Xiuning County () is a county in the south of

Anhui Province Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...

, People's Republic of China, under the jurisdiction 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 Chi ...

of Huangshan City. The southernmost

county-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there ...

in the province, it has a population of and an area of . The government of Xiuning County is located in Haiyang Town (). Xiuning County has jurisdiction over nine towns and twelve townships.

Administrative divisions

Xiuning County is divided to 10 towns and 11 townships. ;Towns ;Townships

History and culture

Xiuning County is historically renowned for producing more ''

zhuàngyuán ''Zhuangyuan'', or ''trạng nguyên'' in Vietnamese, variously translated into English as principal graduate, primus, or optimus, was the title given to the scholar who achieved the highest score on highest level of the Imperial examination, ( ...

'' (: the scholar with the highest score in the national

Imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

), than any other place in China. Accordingly, the large public space in Haiyang Town is called Zhuangyuan Square (). In 2009, the Xiuning County People's Government unveiled a monument commemorating the 1800th anniversary of Xiuning (208-2008).

Climate

Western attention

In 2003, the Peabody Essex Museum, in Salem, Massachusetts, completed a 200 million dollar renovation and expansion, designed by architect Moshe Safdie, moving a 200-year-old 16-room Chinese house from Xiuning County to the grounds of the Museum. While in China this house was home to many generations who made a living in traveling to Shanghai and running a pawn brokers business (as stated by the movie shown at the Peabody Essex Museum after exiting Yin Yu Tang House). In early 2008, the BBC broadcast a series of 5 documentaries on the life of pupils at schools in China. Called "Chinese School", the three schools documented were all located in Xiuning County: Xiuning High School, the top school in the county; Haiyang Middle/High School; and Ping Min Elementary School. This series was shown on BBC 4 and was received with mixed reactions, most of which were positive.

Transportation

Rail

Xiuning is served by the Anhui–Jiangxi Railway.

References

External links

Xiuning County Government

Yin Yu Tang at the Peabody Essex Museum's website
{{Authority control County-level divisions of Anhui Huangshan City