A Place Called Lishui Lishui HistoryLishui Culture Lishui Towns

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Articles

Entries written here: surveys of administrative history, selections from the old gazetteers with commentary, and write-ups of archaeological discoveries. Quotations carry juan and page; tradition and record are kept apart.

Entry text is written here, never transcribed wholesale from copyrighted sources.

Published entries 　26 Content updated to 　2026-09-25

c. 9200 BCE Archaeology The Huifeng Mountain Hominid Fossil Site A cave site attested only by a human temporal bone and animal fossils The Huifeng Mountain hominid fossil site is a limestone cave site on Huifeng Mountain, Baima Town, Lishui District. The district government lists it as a cultural landmark but gives no date or excavation information; what can be checked is the find of a human temporal bone and animal fossils, and a date of about 11,000 years ago. ArchaeologyEarly humansCave sites Confidence: Qualified Standard c. 9200 BCE Archaeology The Fauna and Dating of the Shenxian Cave Site An early Holocene fauna, dated to about 11,000 years ago The Shenxian Cave site is on Huifeng Mountain, Baima Town, Lishui District. The fauna found in the cave is representative of the transition from the Late Pleistocene fauna of southern China to the modern fauna; multidisciplinary study assigns the deposits to the early Holocene, about 11,000 years ago. ArchaeologyEarly humansCave sites Confidence: Qualified Standard c. 9200 BCE Archaeology The Discovery of the Shenxian Cave Site on Huifeng Mountain A human temporal bone found in 1977, in deposits dated to about 11,000 years ago At the end of 1977 archaeologists excavating the Shenxian Cave site on Huifeng Mountain in Baima, Lishui, recovered a human temporal bone and fossils of several animal species; multidisciplinary study dates the cave deposits to the early Holocene, about 11,000 years ago. ArchaeologyEarly humansCave sites Confidence: Qualified Standard c. 3000 BCE Archaeology The Neolithic Remains at the Shishan Site A district-protected site whose list entry gives only period and level The Shishan Site lies at Shishan, Shiqiu Subdistrict, Lishui District, and the third batch of district-level protected sites records its period as the Neolithic. The list gives only period, level and location, and no excavation or survey report has been traced, so the entry records only what the list attests. ArchaeologyAncient sitesthe Neolithic Confidence: Qualified Skeleton c. 1000 BCE Archaeology Rescue Excavation of Mound Tombs in Lishui Eight teams along an expressway route in 2005, and the usual finds Between April and September 2005, under the coordination of the Jiangsu provincial bureau of cultural relics, eight teams including the Nanjing Museum carried out rescue excavation of mound tombs within Lishui. Mound tombs there most often yield pottery and proto-porcelain. That general work is not a report on the Weijiacun cemetery alone. ArchaeologyTombAncient sites Confidence: Qualified Standard c. 1393 Gazetteer Selections Dating the Yanzhi River and Its Method of Excavation Two start years, two durations, and one tradition The Yanzhi River is dated by some sources to 1393 and by others to 1391, and its duration given as nearly five years or as more than ten. This article sets the accounts side by side, examines where they differ, and separates the tradition about Li Xin's death from the record. Textual criticismMing dynastyWater conservancy Confidence: Qualified Standard c. 1400 Archaeology The Remains and Working Methods of the Qiuhu Mountain Quarry A municipally protected site recorded as Ming The Qiuhu Mountain Quarry lies at Qiuhu Mountain, Yongyang Subdistrict, Lishui District, and the municipal list of protected sites records its period as Ming. The list gives only level, period and location; the extent of the quarry, its working methods and the destination of its stone are unrecorded. ArchaeologyQuarriesMing dynasty Confidence: Qualified Skeleton c. 1662 Gazetteer Selections Selections from the Kangxi Lishui County Gazetteer, Volume One (Annals) Five events in the history of Lishui from an annalistic gazetteer Volume One of the Kangxi edition of the Lishui County Gazetteer is an annalistic record running from the Spring and Autumn period to the Shunzhi reign. This article takes five entries — the founding of the county, its elevation to a prefecture, its reduction back to a county, the cutting of the Yanzhi River and the building of a pagoda — and gives the original text, the reference and an English rendering. Old gazetteersDocumentsSelections Long-form Administrative history Administrative History Administrative Division Changes after 1949 From the district system to the county's reconstitution as a district, and the towns made into subdistricts Lishui adopted the district system on 25 April 1949 under the Zhenjiang Prefecture of the Southern Jiangsu Administrative Office, returned to Nanjing in March 1983, and became a district of Nanjing by State Council approval in February 2013. Administrative historyAdministrative divisionContemporary Long-form Administrative history Administrative History County Status and the County Seat A county, a prefecture and a county again, and what the sources record about the seat Lishui became a county in 591, a prefecture in 1295 and a county again in 1369, and a district in 2013; for the county seat the sources record only the building of walls and offices, not any relocation. County systemAdministrative historyAdministrative division Confidence: Qualified Standard Administrative history Administrative History How Lishui Became a County From the county's founding in 591 CE to its reconstitution as a district in 2013 Lishui County was carved out of Liyang County in 591 CE and kept its name and county status for 1,422 years, passing between Jiangzhou, Danyang Commandery, Shengzhou, Jiangning Prefecture, Jiankang Prefecture, Jiqing Circuit and Yingtian Prefecture until it became a district of Nanjing in 2013. Administrative historyAdministrative divisionCounty system Long-form Administrative history Administrative History Lishui in the Republican Period The sources do not cover it systematically; the sequence of jurisdictions remains to be filled in The sources held by this site give no systematic account of Lishui's jurisdiction and divisions in the Republican period; this entry sets out only what they establish on either side of it and states where the gaps are. Administrative historyAdministrative divisionRepublic of China Confidence: Qualified Standard Administrative history Administrative History Lishui under the Ming and Qing Reduced to a county, the loss of Gaochun, and Jiangning Prefecture under the Qing Lishui Zhou was reduced to a county under Yingtian Prefecture in 1369; Gaochun County was detached from its southwest in 1491; in 1646 Yingtian Prefecture became Jiangning Prefecture, and Lishui remained under it through the Qing. Administrative historyAdministrative divisionMing dynasty Long-form Administrative history Administrative History Lishui under the Song and Yuan From Shengzhou to Jiangning, Jiankang and finally Jiqing Circuit Lishui was transferred to Shengzhou in 975, to Jiangning Prefecture in 1018 and to Jiankang Prefecture in 1129 at the secondary metropolitan rank; in 1295 it was raised to a prefecture and in 1329 placed under Jiqing Circuit. Administrative historyAdministrative divisionthe Song dynasty Long-form Administrative history Administrative History Lishui under the Sui and Tang From the founding of the county in 591 to its return to Shengzhou at the end of the Tang Lishui County was carved out of Liyang in 591 and placed under Jiangzhou, then Danyang Commandery; through the Tang it moved repeatedly between Yangzhou, Jiangzhou, Xuanzhou, Jiangning Commandery and Shengzhou, its territory changing with Liyang. Administrative historyAdministrative divisionSui Long-form Textual criticism Gazetteer Selections Polders and the Guangtong Dam in Lishui From abolishing the three lakes to sealing the two sluices The polders of Lishui begin with the enclosure of lakes under the Song, and the floods that followed with the sealing of the sluices at the Guangtong Dam under the Ming. This article follows four dated points in the gazetteer, and the building of the Fengxian Polder and the loss of the lakeside fields in the Wanli period. Textual criticismPoldersWater conservancy Long-form Selections Gazetteer Selections Selections from the Annals: Late Ming and Early Qing Three reversals in the commutation of the grain tax, and the record of the change of dynasty The late Ming and early Qing part of the Kangxi gazetteer's annalistic volume runs from the building of a pagoda in 1606 to the imperial order commuting the grain tax in 1658. Six entries are reproduced here, with the emphasis on the three reversals of the grain tax commutation and on the record of the change of dynasty in 1645. SelectionsOld gazetteersDocuments Standard Selections Gazetteer Selections Selections from the Annals: Ming Taxation, granaries, waterworks and town defences, year by year The Ming part of the Kangxi gazetteer's annalistic volume runs from the reduction of Lishui Zhou to a county in 1369 to a petition to restore the commutation of grain tax in 1644. Six entries are reproduced here, with notes on how the volume arranges imperial edicts, natural anomalies and the works of county magistrates. SelectionsOld gazetteersDocuments Standard Selections Gazetteer Selections Selections from the Annals: Pre-Qin to the Six Dynasties The entries of the Kangxi gazetteer's annalistic volume before the county was founded Volume One of the Kangxi edition of the Lishui County Gazetteer begins its annals in the Spring and Autumn period. This selection lists every entry before the county was founded, from the seventh year of King Jing of Zhou to the end of the Chen, thirty in all, and reproduces six of them in full with notes. SelectionsOld gazetteersDocuments Standard Selections Gazetteer Selections Selections from the Annals: Song and Yuan Polders, warfare and two changes of dynasty The Song and Yuan entries of the Kangxi gazetteer's annalistic volume run from Cao Bin's defeat of the Jiangnan army at Lishui in 975 to Xu Da's taking of Lishui Zhou in 1355. Six are reproduced here, with notes on the compilers' own remark about recording events outside the county. SelectionsOld gazetteersDocuments Standard Selections Gazetteer Selections Selections from the Annals: Sui and Tang The year the county was founded, and the changes of superior authority under two dynasties Volume One of the Kangxi edition of the Lishui County Gazetteer runs from the abolition of Danyang Commandery in 589 to the camping of Sun Ru's army at Lishui at the end of the Tang, more than twenty entries in all. Six are reproduced here, with notes on the founding year, the absorption of Liyang and the transfer to Xuanzhou. SelectionsOld gazetteersDocuments Standard Administrative history Administrative History Table of Administrative Changes by Dynasty Administrative units and jurisdictions from 591 to 2013 A table of the administrative units and jurisdictions of Lishui from the founding of the county in 591 to its reconstitution as a district in 2013, with the source for each entry; where sources are silent or disagree, this is noted below the table. Administrative historyAdministrative divisionChronology Standard Textual criticism Gazetteer Selections Taxation and Corvée in Ming and Qing Lishui The single-whip method, land survey and hidden quotas, and the commutation of the grain tax The gazetteer's entries on taxation in Lishui fall into three threads: the single-whip method adopted in 1569, the two land surveys of 1571 and 1581 and the hidden quotas they cleared, and the commutation of the grain tax, first argued in 1600 and finally granted in 1622. This article follows them through the gazetteer and their reversals. Textual criticismTaxation and corvéegrain transport Long-form Textual criticism Gazetteer Selections The Five Surviving Editions of the Lishui County Gazetteer Wanli, Shunzhi, Kangxi, Qianlong and Guangxu — sequence, extent, and disagreements in the catalogues Five editions of the Lishui county gazetteer survive, those of the Wanli, Shunzhi, Kangxi, Qianlong and Guangxu periods. This article lists their extent, compilers and editions in order, distinguishes the first printing from the surviving impression, and sets out the disagreements between catalogues. Textual criticismOld gazetteersDocuments Confidence: Qualified Long-form Textual criticism Gazetteer Selections The Naming of the Yanzhi River and Yanzhi Hill 'The rock cut was red' against 'it lies at Yanzhi Hill' — which came first The gazetteer ties the name of the Yanzhi River to a single clause, "the rock cut was red, and the river was then named Yanzhi", while modern official accounts say it was named for the Yanzhi Hill it passes through. The two put the naming in the opposite order. This article sets them side by side and examines the river, the hill and the boulder bridge. Textual criticismWater conservancyCanal Confidence: Qualified Standard Textual criticism Gazetteer Selections The Origin of the Name Lishui The sound shifts proposed for Lai, Li, Lai and Li, and where the accounts disagree The first juan of the Kangxi edition of the Lishui County Gazetteer carries a long inquiry into where the name Lishui comes from. This entry follows its lines through the two accounts of the old gazetteers, the readings of Lai and Li in the Spring and Autumn Annals, the notes of Ying Shao and Sima Zhen, and the Liyang gazetteer's derivation from a hill, setting the disagreements side by side. Textual criticismOld gazetteersDocuments Confidence: Qualified Long-form

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