Dingzhou

Dingzhou (Chinese: 定州; pinyin: Dìngzhōu), formerly Dingxian (simplified Chinese: 定县; traditional Chinese: 定縣; pinyin: Dìngxiàn postal: Tingsien) is a county-level city with sub-prefecture-level city status, located under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Baoding in the southwest of Hebei Province in northern China, about halfway between Baoding and Shijiazhuang. As of 2009, Dingzhou had a population of 1.2 million. Dingzhou has 3 subdistricts, 13 towns, 8 townships, and 1 ethnic township. Dingzhou is 196 kilometres (122 mi) southwest of Beijing, 68 kilometres (42 mi) northeast of Shijiazhuang.

History

China's tallest pre-modern pagoda, the 84-metre-tall (276 ft) Liaodi Pagoda, is located here, built in 1055 during the Song Dynasty. In 1973 a tomb was excavated about 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) southwest of Dingzhou dating to 55 BCE and containing several fragments of Chinese literary works, including an early manuscript of the Analects of Confucius, a manuscript of a Daoist work known as Wenzi and fragments of the military treatise Liu tao.

From 1926 to 1937, the county was the site of the National Association of Mass Education Movement's Ting Hsien Experiment of the Rural Reconstruction Movement. In the 1990s the New Rural Reconstruction Movement maintained a training and outreach center.

Administrative Divisions

Towns:

• Qingfengdian (清风店镇), Dongting (东亭镇), Liqingu (李亲顾镇), Mingyuedian (明月店镇), Daxinzhuang (大辛庄镇), Xingyi (邢邑镇), Zhuanlu (砖路镇), Liuzao (留早镇), Pangcun (庞村镇), Gaopeng (高蓬镇), Ziwei (子位镇), Dingningdian (叮咛店镇), Dongwang (东旺镇), Kaiyuan (开元镇)

Townships:

• Dongliuchun Township (东留春乡), Zhoucun Township (周村乡), Daluzhuang Township (大鹿庄乡), Yangjiazhuang Township (杨家庄乡], Zhaocun Township (赵村乡), Xicheng Township (西城乡), Xizhong Township (息仲乡), Haotouzhuang Hui Ethnic Township (号头庄回族乡)

Transportation

Dingzhou is one of the transportation hubs in North China.

Railroads

• Jingguang railway: Dingzhou Railway Station
• Jingshi Passenger Railway: Dingzhou East Railway Station
• Shuohuang Railway: Dingzhou South Railway Station

Highways

• Jingshi Expressway
• China National Highway 107

Places of interest

• Liaodi Pagoda: The tallest existing pre-modern Chinese pagoda
• Dingzhou Confucius Temple: A well-preserved Confucius temple in Hebei

References

• Sidney D. Gamble, Foreword by Y.C. James Yen. Field work directed by Franklin Ching-han Lee. Ting Hsien, a North China Rural Community (New York: International Secretariat Institute of Pacific Relations, 1954; rpr Stanford University Press, 1968). xxv, 472p. 54009009. Sociological survey conducted in the 1920s and early 1930s.

External links

• Dingzhou City Government Website
• Report on excavation of Dingzhou tombs