Xiuning County
Encyclopedia
Xiuning County is a county in Anhui Province, People's Republic of China, under the jurisdiction of Huangshan City
Huangshan Shi
Huangshan , is a prefecture-level city in southern Anhui province of Eastern China. Huangshan means Yellow Mountain in Chinese and the city is named after the famously scenic Yellow Mountains which cover much of the city's vast geographic expanse. The prefectural city of Huangshan includes three...

. It has a population of 270,000 and an area of 2125 square kilometres (820.5 sq mi). The government of Xiuning County is located in Haiyang Town (海阳镇).

Xiuning County has jurisdiction over nine towns and twelve townships.

History and culture

Xiuning County is historically renowned for producing more zhuàngyuán (状元: the scholar with the highest score in the national Imperial examination
Imperial examination
The Imperial examination was an examination system in Imperial China designed to select the best administrative officials for the state's bureaucracy. This system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of...

), than any other place in China. Accordingly, the large public space in Haiyang Town is called Zhuangyuan Square (状元广场).

In 2009, the Xiuning County People's Government unveiled a monument commemorating the 1800th anniversary of Xiuning (208-2008).

Western attention

In 2003, the Peabody Essex Museum
Peabody Essex Museum
The Peabody Essex Museum , originally the Peabody Museum of Salem and the Essex Institute, in Salem, Massachusetts is the oldest continuously operating museum in the United States, and holds one of the major collections of Asian art in the US; its total holdings include about 1.3 million pieces, as...

, in Salem, Massachusetts, completed a 200 million dollar renovation and expansion, designed by architect Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie
Moshe Safdie, CC, FAIA is an architect, urban designer, educator, theorist, and author. Born in the city of Haifa, then Palestine and now Israel, he moved with his family to Montreal, Canada, when he was 15 years old.-Career:...

, moving a 200-year-old 16-room Chinese house from Xiuning County to the grounds of the Museum. While in China this house was home to many generations who made a living in traveling to Shanghai and running a pawn brokers business (as stated by the movie shown at the Peabody Essex Museum after exiting Yin Yu Tang House).

In early 2008, the BBC broadcast a series of 5 documentaries on the life of pupils at schools in China. Called "Chinese School", the three schools documented were all located in Xiuning County: Xiuning High School, the top school in the county; Haiyang Middle/High School; and Ping Min Elementary School. This series was shown on BBC 4 and was received with mixed reactions, most of which were positive.

External links

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