Lintao County ) is administratively under the control of

Dingxi Dingxi (), also known as Longyou () is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Gansu province, People's Republic of China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,524,097 inhabitants, of which 422,383 lived in the built-up (or metro) area ...

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

province.

History

Until the 20th century, Lintao was known as Didao (). The Battle of Didao was fought in the area in 255 CE, during the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the Wester ...

era. In the 8th century, an anonymous poet of the Tang Dynasty places General

Geshu Han Geshu Han () (died December 1, 757), formally Prince Wumin of Xiping (), was a general of Tang China who was of Turgesh extraction. He became a powerful general late in the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang and in 756 became responsible for defend ...

and the Chinese army in Lintao, battling the Tibetans. Poet

Li Bai Li Bai (, 701–762), also pronounced as Li Bo, courtesy name Taibai (), was a Chinese poet, acclaimed from his own time to the present as a brilliant and romantic figure who took traditional poetic forms to new heights. He and his friend Du Fu ...

reference Lintao in his poem, "Ballads of Four Seasons: Winter." Located at an important

Tao River Tao River () is a right tributary of China's Yellow River. It starts in Xiqing Mountains () near the Gansu–Qinghai border, flows eastward across Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, and then northward more or less along the border between ...

crossing, Didao City (i.e., today's Taoyang Town) was an important trade center during the

Northern Song Dynasty Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

(ca. 11-12th century), when the more northern route of the

Silk Route The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

was blocked by the Xi Xia state. It is known to have been home to hundreds of foreign merchants at the time, some of whom may have been the ancestors of today's

Hui people The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...

of Gansu.

Geography

The county is located mostly on the right (eastern) bank of the

, a right tributary of the

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 ...

. It borders with

Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. Hi ...

in the northeast, with

Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture (, Xiao'erjing: ), formerly known as Hezhou (河州) and Baohan (枹罕), is located in Gansu Province, south of the provincial capital Lanzhou, bordering Qinghai to the west. It is an autonomous prefecture for th ...

in the west, and with other parts of

Prefecture-level City in the east and south.

Climate

Culture

Lintao is known for its Huashutang candy (花酥糖) and

Nuo opera Nuo opera or Nuo drama () is one of China's most popular folk operas. Characterized by its special features such as ferocious masks, unique dresses and adornments, the strange language used in performance, and mysterious scenes, Nuo opera has be ...

Administrative divisions

Lintao County is divided to 5 towns and 6 townships. The county seat of Lintao County is in Taoyang town. ;Towns ;Townships

Transport

China National Highway 212 and the Lanhai Expressway (G75) cross the county from the north to the south, on its way from

to south-eastern Gansu. A military airfield, Lintao Air Base, is located south of the county seat.

References

County-level divisions of Gansu Dingxi {{gansu-geo-stub