- published: 04 May 2015
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Lishui (simplified Chinese: 丽水; traditional Chinese: 麗水; pinyin: Líshuǐ) is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Zhejiang province, People's Republic of China. It borders Quzhou, Jinhua and Taizhou to the north, Wenzhou to the southeast, and the province of Fujian to the southwest. The name of the city literally means "Beautiful Water", and the pronunciation of its first character is "lí", not the usual "lì".
Lishui has a very long history, for during the Liangzhu Culture period 4000 years ago, there were tribes living in the area. In 589, a prefecture called Chuzhou was established by the Sui Dynasty with Kuocang, Songyang, Linhai, Yongjia, Angu and Lechen counties under its jurisdiction. Three years later, the prefecature's name was changed to Kuozhou and then to Yongjia County in 607. The name was changed back to Kuozhou in 621 during the Tang Dynasty, to Jinyun County in the first year of the Tianbao era (742) and back to Kuozhou in the first year of Qianyuan Era (758).
In 779, during the Tang Dynasty, it was renamed Lishui County. The name of the area was changed again in the year 1276 during the Yuan Dynasty to Chuzhou Lu and to Annan Fu in the 19th year of rule of Zhizheng (1359). The name of the area was maintained as Chuzhou Fu until the Ming and Qing Dynasties when it was changed back to Lishui. In the year 1935, the area was given the official name: Lishui Administrative Supervision District. In 1949, the Lishui Special District was established but then abolished in 1952. Later, it was re-instated in 1963 and the area was renamed as Lishui City. By the year 1997, Longquan, Qingtian, Jinyun, Yunhe, Qingyuan, Suichang, Songyang and Jingning were under the jurisdiction of Lishui, Liandu District serving as the administrative headquarters.
Coordinates: 29°12′N 120°30′E / 29.2°N 120.5°E / 29.2; 120.5
Zhejiang (Chinese: 浙江; pinyin: Zhèjiāng; Wade–Giles: Che-chiang or Chekiang) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. The word Zhejiang (crooked river) was the old name of the Qiantang River, which passes through Hangzhou, the provincial capital. The name of the province is often abbreviated to its first character, "浙".
Zhejiang borders Jiangsu province and Shanghai municipality to the north, Anhui province to the northwest, Jiangxi province to the west, and Fujian province to the south; to the east is the East China Sea, beyond which lie the Ryukyu Islands of Japan.
The area of modern Zhejiang was outside the major sphere of influence of early Chinese civilization during the Shang Dynasty (sixteenth century to eleventh century BC). Instead, this area was populated by peoples collectively known as the Yue, such as the Dongyue and the Ouyue. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the state of Yue emerged in northern Zhejiang. The Yue state was heavily influenced by the Chinese civilization further north. Under King Goujian of Yue, Yue reached its zenith and was able to wipe out the powerful state of Wu to its immediate north, in 473 BC. Then, in 333 BC, Yue was in turn conquered by the state of Chu, which was to the west. In 221 BC, the state of Qin completed the conquest of the last of the formerly independent states of China, including the state of Chu. This conquest made what is now Zhejiang part of a unified Chinese empire.