Lianjiang County

This article is about the PRC-governed county. For the county-level city in Guangdong, see Lianjiang, Guangdong. For the county of Taiwan known as Lienchiang, see Matsu Islands.
Lianjiang County
连江县
County
Lianjiang

Location in Fujian

Coordinates: 26°12′N 119°32′E / 26.200°N 119.533°E / 26.200; 119.533Coordinates: 26°12′N 119°32′E / 26.200°N 119.533°E / 26.200; 119.533
Country People's Republic of China
Province Fujian
Prefecture-level city Fuzhou
Area
 • Total 1,168.1 km2 (451.0 sq mi)
Population
 • Total 620,000
 • Density 530/km2 (1,400/sq mi)
Time zone China Standard (UTC+8)

Lianjiang (simplified Chinese: 连江; traditional Chinese: 連江; pinyin: Liánjiāng; Wade–Giles: Lien²-chiang¹; BUC: Lièng-gŏng) is a suburban county of Fuzhou on the eastern coast of Fujian province, People's Republic of China. Most of the county is controlled by the People's Republic of China (PRC), while a number of outlying islands, collectively referred to as the Matsu Islands, are administered as a separate Lienchiang County (same Chinese name but in Wade–Giles Romanization) by the Republic of China (ROC), based in Taiwan since 1949. As a result, the county has two governments governing separate jurisdictions.

See Matsu Islands for a description of ROC-governed Lienchiang County.[Notes 1]

Administration

PRC jurisdiction:

Towns (镇, zhen)

The PRC governs 14 towns:

Townships (乡, xiang)

These townships are divided into 266 villages.

History

Lianjiang, in 282, during the Jin Dynasty, was Wenma, named after a shipyard there, Wensha Ship-hamlet (溫麻船屯). It was incorporated into Min Prefecture (閩縣) in 607, during the Sui Dynasty.

Wenma was changed to the present name and made its own county during in 623, during the Tang Dynasty, when Baisha (白沙) or Fusha (伏沙) of Aojiang was the capital of Lianjiang County. The capital was changed to Fengcheng as today in 742.

After the Republic of China was established, Lianjiang switched back and forth numerous times between two special regions:

In 1949, the county was split in two due to the Chinese Civil War, as it remains today.

Beginning on 1 July 1983, the PRC side reverted control to Fuzhou Municipality.

Culture

Residents of Lianjiang, both mainland and Matsu speak Lianjiang dialect, a subdialect of Fuzhou dialect, a branch of Eastern Min. The dialect is also known as Bàng-uâ (平話).

Language

The Lianjiang dialect is a subdialect of Fuzhou dialect (the most prestigious dialect of Min Dong or Eastern Min). The Lianjiang dialect is mutually intelligible with Fuzhou dialect. It differs from Fuzhou dialect in its tonal sandhi pattern and vowel sandhi system. Small lexical differences also exist on object names, e.g. waxmelon is called "卷瓜" /kuoŋ˨ŋua˦/ in Fuzhou but "冬瓜" /tøyŋ˦ŋua˦/in Lianjiang.

Generally speaking, the tonal sandhi system of Lianjiang is more conservative than that of Fuzhou, in that the Lianjiang tonal sandhi is still largely controlled by the Middle Chinese tonal registers,[1] while the Fuzhou tonal sandhi shows more deviation and irregularity.

Lianjiang vowel sandhi is more complicated than that of Fuzhou. Both Lianjiang and Fuzhou have systematic vowel variations between citation forms and non-final forms of the same morpheme, e.g. "地"/tei/ "land" - "地主"/ti-tsuo/ "landlord". However, not all morphemes have such variations. Only the morphemes with low-starting tones show such variation. The morphemes with high-starting tones instead only have the more close variant, e.g. "迟"/ti/ "late"- "迟早" /ti tsia/ "early or late".[2][3] However, some cognates are produced with different vowels in Lianjiang and Fuzhou, e.g. "江 river" is produced as /kyeŋ/ in Lianjiang, but /kouŋ/ in Fuzhou. Also, the rimes in Lianjiang are generally more close and front than that in Fuzhou, which is especially salient in the open vowels, e.g. "下 down" is [ɑ] in Fuzhou, but [a] in Lianjiang.[4]

Surrounded by mountains, Lianjiang used to be a relatively isolated from the inland part of China for centuries. This explains why the Lianjiang phonological system is relatively more conservative. However, with the construction of the high-speed railway system [5] and the improvement of tunnel system, northern migrants are flooding into Lianjiang in the past decade, which may bring language contact into perspective. Just like in Fuzhou, most young or middle-aged Lianjiang speakers speak Standard Chinese fluently, but usually with a local accent influenced by the local dialect. However, due to the misleading language policy (Not speaking Standard Chinese is taken as "immoral".) [6] and disadvantageous status of the dialect, both Fuzhou and Lianjiang dialects are losing speakers in the youngest generation. More and more young people and children are only receptive bilinguals in Lianjiang.[7]

Economy

Food products:

Transportation

Luochang Express Way runs through the county 104 national Highway in 500.3 kilometres (310.9 mi). 42.6-kilometre (26.5 mi) navigable river length.

Guantou and Kemen (可門) are the largest seaports in Lianjiang with national access.

Tourism

There are hot springs in Gui'an (貴安) and Tanghui (湯尾) of Pandu. There is a Dragon King Palace-Temple (龍宮廟) in the Xiaocang She Nationality Rural Township.

Notes

  1. ↑ In the ROC, 鎮 (镇, zhen) is englished as Township and 鄉 (乡, xiang) as Rural Township.

References

  1. ↑ Wu, J., & Chen, Y. (2012). The Effect of Historical Tone Categories on Tone Sandhi in Lianjiang. Paper presented at the 20th Annual Conference of the IACL, Hongkong.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271849974_The_Effect_of_Historical_Tone_Categories_on_Tone_Sandhi_in_Lianjiang
  2. ↑ Wu,J., & Chen, Y. (in prep.) Lianjiang.
  3. ↑ 冯爱珍, & 李荣. (Eds.). (1998) 福州方言词典. 江苏教育出版社. ISBN 7534334217
  4. ↑ Wu,J., & Chen, Y. (in prep.) Lianjiang.
  5. ↑ http://www.gaotie.cn/lianjiangzhan/
  6. ↑ http://www.fjfqsz.com/Article_Print.asp?ArticleID=1301
  7. ↑ Wu,J., & Chen, Y. (in prep.) Lianjiang.
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