Baofeng county

Baofeng county, located in the central and western parts of Henan province, is 134 kilometers from Zhengzhou, the provincial capital city to the northeast. It is 30 kilometers to the seat of Pingdingshan city and 16 kilometers to Pingdingshan to the southeast. It is 143 kilometers to Nanyang, a famous historic and cultural city to the southwest. It is 141 kilometers to Luoyang, the capital city of nine dynasties, to the northwest. Baofeng county is an important hub of communications in the central and western parts of Henan province. It has a gross area of 722 square kilometers, including 12.7 square kilometers of urban areas.

Baofeng has a long history. People came to work and live there in the Paleolithic Age. In 1120, the second year under the reign of Emperor Huizong in the Song Dynasty, the emperor named the county Baofeng, because it had rich resources and flourishing businesses, including a distilled spirit brewery, official porcelain production and iron smelting. In 1643, the 16th year of Emperor Chongzhen, Li Zicheng renamed Baofeng Baozhou. The name was returned to Baofeng during the Qing Dynasty. Today Baofeng is a county under the jurisdiction of Pingdingshan. The county governs eight towns, four townships, one district office, and 320 administrative villages, with a total population of 480,000.

Baofeng has a long military history. It has developed commerce and trade. As a hub adjacent to the mountainous areas of western Henan and plains of central Henan, it is an important distribution center for agricultural and other products. Baofeng also has developed into a major hub of communications in the province.

Baofeng has 18 rivers that each have drainage basis more than 10 square kilometers in size. It has 17 large and medium-sized reservoirs, with a total capacity of 145.72 million cubic meters. It has 89.88 million cubic meters of underground water resources. Lizhuang township has natural mineral water resources that supply 2,800 tons of water every day.

Baofeng, located in a warm temperate zone, has a sub-humid continental monsoon climate, with four distinctive seasons. It is best known as dry and windy in spring, hot and rainy in summer, fresh and clear in autumn, and cold but seldom snowy in winter. It has an annual average temperature of 14.5 degrees Celsius, 769.6mm of precipitation and 223 million cubic meters of water resources.

Baofeng, a transition zone from the broad-leaved deciduous forests of North China to broad-leaved evergreen forests of central China, is suitable for multiple biological species to live and multiply. Therefore, the county has plentiful varieties of biological resources. According to a general survey in 1982, the county has 90 cultivated plant varieties, 290 wild plant varieties, 30 domestic animals, and 220 wild animals.

Baofeng has more than 20 varieties of rich mineral resources. It has 340 million tons of coal reserves, which are Group B quality coking coal. It has reserves of more than 83 million tons of bauxite, 500 million tons of purple sand clay, 600 million tons of limestone soil, 339.73 million tons of plaster, and 66.09 million tons of fire clay.

Zhanhe district

Zhanhe district, one of the three urban districts of Pingdingshan city, is located at the southern part of downtown Pingdingshan, and comprises urban and rural areas. It was established in March 1962, along with the development of the Baili coalfield and the emerging industrial city of Pingdingshan. The district has jurisdiction over one township, one town, and six sub-district offices. It has a population of 245,000. It has a gross area of 123.5 square kilometers, including 4,485 hectares of arable lands.

The district has a long history, as represented by the bronze chimes of the Shang and Zhou dynasties unearthed in Shawang village, as well as the ancient tombs of the Warring States Period and Han Dynasty at Yulingshan and the Tomb of General Matudeng’er of the Yuan Dynasty at Shagang in Jingshan village. The district also was the setting for the novel Lamp at Crossroad, by Li Luyuan, a successful candidate in the imperial examinations at the provincial level from Songzhai village in Caozhen township.

The district has a solid industrial basis. It is home to Yaomeng Power Co Ltd, one of the top seven power plants in the country, and Tianying Group, one of the top three high-voltage switch producers in the country, along with about other large and medium-sized enterprises. The local industry has developed into a complete system based on energy, electronics, chemical industry, software development, medicine and food. Sanhe Thermal Power Plant, a district key enterprise, has an annual power generation capacity of 300 million kilowatt-hours (kWh). Huachen Power Co has an annual power supply capacity of 130 million kWh. Shenda Coal Washery, with an annual capacity of 1.2 million tons of clean coal, is the 28th largest in the country. Luzhuang Coal Mine, with an annual capacity of 210,000 tons of raw coal, is a ministerial-level mine, and an advanced unit in the province. The district is also home to the non-governmental enterprises ofYaxing Science and Industrial Trade Group, Changlu Properties Co Ltd and Haide Chemical Industry Co Ltd.

The rural economy includes high-efficiency agriculture based on the “white projects” initiative and animal husbandry based on milk cow feeding. Baolin Agriculture Farm, Liwanjia Co and He’anli Vegetable Base, provincial non-hazardous vegetable planting bases, are expanding to serve more consumers. Tianyao and Tianci milk plants are becoming the largest fresh non-staple food production base and cow milk breeding base in Pingdingshan.

The district is fully equipped with public facilities. Pingdingshan Railway Station and Coach Passenger Center are located downtown. Luohe-Baofeng Railway joins Beijing-Guangzhou Railway, and Jiaozuo-Zhicheng Railway traverses the district from east to west. Xuchang-Nanyang Highway and Luohe-Luoyang Highway pass through the district. Nearby Nanyang Airport and Zhengzhou Airport offer convenient traffic conditions. Baiguishan Reservoir, a large water control project in the west of the district, contains 1.3 billion cubic meters of water, capable of controlling floods and providing water to industrial and agricultural sectors and people’s daily lives. The Pingdingshan branches of People’s Bank, Construction Bank and People’s Insurance Company are based in the district. The building complex for Pingdingshan telecommunications companies is also situated in the district, providing services to investors from home and abroad. The district is home to many schools, No 4 Hospital, high-end hotels, residential quarters, Zhanhe Park and Pingxi Lake.