Huangchuan County (; local pronunciation: ''Huāngchuǎn Xiàn'') is a county of southeastern

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is a ...

province, People's Republic of China. It is located in the center of

Xinyang Xinyang (; postal: Sinyang) is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Henan province, People's Republic of China, the southernmost administrative division in the province. Its total population was 6,234,401 according to the 2020 census. As of ...

City, straddling the Huang River. The 13th five-year plan of Xinyang City proposes to support the withdrawal of Huangchuan County to apply for the construction of Guangzhou City, build a sub central city in the city area, and accelerate the integrated development of Huangchuan and Guangshan.

History

Origin and early development

According to the ancient Chinese text ''

Bamboo Annals The ''Bamboo Annals'' (), also known as the ''Ji Tomb Annals'' (), is a chronicle of ancient China. It begins in the earliest legendary time (the age of the Yellow Emperor) and extends to 299 BC, with the later centuries focusing on the history ...

'', Huangchuan was the national capital of the first Kingdom of Huang in the

Xia dynasty The Xia dynasty () is the first dynasty in traditional Chinese historiography. According to tradition, the Xia dynasty was established by the legendary Yu the Great, after Shun, the last of the Five Emperors, gave the throne to him. In tradit ...

during the 21st century BCE. Later, in the beginning of the

Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ; Old Chinese ( B&S): *''tiw'') was a royal dynasty of China that followed the Shang dynasty. Having lasted 789 years, the Zhou dynasty was the longest dynastic regime in Chinese history. The military control of China by th ...

, a second and separate Kingdom of Huang was founded by

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen regnant, queen, which title is also given to the queen consort, consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contempora ...

Huang Huilian, and he re-established his national capital in Huangchuan like his early predecessor in the Xia dynasty. His name

Huang Huang or Hwang may refer to: Location * Huang County, former county in Shandong, China, current Longkou City * Yellow River, or Huang River, in China * Huangshan, mountain range in Anhui, China * Huang (state), state in ancient China. * Hwang Riv ...

is considered to be the root origin of the

royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

ancient

Chinese surname Chinese surnames are used by Han Chinese and Sinicized ethnic groups in China, Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, and among overseas Chinese communities around the world such as Singapore and Malaysia. Written Chinese names begin with surnames, unlik ...

Huang (or Hwang). The Kingdom of Huang was later invaded and annexed by the Kingdom of Chu and became a vassal state under the Zhou dynasty in 648 BCE, during the

Spring and Autumn period The Spring and Autumn period was a period in Chinese history from approximately 770 to 476 BC (or according to some authorities until 403 BC) which corresponds roughly to the first half of the Eastern Zhou period. The period's name derives fr ...

. Remains of the capital of the Kingdom of Huang were discovered in Longgu, a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

six kilometers northwest to the urban area of Huangchuan.

Empire period

After the Qin dynasty. Huangchuan was generally established as a '' zhou'', a

commandery In the Middle Ages, a commandery (rarely commandry) was the smallest administrative division of the European landed properties of a military order. It was also the name of the house where the knights of the commandery lived.Anthony Luttrell and ...

or a county. According to '' Brief Sketch of North Parts of Ming Dynasty'' (), a book by Ji Liuqi () recording the transitional period from the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

to the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

, Huangchuan (then

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, sou ...

) was devastated and the residents massacred by the peasant army. And now residents in Huangchuan are mainly descendants of migrants from

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

settled down during the Kangxi era in the Qing dynasty.

Republic period

In 1913, Huangchuan was renamed to its current name. In 2009, Huang-Guang Integration project was launched aiming to integrate Huangchuan County and neighboring

Guangshan County Guangshan County (; postal: Kwangshan) is a county in the southeast of Henan province, China. It is under the administration of Xinyang city. The regional dialect is the Xinyang city dialect of Southwestern Mandarin Southwestern Mandarin (), a ...

Former names

* , the surname

(黃) is derived from this state * * *

Geography

Huangchuan borders the Huai River in the north, which is regarded as part of the geographical dividing line between

North China North China, or Huabei () is a geographical region of China, consisting of the provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Part of the larger region of Northern China (''Beifang''), it lies north of the Qinling–Hu ...

and

South China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

. Huang River, a

tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...

of Huai River, is pronounced the same as

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

yet with different characters. Local residents usually call it Little Huang River (). The annual mean temperature is and precipitation averages .

Climate

Administrative divisions

Huangchuan County currently has 4 subdistricts, 9

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an or ...

and 8 townships. The county was reorganized in 2005, when the townships of Xiaoludian () and Pengjiadian (), and the town of Niugang () were assimilated into neighboring towns and townships.

Subdistricts (街道)

Towns (镇)

Townships (乡)

Transport

* China National Highway 106 (G106) *

China National Highway 312 China National Highway 312 (312国道), also referred to as Route 312 or The Mother Road, is a key east-west route beginning in Shanghai and ending at Khorgas, Xinjiang in the Ili River valley, on the border with Kazakhstan. In total it spans ...

(G312) * G40 Shanghai–Xi'an Expressway * G45 Daqing–Guangzhou Expressway * Huangchuan railway station

References

{{authority control County-level divisions of Henan Xinyang