Ningshan County 宁陕县

Setting and landscape

The county stretches about 80 kilometres north to south and 84 kilometres east to west; it is high in the north and low in the south, with altitudes from 540 to 2,965 metres. A section of the main Qinling ridge runs along the north, from Huanghua Ridge (黄花岭) on the Zhashui (柞水) border west to Mount Tianhua (天华山) on the Foping (佛坪) border, and the Pinghe Liang (平河梁) range crosses the middle. About 59% of the land lies above 1,000 metres. Its rivers belong to three branches of the Han system: the Ziwu (子午河), the Xun (旬河) and the Chi (池河).

Neighbours are Zhashui and Zhen'an (镇安) to the east; Hanbin (汉滨区), Hanyin (汉阴) and Shiquan (石泉) to the south; Foping to the west; and Zhouzhi (周至), Huyi (鄠邑区) and Chang'an (长安区) of Xi'an to the north. The county government notes summer monthly averages of about 20°C, with July around 23°C and no severe heat.

History

The county began in 1783 as Wulang Subprefecture (五郎厅), carved from parts of five counties including Chang'an and Shiquan, with its seat at Laocheng (老城), "old town", from 1784. In 1800 the Jiaqing Emperor approved a walled town at the Wulang Pass (五郎关) and named it Ningshan, meaning to guard the pass and keep Shaanxi at peace; the subprefecture took the same name. A mutiny in 1806 destroyed the subprefecture's offices. Ningshan became a county in 1913.

The Red Army's 25th Army passed through twice between February and July 1935 and took Laocheng on 27 February. In August 1946 three officers of the Central Plains Military Region, Zhang Wenjin (张文津), Wu Zuyi (吴祖贻) and Mao Chuxiong (毛楚雄), were on their way to negotiate in Xi'an when Hu Zongnan's (胡宗南) troops secretly killed them at Jiangkou (江口镇).

What to see

An Ankang city government report of 2024 lists Tongchewan (筒车湾) as a national 4A scenic area and Qinling Canyon Park (秦岭峡谷乐园) as a 3A area, with Tongchewan and Shangbahe (上坝河) as the county's two provincial tourist resorts. A county government feature names Shangbahe and Mount Tianhua as national forest parks. The same feature records that a Northwest University geologist opened Qinling Canyon Rafting (秦岭峡谷漂流) in 2007 as the first high-mountain canyon water attraction in Shaanxi.

Highlights

• Tongchewan 筒车湾: National 4A scenic area and provincial tourist resort.
• Shangbahe 上坝河: National forest park and provincial tourist resort.
• Mount Tianhua 天华山: National forest park at the western end of the county's Qinling crest, on the Foping border.
• Laocheng 老城: Seat of Wulang Subprefecture from 1784; taken by the Red Army on 27 February 1935.