Yizhou

This article is about the modern city in Guangxi. For other uses, see Yizhou (disambiguation).

Yizhou 宜州市 Yizcouh Si
County-level city
Coordinates:
Country	People's Republic of China
Region	Guangxi
Prefecture-level city	Hechi
Township-level divisions	7 towns 7 townships 2 ethnic townships
Seat	Qingyuan
Area
• Total	3,869 km2 (1,494 sq mi)
Elevation	153 m (502 ft)
Population (2004)
• Total	610,000
• Density	160/km2 (410/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	546300

Yizhou (Chinese: 宜州; pinyin: Yízhōu), formerly Yishan County (宜山县), is a county-level city under the administration of Hechi City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China.

Yizhou is located in the northwest of Guangxi on the Long River in an area noted for its magificant karst formations. The limestone karst formations dot the city and surrounding country and beautiful rivers cut through the landscape. The city of Yizhou has several hundred thousand inhabitants. The surrounding country side is home to a number of ethnic Zhuang villages. The economy is centered on sugar production. Located near Yizhou is a British-Chinese jointly run sugar processing plant. The country side surrounding Yizhou is similar in appearance to the tourist Mecca Yangshuo, located in the east of Guangxi. While Yizhou has a convenient tourist infrastructure, foreign tourists are sparse.

Perhaps the most famous invidivual in the history of Yizhou is the legendary Song Dynasty singer Liu Sanjie 刘三姐, renowned for her beautiful singing voice. The people of Yizhou believe that Liu was born there and a statue of her is in the city center.

In 2002 a riot struck the city. The Yizhou riots involved violence between the police and local farmers.

There are a Yishan Road and a Yishan light rail station in Shanghai named after the city.

On 26 August 2008 an explosion at a chemical plant killed 20 people and injured many more. 11,000 were evacuated from their homes.

Administrative divisions

Yizhou administers 7 towns, 7 townships, and 2 ethnic townships:

Towns:

• Qingyuan (庆远镇), Sancha (三岔镇), Luoxi (洛西镇), Huaiyuan (怀远镇), Desheng (德胜镇), Shibie (石别镇), Beishan (北山镇)

Townships:

• Xiangjian Township (祥贝乡), Liusanjie Township (刘三姐乡), Pingnan Township (屏南乡), Luodong Township (洛东乡), Fulong Yao Ethnic Township (福龙瑶族乡), Beiya Yao Ethnic Township (北牙瑶族乡), Tongde Township (同德乡), Anma Township (安马乡), Longtou Township (龙头乡)

Transportation

Rail

• Guizhou–Guangxi Railway

See also

• Huang Tingjian

References

• Xinhua News Agency 27 August 2008