Longquan () is a

county-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

and former county under the administration of the

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

of Lishui in southwestern

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , Chinese postal romanization, also romanized as Chekiang) is an East China, eastern, coastal Provinces of China, province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable citie ...

Province, China, located on the upper reaches of the Ou River and bordering

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 cap ...

province to the southwest. Called Longyuan () before the

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

, Longquan adopted its current name because of the

naming taboo A naming taboo is a cultural taboo against speaking or writing the given names of exalted persons, notably in China and within the Chinese cultural sphere. It was enforced by several laws throughout Imperial China, but its cultural and possibly r ...

of Emperor Gaozu, the founder of Tang whose personal name was Li Yuan ().

Demographics

Longquan has a population of around 270,000. There is an ''Ethnic Township'' set aside for the She-nation minority at Zhuyang ().

Celadons and swords

Longquan is famous locally for its swords and

Longquan celadon Longquan celadon (龍泉青瓷) is a type of green-glazed Chinese ceramic, known in the West as celadon or greenware, produced from about 950 to 1550. The kilns were mostly in Lishui prefecture in southwestern Zhejiang Province in the south of ...

ceramics, both of which are often regarded as historically the finest in China. Longquan celadon was one of China's finest ceramics from the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

until it fell out of fashion in the Imperial court during the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han peo ...

. Production continued but at lower quality. The swords made in Longquan (Longquanjian) are famous among martial artists in China. Modern sword production is now led by a workshop named "Shenguanglong" whose sword-making history can be traced back to the twentieth year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty. There are several private and state-owned swords-making factories in Longquan.

Industry

The city has a static inverter plant of HVDC Three Gorges-Changzhou.

Administration

The city's 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 at Longyuan Subdistrict (), together with the CPC and PSB branches. The other divisions, numbering two subdistricts, eight towns, seven townships and one ethnic township, are as follows: Subdistricts: * Xijie Subdistrict (), Jianchi Subdistrict () Towns: * Badu (),

Shangyang Western Guo () was a vassal state in China during the Zhou Dynasty. "Guo" was a kinship group that held at least five pieces of territory within the Zhou realm at various times. After King Wu of Zhou destroyed the Shang Dynasty in 1046 BCE, his ...

(), Xiaomei (), Chatian (), Pingnan (), Anren (), Jinxi (), Zhulong () Townships: * Lanju Township (), Dashi Township (), Baoxi Township (),

Longnan Township Longnan () is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Gansu province in China. It borders Sichuan on its south and Shaanxi on its east. As of the 2020 Chinese census, the population of the prefecture-level city was 2,855,555. Geography and ...

(), Daotai Township (), Yanzhang Township (), Chengbei Township (), Zhuyang She Ethnic Township ()

Climate

Transportation

The city is served by a station on the Quzhou–Ningde railway which opened on 27 September 2020.

References

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20190704170412/http://www.longquan.gov.cn/ {{County-level divisions of Zhejiang County-level cities in Zhejiang National Forest Cities in China Lishui