Tonghai County () is located in Yuxi Prefecture-level City, Yunnan Province, China.

Geography

Tonghai County occupies the fertile valley of Qilu Lake, surrounded on all sides by mountains. The county seat is located on the south side of the lake, separated from the lake by a mile-wide strip of farmland. The county's southernmost part, including the Dagao Dai and Yi Ethnic Township and

Lishan Yi Ethnic Township Lishan may refer to: *Lishán Didán, modern Jewish Aramaic language People's Republic of China *Lishan District (立山区), Anshan, Liaoning *Mount Li (骊山), near Xi'an *Lishan, Sui County (), town in Sui County, Hubei, Sui County, Suizhou, H ...

, is separated from the rest of the county by mountains; it is outside of the Qilu Lake basin, and is drained into the

Qu River Qu River () is a river of in China's Sichuan Province and Chongqing Municipality. It is a left tributary of the Jialing River, which in its turn is a left tributary of the Yangtze; it is thus part of the East China Sea basin. Its length is 720 ...

instead. In 1970, a powerful earthquake struck the area.

History

The area around Qilu Lake has been inhabited since at least the Neolithic period. In the Tang dynasty it was the base of a general. For many centuries it was the political, economic and military center of southern Yunnan. Soon after the formation of PRC, the area of today's Tonghai County was organized as two counties: Tonghai and Hexi (in the western part of today's Tonghai County). The two counties were merged into Qilu County () on November 22, 1956. On October 22, 1959, Qilu County was renamed Tonghai County. The county includes a large Muslim ( Hui) population. Centers of Hui culture include Dahui and Xiaohui villages in Hexi Township, as well as Nagu Town, with its Najiaying Mosque. Xingmeng Mongol Ethnic Township, home to the Yunnan Mongols ( Khatso), is the only Mongol ethnic township in Yunnan.

Administrative divisions

Tonghai County has 2 subdistricts, 4 towns and 3 ethnic townships. ;2 subdistricts * Xiushan () * Jiulong () ;4 towns ;3 ethnic townships * Lishan Yi () * Gaoda Dai and Yi () * Xingmeng Mongol ()

Transportation

Bus routes: * Jianshui County (2hr) * Gejiu (2hr) * Hekou (13hr) * Kaiyuan (4hr) *

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

(2hr) Railway: * Yuxi–Mengzi Railway (a section of the standard gauge Kunming–Hekou Railway). The passenger station, Tonghai Station, is located near Hexi Town, a few kilometers west of the county seat.

Climate

References

External links

Tonghai County Official Website
County-level divisions of Yuxi {{Yunnan-geo-stub