Xinhua County

Xinhua County
新化县
Hsinhua; Sinhwa
Tianhua South Road (天华南路)
Tianhua South Road (天华南路)
Location of Xinhua County within Loudi
Location of Xinhua County within Loudi
Xinhua is located in Hunan
Xinhua
Xinhua
Location in Hunan
Coordinates: 27°44′13″N 111°18′29″E / 27.737°N 111.308°E / 27.737; 111.308[1]
CountryPeople's Republic of China
ProvinceHunan
Prefecture-level cityLoudi
Area
 • Total
3,634.98 km2 (1,403.47 sq mi)
Population
 (2010)[3]
 • Total
1,110,910
 • Density310/km2 (790/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code
4176XX

Xinhua County (simplified Chinese: 新化县; traditional Chinese: 新化縣; pinyin: Xīnhuà Xiàn) is a county and the 4th most populous county-level division in the Province of Hunan, China; it is under the administration of Loudi City.

Located along the middle reaches of the Zi River, it covers 3,635 square kilometers and has a population of 1,196,538 (November 2020). Xinhua shares the border with Lengshuijiang, Lianyuan, Xinshao, Xupu and Longhui counties and cities. As a county, it was founded in 1072 (Northern Song dynasty) and now it is under jurisdiction of the Loudi City and subdivided into 7 townships and 19 towns, Shangmei is the county seat.

The economy of Xinhua County is largely agricultural, with 741 thousand of Xinhua County's population of 1.2 million working in agriculture. Other than agriculture, industries include machinery, electronics, ceramics, building materials, metallurgy, coal, chemical, food, paper, bamboo and wood processing. In recent years, Xinhua County's economy has grown quite a lot.[4][5]

In 2011, media attention was attracted by a construction project started by the county's government. In the hope of attracting tourists, the officials wanted to build a lavish temple (Xiongshan Si - 熊山寺; 'Bear Mountain Temple'), diverting funds from more essential projects.[6][7]

  1. ^ "Xinhua" (Map). Google Maps. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  2. ^ Loudi City Land Use Plan (2006–20)/《娄底市土地利用总体规划(2006-2020年)》.(in Chinese) Accessed 8 July 2014.
  3. ^ 娄底市2010年第六次全国人口普查主要数据公报 (in Chinese). Loudi People's Government. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  4. ^ "湖南省娄底市新化县地名介绍". www.tcmap.com.cn. Retrieved 2021-04-03.
  5. ^ "新化介绍-人口民族".
  6. ^ Poor Chinese county used relief fund to build temple. Reuters, 2011-09-26
  7. ^ 湖南新化回应媒体曝“强扣水利款建旅游区”事宜 (Hunan's Xinhua [County] responds to media's claims of the diversion of irrigation funds to the construction of a tourist area).