Zhuxi County () is a county in the northwest of

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The prov ...

province, People's Republic of China, bordering

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see #Name, § Name) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichu ...

to the west and

Chongqing Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...

to the southwest. It is 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' ...

Shiyan Shiyan () is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hubei, China, bordering Henan to the northeast, Chongqing to the southwest, and Shaanxi to the north and west. At the 2020 census, its population was 3,209,004 of whom 1,033,407 lived in the b ...

. The county spans an area of , and has a population of 315,259 as of 2010.

Toponymy

The name Zhuxi County is named for the Zhuxi River, whose name () was derived from the large amounts of bamboo forests which bordered both sides of the river.

History

The area of present-day Zhuxi County once belong to the

Chu State Chu, or Ch'u in Wade–Giles romanization, (, Hanyu Pinyin: Chǔ, Old Chinese: ''*s-r̥aʔ'') was a Zhou dynasty vassal state. Their first ruler was King Wu of Chu in the early 8th century BCE. Chu was located in the south of the Zhou he ...

. Part of the remains of the , which possibly date back to the

3rd century BCE In the Mediterranean Basin, the first few decades of this century were characterized by a balance of power between the Greeks, Greek Hellenistic kingdoms in the east, and the great mercantile power of Carthage in the west. This balance was sh ...

. Zhuxi County was established in 1476 under the reign of the

Chenghua Emperor The Chenghua Emperor (; 9 December 1447 – 9 September 1487), personal name Zhu Jianshen, was the ninth Emperor of the Ming dynasty, who reigned from 1464 to 1487. His era name " Chenghua" means "accomplished change". Childhood Zhu Jianshen wa ...

. In 1914, it was placed under the jurisdiction of . In 1932, the Republic of China introduced , and the county was assigned to the 11th Administrative Inspectorate of Hubei Province. In 1936, it was re-assigned to the 8th Administrative Inspectorate of Hubei Province. In 1949, under the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, Zhuxi County was assigned to , which was renamed to Yunyang Prefecture the following year. The county was moved to in 1952, but was moved back to Yunyang Prefecture in 1965. In 1994, Zhuxi County was placed under the

, where it remains today. In 2010, was upgraded from a

township 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, Ca ...

to a

town 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 ori ...

. In 2013, and were upgraded from townships to towns.

Geography

The county's geography is fairly mountainous, with its highest point reaching approximately in height. The county's main rivers are the Zhuxi River and the Huiwan River, which both flow into the larger Han River.

Climate

Zhuxi County experiences an average annual temperature of , and an average annual precipitation of .

Administrative divisions

Zhuxi County is divided into eleven

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 ori ...

, four

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, Ca ...

, and eight other

township-level divisions 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 a ...

. Its eleven towns are , , , , , , , , , , and . Its four townships are , , , and . Its other township level divisions are Longwaya Tea Farm (), Guoying Zhuxi Comprehensive Farm (), Stock Seed Farm (), Fishing Stock Farm (), Zhongxu Field (), Wangjiashan Tea Farm (), Biaohu Tree Farm (), and Shuangzhu Tree Farm ().

Economy

Zhuxi County has sizable deposits of

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, and

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite. Marble is typically not Foliation (geology), foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the ...

. The county is also home to the most ''Taxus chinensis'' production of a county in China.

References

{{authority control Counties of Hubei Shiyan