With the founding of

the People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, the prefecture was redesignated "Longyan" () and its government was moved down to

Xinluo Xinluo District (; Hakka: Sîn-lò-khî) is a district of Longyan, Fujian Province, China, with a population of approximately 842,000. It was formerly named Longyan County (). As Xinluo is a part of the Minnan Hokkien territory, the Longyan ...

. Changting has since been the name of a county only, within the municipal region of

Longyan Longyan (; Hakka: ''Liùng-ngàm''; Longyan dialect: ''Lengngia'') is a prefecture-level city in south-western Fujian Province, China, bordering Guangdong to the south and Jiangxi to the west. History In 736 AD, (the Tang dynasty), the prefect ...

. With the prosperity of road and railway transportation and more and more dams built along the river,

Ting River The Ting River () flows from Ninghua County in western Fujian south to the port and Special Economic Zone of Shantou, Guangdong. It is a main tributary of the Han River and is also referred to Hakka Mother River (). The former prefecture of ...

gradually lost its advantage as a vital transportation means. Changting, once an important concentration place for travellers and goods, became isolated by big mountains. Changting lost its place as the center of western Fujian and became one of the poorest counties in Fujian province. Today, the situation has improved a lot with first railroad in service in 2005 and first highway in service at the end of 2007.

Education

*Changting No.1 Middle School in Tingzhou

Geography

Changting borders Liancheng County to the east, Wuping and

Shanghang Shanghang (; hak, Sông-hông-yen) is a county in southwest Fujian Province, China, bordering Guangdong Province to the southwest. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Longyan. Transportation Part of Shanghang County i ...

counties to the south (all in

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

Sanming Sanming (, Foochow Romanized: Săng-mìng), also known as Minzhong (), is a prefecture-level city in western Fujian province, China. It borders Nanping City to the north, Fuzhou City to the east, Quanzhou City to the southeast, Longyan City to ...

municipality's

Ninghua County Ninghua () is a county of the prefecture-level city of Sanming, in western Fujian province, People's Republic of China, bordering Jiangxi to the west. The town of Shibi of Ninghua is well known as the cradle of the Hakka. Ninghua is also marked ...

to the north,

Ganzhou Ganzhou (), alternately romanized as Kanchow, is a prefecture-level city in the south of Jiangxi province, China, bordering Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, and Hunan to the west. Its administrative seat is at Zhanggong District. Hist ...

municipality's Ruijin City in

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

province to the west. Located in the southern end of the

Wuyi Mountains The Wuyi Mountains or Wuyishan (; formerly known as Bohea Hills in early Western documents) are a mountain range located in the prefecture of Nanping, in northern Fujian province near the border with Jiangxi province, China. The highest peak in ...

(), Changting belongs to subtropical zone. The region enjoys abundant precipitation as the warm maritime air meets the cool air in the mountains, generating a large amount of rainfall.

Climate

Administration

The county executive, legislature and

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

are in Tingzhou Town, together with the CPC and PSB branches.

Towns (镇, ''zhen'')

* Tingzhou (汀州) - the county seat * Guanqian () * Hetian (河田) * Gucheng () * Tongfang () * Xinqiao () * Nanshan () * Zhuotian () * Sidu () * Datong () * Tufang ()

Township (乡, ''xiang'')

* Anjie () * Cewu () * Sanzhou () * Tiechang () * Yanggu () * Xuancheng () * Hongshan ()

Notable natives

(i.e., of Tingzhou/Changting Prefecture and of PRC's Changting County): *

Yang Chengwu Yang Chengwu (; October 27, 1914 – February 14, 2004), alias Yang Nengjun () was a Communist Chinese revolutionary and general of the People's Liberation Army. He was the Deputy Chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army from 1954 ...

(), 1914-2004 Revolutionarian and General of

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

Chen Pixian Chen Pixian (; March 20, 1916 – August 23, 1995) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary and politician. He served in several prominent roles, including party chief of Shanghai and party chief of Hubei province. He was purged at the beginnin ...

(), 1916-1995 Revolutionarian and CPC official * Fu Lianzhang (), 1894-1968

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, practitioner of western medicine,

veteran, PRC Health Ministry official and

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goal ...

victim. * Bei Cun () (1965-), avant-garde Christian novelist. * Chen Hong () (1979-), number 1

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

player on the world ranking list from 2002 to 2003.

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control County-level divisions of Fujian Longyan