Li County or Lixian is an administrative division of the prefecture-level city of Longnan in southeastern Gansu , a northwestern province of China . The 2010 Chinese census found a population of 458,237, a decline of around 25,000 from the year 2000 but still placing it second in size within its prefecture.
34-692: The county seat is also known as Lixian , formerly romanized as Li Hsien . It is located at the confluence of the Western Han and Yanzi rivers , tributaries of the Jialing and Yangtze watersheds. Commanding a valley connecting the Yellow and Yangtze river systems, it was an important outpost of the Shang and Zhou dynasties and was the initial seat of the Ying family who later established
68-531: A Superior Court and Sheriff (as an officer of the court ), both located in a designated "shire town". Bennington County, Vermont has two shire towns; the court for "North Shire" is in the shire town Manchester , and the Sheriff for the county and court for "South Shire" are in the shire town Bennington. In 2024, Connecticut , which had not defined their counties for anything but statistical, historical and weather warning purposes since 1960, along with ending
102-410: A county seat may be an independent city surrounded by, but not part of, the county of which it is the administrative center; for example, Fairfax City is both the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia and completely surrounded by Fairfax County, but the city is politically independent of the county. When the county seat is in the independent city, government offices such as the courthouse may be in
136-455: Is an autonomous county in the east of Gansu Province of the People's Republic of China , bordering Shaanxi Province to the east. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Tianshui . Its postal code is 741500, and in 1999 its population was 299,277 people. Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County is divided to 10 towns and 5 townships. This Gansu location article
170-593: Is an administrative center, seat of government , or capital city of a county or civil parish . The term is in use in five countries: Canada , China , Hungary , Romania , and the United States . An equivalent term, shire town , is used in the U.S. state of Vermont and in several other English-speaking jurisdictions, such as Venezuela . In Canada , the provinces of Ontario , Quebec , New Brunswick , Prince Edward Island , and Nova Scotia have counties as an administrative division of government below
204-409: Is known as the seat of its county. Generally, the county legislature, county courthouse, sheriff's department headquarters, hall of records, jail and correctional facility are located in the county seat, though some functions (such as highway maintenance, which usually requires a large garage for vehicles, along with asphalt and salt storage facilities) may also be located or conducted in other parts of
238-737: Is one of the counties included in the Targeted Poverty Alleviation campaign . In 2014, 26.1% of the population fell under the poverty line. Lixian is known as the home of rhubarb in China. According to Qianlong era writings, rhubarb has been cultivated in the area for thousands of years. Other local produce includes apples, walnuts and peppers . Present-day, Li County includes 22 towns and 7 townships : -Towns are upgraded from Township. -Towns are established newly. -Former Towns are merged to other. -Former Townships are merged to other. County seat A county seat
272-540: The Cultural Revolution , the area received a bit of local notoriety for its flagging grain production. The "experiences of Li County" were used by regional officials to caution against implementation of Tachai -style collectivism in the mid-1970s. The collective farms in the area saw decreasing year-on-year yields of grain until, by 1976, all 29 of the county's communes were consuming more grain than they produced. This provoked official action, which denounced
306-571: The Northern Wei dynasty , it was part of Hanyang Commandery , headquartered at Hanyang (present-day Tianshui ). Under the Western Wei , this was changed to Hanyang County . During the Tang , Lixian was known as Changdao ( 長道 , 长道 ) and was part of Qinzhou ( 秦州 ), a province centered variously at Shanggui (present-day Tianshui) and Chengji (present-day Qin'an ). The area
340-766: The Tsin-ling Shan , and passes from the basin of the Huang Ho into that of the Yang-tse by an easy pass. The south-eastern corner of Kan-su , south of the Tsin-ling Shan range, differs greatly from the rest of the province. The bare loess hills of Central Kan-su with their waterless valleys give way to jungle-covered mountains with abundance of water, and coolie transport takes the place of camels , carts, and mules . The people are in close touch with Sechuan . The Liba gold deposit ( 李坝金矿区 ) lies within
374-701: The imperial cavalry . He proved so successful that, when the Marquis ;of Shen blocked his inheritance of Daluo's estate, King Xiao created him lord of nearby Qin (present-day Zhangjiachuan , Gansu). During the 842 BC Compatriots Rebellion , the Zhou king Li was overthrown at Hao and forced into a prolonged exile; the Rong took the occasion to attack and massacre Cheng's clan at Xichui. King Xuan named Feizi's great-grandson Qin Zhong commander over
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#1732764959321408-533: The kingdom and empire of Qin . Lixian is bordered within Longnan by the counties of Xihe to the east, Wudu to the south, and Tanchang to the west. The municipalities of Dingxi and Tianshui lie to the northwest and northeast, respectively. Sir Eric Teichman , the British diplomat and orientalist , described the territory in 1916 before its modern development: ...the path [from Tianshui] crosses
442-947: The United States, followed by Towson , the county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland . Likewise, some county seats may not be incorporated in their own right, but are located within incorporated municipalities. For example, Cape May Court House, New Jersey , though unincorporated, is a section of Middle Township , an incorporated municipality. In some states, often those that were among the original Thirteen Colonies , county seats include or formerly included "Court House" as part of their name, such as Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia . Most counties have only one county seat. However, some counties in Alabama , Arkansas , Georgia , Iowa , Kentucky , Massachusetts , Mississippi , Missouri , New Hampshire , New York , and Vermont have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of
476-447: The Zhou expeditions against the Rong around 827 BC but the Rong killed him at Qin in 822. His son Zhuang and his four younger brothers successfully invaded the Rong lands with 7,000 Zhou soldiers and recovered both Qin and Xichui. At some point during Spring and Autumn period , barley and wheat were introduced into the area in addition to its traditional millet. Created a duke over Xichui, Zhuang moved his family's capital to
510-470: The area. His great-great-grandson was Daluo ( 大骆 ), who had two sons by different mothers in the early 9th century BC. Cheng, his son by the daughter of the Marquis ;of Shen , inherited Xichui and the other son, Feizi , initially went without and served as his brother's horse breeder . His reputation grew to the point that King Xiao charged him with breeding and providing
544-454: The complaints as "sabotage" and "poison", in the period between the fall of the Gang of Four and the rise of Deng Xiaoping 's economic reforms . The area is also subject to earthquakes , with 25 recorded as having a magnitude of 5.0 or higher. The largest recorded was an 8.0-magnitude quake that struck on July 21, 1654; most recently, a 6.6-magnitude quake struck on July 22, 2013 . Lixian
578-526: The counties after his unification, there were about 1,000. Under the Eastern Han dynasty , the number of counties increased to above 1,000. About 1400 existed when the Sui dynasty abolished the commandery level (郡 jùn), which was the level just above counties, and demoted some commanderies to counties. In Imperial China, the county was a significant administrative unit because it marked the lowest level of
612-670: The county limits. Huaniu apples are a speciality agricultural product of the region. Scientists from Lanzhou University have established that widespread agriculture began in Li County around 6,400 years ago as part of the Banpo phase of the Yangshao culture of the Wei River valley. The warm, humid climate of the mid- Holocene made the area productive for millet prior to the drier conditions which began about 2000 BC. By
646-418: The county, especially if it is geographically large. A county seat is usually an incorporated municipality . The exceptions include the county seats of counties that have no incorporated municipalities within their borders, such as Arlington County, Virginia , where the county seat is the entire county. Ellicott City , the county seat of Howard County, Maryland , is the largest unincorporated county seat in
680-420: The county. Examples include Harrison County, Mississippi , which has both Biloxi and Gulfport as county seats, and Hinds County, Mississippi , which has both Raymond and the state capital of Jackson . The practice of multiple county seat towns dates from the days when travel was difficult. There have been few efforts to eliminate the two-seat arrangement, since a county seat is a source of civic pride for
714-698: The defense of Quanqiu against the Rong who subsequently invaded. Overcome, he was captured and lived among the Rong for a year before being released. When the Quanrong overcame Hao in 771 and ended the Western period of the Zhou, Xiang was granted a promotion by King Ping and no longer suffered subordinate status. Under the Qin and Han dynasties , it was part of Longxi Commandery , headquartered at Didao (present-day Taoyang in Lintao County ). During
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#1732764959321748-424: The imperial bureaucratic structure; in other words, it was the lowest level that the government reached. Government below the county level was often undertaken through informal non-bureaucratic means, varying between dynasties. The head of a county was the magistrate , who oversaw both the day-to-day operations of the county as well as civil and criminal cases. The current number of counties mostly resembled that of
782-533: The increase of Han Chinese population in Taiwan, the number of counties also grew by time. By the end of Qing era, there were 11 counties in Taiwan. Protestant missionaries in China first romanized the term as hien . When Taiwan became a Japanese colony in 1895, the hierarchy of divisions also incorporated into the Japanese system in the period when Taiwan was under Japanese rule. By September 1945, Taiwan
816-625: The independent city under an agreement, such as in Albemarle , or may in be enclaves of the county surrounded by the independent city, such as in Fairfax . Others, such as Prince William , have the courthouse in an enclave surrounded by the independent city and have the county government, the Board of Supervisors, in a different part of the county, far from the county seat. The following counties have their county seat in an independent city: Bedford
850-758: The later years of the Qing dynasty . Changes of location and names of counties in Chinese history have been a major field of research in Chinese historical geography, especially from the 1960s to the 1980s. There are 1,355 counties in Mainland China out of a total of 2,851 county-level divisions. In Taiwan , the first counties were first established in 1661 by the Kingdom of Tungning . The later ruler Qing empire inherited this type of administrative divisions. With
884-675: The provincial level, and thus county seats. In the provinces of Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia the term "shire town" is used in place of county seat. County seats in China are the administrative centers of the counties in the People's Republic of China . Xian have existed since the Warring States period and were set up nationwide by the Qin dynasty . The number of counties in China proper gradually increased from dynasty to dynasty. As Qin Shi Huang reorganized
918-542: The site, establishing the city of Quanqiu . When Zhuang died in 778 BC, his eldest son Shifu ( 世父 ) refused to inherit official duties but chose instead to live a life on his chariot , fighting the Rong in revenge for his grandfather's death. His younger brother Xiang opted to marry his sister Mu Ying to King Feng of the Rong ( 豐王 ) and, the next year in 776 BC, he moved his capital from Quanqiu to Qian ( 汧 , present-day Longxian in Shaanxi ). Shifu led
952-777: The state's area, has no borough government or borough seat. One borough, the Lake and Peninsula Borough , has its borough seat located in another borough, namely King Salmon in Bristol Bay Borough . In Louisiana , which is divided into parishes rather than counties, county seats are referred to as "parish seats". In New England , counties have served mainly as dividing lines for the states' judicial systems. Rhode Island has no county level of government and thus no county seats, and Massachusetts has dissolved many but not all of its county governments. In Vermont , Massachusetts , and Maine county government consists only of
986-629: The time of ancient China , Lixian was part of the territory of Xichui ( lit. "the Western March"). During the Shang dynasty , Zhongjue and his son Feilian ( 蜚廉 ) controlled Xichui from the midst of the area's Rong tribes. Feilian's son Elai served King Zhou as his bodyguard and was killed when King Wu overthrew him and founded the Zhou dynasty . Under the Zhou, however, Elai's family—the House of Ying —continued to control
1020-416: The towns involved, along with providing employment opportunities. There are 33 counties with multiple county seats in 11 states: Alaska is divided into boroughs rather than counties; the county seat in these case is referred to as the "borough seat"; this includes six consolidated city-borough governments (one of which is styled as a "municipality"). The Unorganized Borough, Alaska , which covers 49% of
1054-624: The use of county seats in particular, will fully transition with the permission of the United States Census Bureau to a system of councils of government for the purposes of boundary definition and as county equivalents. Two counties in South Dakota , Oglala Lakota and Todd , have their county seat and government services centered in a neighboring county. Their county-level services are provided by Fall River County and Tripp County , respectively. In Virginia ,
Li County, Gansu - Misplaced Pages Continue
1088-569: Was an independent city from 1968 to 2013, while also being the county seat of Bedford County . Bedford reverted to an incorporated town, and remains the county seat, though is now part of the county. The state with the most counties is Texas, with 254, and the state with the fewest counties is Delaware, with 3. Zhangjiachuan County The Zhangjiachuan Hui Autonomous County ( simplified Chinese : 张家川回族自治县 ; traditional Chinese : 張家川回族自治縣 ; pinyin : Zhāngjiāchuān Huízú Zìzhìxiàn , Xiao'erjing : جْاکِاچُوًا خُوِذُو ذِجِشِیًا )
1122-573: Was divided into 8 prefectures ( 州 and 廳 ), which remained after the Republic of China took over. There are 13 county seats in Taiwan, which function as county-administered cities , urban townships , or rural townships . In most of the United States , a county is an administrative or political subdivision of a state that consists of a geographic area with specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The city, town, or populated place that houses county government
1156-518: Was the home of the noted 10th-century memoirist Wang Renhui ( 王仁裕 ). Li County was separated from Tianshui's jurisdiction during the ninth year of Chenghua (AD 1473) during the Ming dynasty . Li County's loess is prone to erosion and landslides. Amid the increasing collectivization of agriculture from 1964 to 1978, just seven flows damaged 22,000 hectares (85 sq mi) of farmland, destroyed 17,544 homes, and killed 1,142 people. During
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