Geographic position

Current position: English > About Lishui > Geographic position

Lishui District, located at 31°23'-31°48'N and 118°51'-119°14'E, covers an area of 1,067km2, It is at the east to Liyang, Changzhou, south to Gaochun District, Nanjing, west to Bowang District, Ma'anshan, Anhui Province, northwest to Jiangning District, Nanjing and northeast to Jurong, Zhenjiang.

Lishui District, located at the hilly and mountain area of Nanjing-Zhenjiang-Yangzhou region, with the terrain low-lying southeast to the northwest. The area of low mountains and hills accounts for 72.5%, and the highest elevation is 368.5m. In Lishui District, there is Fushan Mountain, Donglu Mountain, Huifeng Mountain, Fangshan Mountain, Qiuhu Mountain and Wuxiang Mountain lying in the south and east, forming an extensive chain of mountains, with West Hengshan Mountain standing in the west isolated, stretching for miles.

Lishui District is located at the stretching area arising from Maoshan Mountains. Here, the individual mountain is featured with low elevation and scattered status, low-lying east to the west. Divided by Shijiu Lake and Qinhuai River, the terrain of Qinhuai River System in the north is low-lying southeast to the northwest, and the terrain of Shijiu Lake System tilts from high to low from both north and east, which finally converges in the lake. The total terrain is indented with hills, hillocks, dikes and alluvial lands, with gentle hills stretching in clear ladder-like. The highest first ladder consists of low hills with the elevation higher than 100m, the second ladder consists of low and gentle hills with the elevation higher than 50m, and the third ladder consists of gully regions and polder areas along rivers and lakes. The first and second ladders serve as the production base of forestry, and the third ladder serves as the main base of agricultural production and economical forest-fruit.

The geological structure and stratum of Lishui District constitute the structural unit of Yangtze platform folding zone of Yangtze old landmass. Quaternary sediments are widely distributed in Lishui District, consisting of soil parent materials. Except steeper slopes, mountains, valley (gully) slopes, low mountains and hills and its footslopes and valley (gully) are covered with weathering residues of rock stratums and acid yellow soil developed from talus materials, with different soil thickness. River deltas are covered with diluvial soil and alluvial soil and lacustrine soil only in Shijiu Lake.

Hydrography

There are two river systems in Lishui District, namely Qinhuai River System and Shijiu Lake System, with only 2.73km2 mountains in the southeast being classified into the west area of Tai Lake Basin. The watershed of these two water systems extends from east to west across the middle area of Lishui District. Orientation: It starts from Jiuligang Village of Jurong City at the upstream of East Reservoir, flows to Zhujiabian Village via Wangjiapeng Village, runs to Quchachang Village, Qiligang Village, Hejiashan Village, Guantang Village, Zhizigang Village and Luzishan Village along Yuanbai Highway (Gaogangdi), connecting Qiuhu Mountain, Shuangjian Mountain, Ma'anshan Mountain, main peak of Ping'an Mountain, then flows via Xiwang Village to Yanzhigang Village and gate of Tianshengqiao crossing Tianshengqiao River, enters into the main peak of Xiaomaoshan Mountain via Yanzikou Village, flows along Pengjia Village, Mashangshan Mountain, Zhaijia Village, Zuoshan Mountain, Wangjiadian Village and enters in to Anhui territory via Luojia Village, and then turns to West Hengshan Mountain northwestward. Watershed divides rivers in Lishui District into north and south water system, with water system in the north flowing into Qinhuai River and water system in the south flowing into Shijiu Lake.

Shijiu Lake System

The total area of Shijiu Lake is 207.65km2, wherein, the lake area in Lishui District is 90.4 km2. The water catchment area is 582.54 km2, and the total length of main channel in this water system is 53.57km. Wherein, the total length of Xinqiao River is 26.28km, with the water catchment area of 204.36km2; the total length of Yunhe Branch River is 11.99km, with the water catchment area of 103.17km2 Furthermore, there is a valley in the south of Longtou Reservior of Hefeng Town, with an area of 16.85km2, which finally merges into Gucheng Lake, forming an independent branch of Shijiu Lake System.

Qinhuai River System

Lishui District is at the southern origin of the upper reach of the Qinhuai River, providing one of the main tributaries of Qinhuai Lake. In particular, the first main stream is 28.3 kilometers long, covering a catchment area of 172.98 km2; the second main stream is 25.60 km long, covering a catchment area of 227.10 km2; and the third main stream is 11.19 km long, covering a catchment area of 64.74 km2.

Climate

Lishui District is under the subtropical monsoon climate. On an annual average basis, the District has a temperature of 15.5℃, a sunshine duration of 2,146 hours and precipitation of 1,037mm. Here have four distinctive seasons, complete original vegetation, and excellent natural environment. The District's air quality meets the second grade of national standard all year round.

In 2011, the annual average temperature was 16.3℃, slightly higher than the perennial average temperature by 0.7℃; the annual precipitation was 958.1mm, slightly less than the perennial annual precipitation by 10%; the annual duration of sunshine is 2,025.1h, same to the perennial duration of sunshine. The days of snow across the year last for 14 days. The snowfall days with larger scope and influence are mainly in January. Influenced by continuous convergence between cold air from the north and warm moisture air from the southwest, there are 4 days of snowfall in succession from January 18 to 21, resulting in low surface air temperature at the beginning and heavy snow accumulation and road icing. In the first half year, Lishui District is encountered with severer drought, with the drought degree up to heavy drought. During this period, the precipitation from January to May decreases by 60% compared with perennial precipitation, hitting the minimum precipitation at the same period in history. In addition to medium-size reservoirs with good water storage conditions, other reservoirs and ponds in Lishui District are encountered with serious shortage of water, with the water level of 9 small-size reservoirs dropping below that of dead reservoirs. Shijiu Lake and some small reservoirs run dry, and Shijiu Lake Region is faced with severe shortage of water sources. The drought areas of crops in Lishui District are up to 36,700 hectares. The areas of crops subject to severe drought are up to 10,000 hectares, and the drought areas of aquaculture are up to over 3,300 hectares, resulting in the agricultural economic loss up to RMB 383 million. The Meiyu Season starts on June 14, which is much earlier than usual. The Meiyu Season ends on July 21, which is relatively late than usual. Meiyu period lasts for 37 days, which is longer than perennial average period (22 days). The rainfall upon the starting of Meiyu Season is featured with locality, processing, high short-term precipitation intensity and long rainfall duration. The long rainfall duration, low temperature and severe light deficiency will damage some agricultural facilities and flood farmlands. Continuous precipitation, raininess, low temperature and light deficiency from August 22 to 31 have significant effect on the growth of rice, result in weak total growth of rice, which makes rice much vulnerable to plant diseases and insect pests. By the strong cold air, there is a sharp drop in temperature in Lishui District during September 17 to 19, which makes rice much vulnerable to low temperature damage in autumn and goes against grain-filling. Main meteorological disasters include cold wave, ice-freezing, drought, rainstorm, typhoon and heavy fog. Compared to previous years, there are less meteorological disasters occurred in 2011, but there are severe droughts and rainstorms.

Natural resource

Water resource

The largest freshwater lake in Nanjing is located at southwest of Lishui District, with water from No.1/No.2/No.3 Branch of Qinhuai River System and Tianshengqiao River, Xinqiao River and Yunhe Branch River of Shijiu Lake System crossing Lishui District, with the total length of 118.7km. There are total 79 small and medium size reservoirs in Lishui District, with Fangbian Reservoir (Dongping Lake) and Zhongshan Reservoir (Zhongshan Lake) respectively being No.2 and No.3 largest reservoirs in Nanjiang. Lishui District is featured with natural combination of landscape, complete original vegetation, excellent ecological environment and 31.8% forest coverage.

Mineral resource

There are 19 mine types mined in Lishui District, including gold, copper, germanium, strontium, phosphorus. Among them, the proven reserve of strontium in Lishui District accounts for 10% of the total reserve of strontium in the world, which has been sold too many countries and regions in the whole world. There are 8 kinds of metal minerals (strontium, copper, lead, zinc, germanium, iron, gold, silver), non- metal minerals (limestone for cement, volcanic rocks used for building stones, limestone, sandstone, sand, refractory clay, kaolin and tile clay), energy mineral (uranium mine) and air-water mineral (mineral water).

Plant resource

Lishui District is full of rolling hills and unique agricultural natural resources. There are 2 agriculture and forestry farms, 460,000 mu arable lands, 380,000 mu mountain lands, 260,000 mu water area and the largest organic blackberry food experimental demonstration base in the whole China, with all organic products exported, thus receiving a good reputation in the whole world; Lishui District is the largest export base of honey, ramie and cape jasmine in Jiangsu Province. There is a provincial-level boer goat breeding base and Fujiabian Agricultural Science and Technology Park.

The total area of arable lands in Lishui District is up to 42,400 hectares, rich in rice, wheat, cotton and oil-bearing crops. The water area is up to 27,600 hectares, with abundant aquatic resources, such as fishes, crabs and turtles, and various kinds of aquatic plants, like water chestnut and lotus roots. The mountain forest area is up to 14,700 hectares, rich in forest, mulberry, tea trees, fruit trees, bast fiber plants and over 500 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines, such as Radix Cynanchi Paniculati, rhizoma atractylodis, Platycodon grandiflorum, Adenophora and Changium smyrnioides.

Animal resource 

Lishui District is famous as the largest base for tea, prunus mume, Chinese chestnut, asparagus, sericulture and mulberry, Chinese herbal medicines and rex rabbit breeding in Nanjing. There are many kinds of wild animals, such as wolves, jackals, yellow weasels and hares in hills.

Lishui County is located at the south of Nanjing, with 45km from the main urban area of Nanjing. The total area of Lishui is 1,067km2, accounting for 15.5% of the total area of Nanjing, with 440,000 registered population and 510,000 actual population. In 2013, Lishui County was withdrawn and replaced with Lishui District, having jurisdiction over 2 streets, 6 towns, 1 provincial development zone, 1 national agricultural science and technology park and 1 national film and television cultural creative industry park. Lishui District has been successively awarded with titles of "Nationally Garden City", "National Health City", "National Ecological Zone", "National Advanced County for Science and Technology Work", "China's Food Industry County", "National Demonstration County for Leisure Agriculture and Rural Tourism", "The Most Valuable County in Yangtze River Delta" and "Important Traffic Hub County in Eastern China".

Lishui District, located at the center of Yangtze River Delta, is the traffic hub connecting Shanghai, Hangzhou and southern Anhui. Lishui District is very close to Nanjing Lukou International Airport, with 60km from Nanjing Port, which is accessible directly via Level 4 Qinhuai River Channel, with Nanjing-Hangzhou High-speed Railway, 4 expressways and 5 trunk highways throughout the whole district, ranking top in the coverage density of expressways in the whole China (30km high-speed rail tracks, 130km expressway and 151km trunk highway within the territory of Lishui District ), which has developed to be a rarely multi-level traffic hub city integrated with airport, railways, highways, waterways in East China. Along with the completion and opening of Metro S7 and S9, Lishui District will usher the "Era of Metro" after entering into "Era of High-speed Rail".