Lishui County Abolished, Lishui District Established

Background

After 1949, Lishui's superior authority changed twice: on 25 April 1949 it was organised as a district under the Zhenjiang Prefecture of the Southern Jiangsu Administrative Office, and in January 1953 it came under the Jiangsu Provincial Zhenjiang Prefecture. In March 1983 it was transferred from Zhenjiang to Nanjing. Ties with the urban districts of Nanjing deepened after that, and in the 2010s Nanjing reorganised its counties into districts, with Lishui and neighbouring Gaochun moving in the same round.

Time and place

The State Council reply is dated 8 February 2013 — Reply of the State Council Agreeing to Adjust Part of the Administrative Divisions of Nanjing, Jiangsu Province (Guohan No. 24 of 2013). The district government's account says simply "February 2013, with provincial government approval". The two do not conflict: the former is the date of the State Council reply, the latter the provincial confirmation and implementation. The new district took the former county's territory as its own, with the district government seated at 68 Dadongmen Street, Yongyang.

What happened

The change proceeded in two steps: the State Council approved the adjustment, and the provincial government organised its implementation. County-level bodies were reconstituted as district-level ones. The townships under the former county were retained at first and later converted to subdistricts.

Consequences

Counting from 591 CE, Lishui's county system ran for 1,422 years and ended in 2013. As a district of Nanjing it now takes part in city-wide planning, and its internal divisions have kept changing: the current structure is five subdistricts (Yongyang, Zhetang, Dongping, Honglan, Shiqiu) and three towns (Baima, Hefeng, Jingqiao). Historical entries therefore have to distinguish levels of naming — using the township names of the period for historical events and the current subdistrict and town names for present conditions.

Uncertainties

The district government's account of the seat says "Yongyang Town, 68 Dadongmen Street". Yongyang Town was the name at the time of the reply and is now Yongyang Subdistrict. This site keeps "Yongyang Town" when quoting the reply and uses "Yongyang Subdistrict" when describing present conditions, rather than merging the two.