Lishui

Lishui (; Lishuinese: li6 syu3 [li sʮ]) 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 Waters." 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 prefecture'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" (prefecture) in the 19th year 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. The prefecture-level city of Lishui currently administers one district, one county-level city, six counties and one autonomous county. These are further divided into 64 towns, 128 townships (including 6 She Minority Townships) and 5 subdistricts. Lishui is situated in the southwest of Zhejiang province, with its administrative area covering latitude 27° 25' to 28° 57' N and longitude 118° 41' to 120° 26' E.