Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, or Youyang County for short () is located in southeast

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a municipality in Southwest China. The official abbreviation of the city, "" (), was approved by the State Co ...

Municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the ...

, China, bordering the provinces of

Hunan Hunan (, ; ) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the South Central China region. Located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze watershed, it borders the province-level divisions of Hubei to the north, Jiangx ...

to the east and

Guizhou Guizhou (; Postal romanization, formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in the Southwest China, southwest region of the China, People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the pr ...

to the southwest. The county spans an area of , and has a population of approximately 854,400 people as of 2018.

History

Youyang was known as Youzhou in ancient times.

Geography

Youyang Tujia Miao Autonomous County is located east of Wu River and west of . It is the largest

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 ...

of Chongqing, having an area of . The county contains about 1.5939 million mu () of

arable land Arable land (from the la, arabilis, "able to be ploughed") is any land capable of being ploughed and used to grow crops.''Oxford English Dictionary'', "arable, ''adj''. and ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Alternatively, for th ...

, 4.46 million mu () of forested land, and 2.92 million mu () of

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

. The Wuling Mountains run through the county, and the county's highest point reaches above sea level.

Climate

Administrative divisions

Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County is divided into 2 subdistricts, 19

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 18

townships 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, C ...

. These are then divided into 8 residential communities, and 270 administrative villages.

Subdistricts

The county's 2 subdistricts are and .

Towns

The county's 19 towns are , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and .

Townships

The county's 18 townships are , , , , , , , , , , , , Yudi Township, , , , , and .

Demographics

As of 2018, the county has a population of approximately 854,400 people. Of this, 275,000 live in urban areas, and 579,400 live in rural areas.

Vital statistics

In 2018, the county registered a

birth rate The birth rate for a given period is the total number of live human births per 1,000 population divided by the length of the period in years. The number of live births is normally taken from a universal registration system for births; populati ...

of 10.89 per thousand, a

death rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of d ...

of 5.74 per thousand, giving it a

rate of natural increase In Demography, the rate of natural increase (RNI), also known as natural population change, is defined as the birth rate minus the death rate of a particular population, over a particular time period. It is typically expressed either as a number ...

of 5.15 per thousand.

Ethnic groups

Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County is home to 16

ethnic minorities The term 'minority group' has different usages depending on the context. According to its common usage, a minority group can simply be understood in terms of demographic sizes within a population: i.e. a group in society with the least number o ...

, including the Tujia and

Miao people The Miao are a group of linguistically-related peoples living in Southern China and Southeast Asia, who are recognized by the government of China as one of the 56 official ethnic groups. The Miao live primarily in southern China's mountains, in ...

, for which the county is named.

Culture

The county is nicknamed the "Cradle of

Tujia people The Tujia ( Northern Tujia: ''Bifjixkhar'' / ''Bifzixkar'', IPA: , Southern Tujia: ''Mongrzzir'', ; ) are an ethnic group and, with a total population of over 8 million, the eighth-largest officially recognized ethnic minority in the People's ...

" for its rich Tujia culture. It is the home of the

Baishou Dance The Baishou Dance or baishouwu (摆手舞, literally 'hand-waving dance') is a 500-year-old historic group dance of the Tujia, one of 55 ethnic minorities in China. The dance uses 70 ritual gesture A gesture is a form of non-verbal communic ...

, a symbolic tradition of Tujia people. It is a traditional dance which involves waving hands to convey stories of human origins, myths and legends, ethnic migration, ancient wars, hunting and fishing, forestry, labor, food, and other aspects of social life. The dance was added to the second batch of the on June 7, 2008. The county is also home to a number of traditional folk songs, which perhaps date back to the

Southern 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 res ...

. The folk songs are popular at festivals, weddings, funerals, and other activities.

Economy

The county has a labor force 40-50% cheaper than that of coastal areas. It is one of the counties with the most water resources in China, and has more than 20 kinds of mineral resources. Youyang is also a "Sanmu" () production base, as it grows three major plants used in

Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action ...

: '' Eucommia ulmoides'' (), ''

Magnolia officinalis ''Magnolia officinalis'' (commonly called houpu magnolia or magnolia-bark) is a species of ''Magnolia'' native to the mountains and valleys of China at altitudes of 300–1500 m. Identification It is a deciduous tree growing to 20 m in hei ...

'' (), and ''

Phellodendron amurense ''Phellodendron amurense'' is a species of tree in the family Rutaceae, commonly called the Amur cork tree. It is a major source of '' huáng bò'' ( or 黄檗), one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. The Ainu pe ...

'' (). The country as a whole grows about 1,200 kinds of Chinese herbal medicine materials, and is home to large amounts of ''

Artemisia annua ''Artemisia annua'', also known as sweet wormwood, sweet annie, sweet sagewort, annual mugwort or annual wormwood (), is a common type of wormwood native to temperate Asia, but naturalized in many countries including scattered parts of North Am ...

''.

Tourism

Taohuayuan

Taohuayuan () is a 5A Tourist Attraction, the highest rank of designated attractions in China. Located in the northern corner of the county, Taohuayuan is a place at first described in The Peach Blossom Spring written by

Tao Yuanming Tao Yuanming (; 365–427), also known as Tao Qian (; also T'ao Ch'ien in Wade-Giles), was a Chinese poet and politician who was one of the best-known poets during the Six Dynasties period. He was born during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317-420 ...

, a famous writer of the

Eastern Jin Dynasty Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

(317-420). It is notable that there are more than one Taohuayuan spots in China, and the one in Youyang is a nationwide recognised Taohuayuan.

Gongtan Ancient Town

Gongtan Ancient Town () is located at the intersection of Wu River and Apeng River, and it is a 4A Tourist Attraction. It has a history of more than 1,700 years. More than 200 courtyards and stilted building from

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 ...

and

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 ...

are preserved in Gongtan.

Wu River Gallery

Wu River Gallery is the long, naturally formed river bank of Wu River in Chongqing Youyang, and it is a 4A Tourist Attraction. It is famous for the strangely shaped mountains along the gallery.

Longtan Ancient Town

Longtan Ancient Town () is an ancient town with ancient wood architecture.

Notable people

Zhao Shiyan Zhao Shiyan (; 13 April 1901 - 19 July 1927) was a Chinese Communist martyr and former Chinese premier Li Peng's uncle. Biography Zhao was born in Youyang Zhou, Sichuan (now Youyang Tujia and Miao Autonomous County, Chongqing), on 13 April 190 ...

, communist revolutionary

References

External links

Introduction of Tujia people
{{coord, 28.8886, N, 108.764, E, source:kolossus-euwiki, display=title Miao autonomous counties County-level divisions of Chongqing Tujia autonomous counties