() is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

in the

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

of Huzhou, in the northwest of

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

province. As of 2020 census, its population was 548,568 all living in the built-up (or metro) area. Deqing is very close to

Hangzhou Hangzhou, , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ; formerly romanized as Hangchow is a sub-provincial city in East China and the capital of Zhejiang province. With a population of 13 million, the municipality comprises ten districts, two counti ...

and

Shaoxing Shaoxing is a prefecture-level city on the southern shore of Hangzhou Bay in northeastern Zhejiang province, China. Located on the south bank of the Qiantang River estuary, it borders Ningbo to the east, Taizhou, Zhejiang, Taizhou to the south ...

, so it is becoming de facto a suburb of the two cities. It is being conurbated soon and even a Metro Line is planned in the middle term to link both cities.

Geography

Located in the middle of the plain between the Hangzhou Bay and the Taihu, most of Deqing County is flat, criss-crossed by numerous canals. The western end of the county is mountainous. There, the popular tourist areas of Moganshan (莫干山) is located. Moganshan is a scenic mountain, an hour from

, with many pre-World War II villas built by foreigners, along with one of Chiang Kai-shek's Guomindang compounds. Zisiqiao () Village, located within Deqing County's Xinshi Town, is renowned as a center of

snake farm A snake farm is a facility that houses and breeds a wide variety of snakes, often for the purpose of research and the collection of snake venom, venom for the creation of antivenom. Many snake farms are primarily tourist attractions. Notable sna ...

ing. The locals have been raising snakes since the 1980s; currently, about 800 people in Zisiqiao work in snake farming industry, raising some three million snakes a year. Live snakes are supplied to specialty restaurants; dried or preserved in

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

, they are sold to manufacturers of

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

s; snake-infused wine is made as well.China's 'Snake Village' seeks New Year riches
AFP, 2013-02-10 The village is nicknamed "Snake Village" by the media, and Deqing Snake Culture Museum is a local tourist attraction.

Administrative divisions

Towns: * Wukang (武康镇), Qianyuan (乾元镇), Xinshi (新市镇), Luoshe (洛舍镇), Xin'an (新安镇), Leidian (雷甸镇), Zhongguan (钟管镇), Yuyue (禹越镇), Moganshan (莫干山镇)

Climate

Religion

Yunxiu Temple Yunxiu Temple () is a Buddhist temple located in Xiazhuhu Subdistrict, Deqing County, Zhejiang, China. History The original temple dates back to the year 1181, during the Song dynasty (960–1279). It was destroyed by fire during the Mon ...

is a

Buddhist temple A Buddhist temple or Buddhist monastery is the place of worship for Buddhism, Buddhists, the followers of Buddhism. They include the structures called vihara, chaitya, stupa, wat, khurul and pagoda in different regions and languages. Temples in B ...

in Xiazhuhu Subdistrict.

Transportation

Deqing has two railway stations, normal trains serve through Deqing West railway station, which located on the Xuancheng–Hangzhou railway, with fairly frequent, although not particularly fast, passenger service to Hangzhou and

Hefei Hefei is the Capital city, capital of Anhui, China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Its population was 9,369,881 as of the 2020 census. Its built-up (or ''metro'') area is made up of four u ...

.Deqing West schedule
High speed trains serve Deqing railway station, on the Nanjing-Hangzhou high-speed railway.

Tourist attractions

The county houses many ancient bridges, such as Sengjia Bridge and Qinghe Bridge.

Notes

{{Authority control County-level divisions of Zhejiang Huzhou National Civilized City