What is the population of Yongjing County, Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province?

Population: about 200,000 people

Population density: 107 people/km2

Yongjing County is located in the central part of Gansu Province. The total area is 1864 square kilometers. The total population is 200,000 (2004).

County People 0 is located in Liujiaxia Town, postal code: 731600. Code: 622923. Area code: 0930. Pinyin: Yongjing Xian.

Administrative divisions

Yongjing County governs 10 towns and 9 townships: Liujiaxia Town, Yanguoxia Town, Taiji Town, Xihe Town, Sanyuan Town, Xianyuan Town, Chenjing Town, Chuancheng Town, Wangtai Town, Hongquan Town, Guanshan Township, Xuding Township, Santiaoxian Township, Pinggou Township, Duanling Township, Wangping Township, Xinsi Township, Xiaoling Township, and Yangta Township.

Historical evolution

In 1929, Yongjing County was established from Linxia County. It is named after the meaning of "eternal peace".

In 2000, Yongjing County governed 2 towns and 17 townships: Liujiaxia Town, Yanguoxia Town, Liujiaxia Township, Guanshan Township, Xuding Township, Chenjing Township, Santiaoxian Township, and Xihe Township. , Wangping Township, Pinggou Township, Xinsi Township, Duanling Township, Chuancheng Township, Xiaoling Township, Wangtai Township, Yangta Township, Hongquan Township, Sanyuan Township, Xianyuan Township.

According to the fifth census data: the total population of the county is 192,033, including the population of each township (person): Liujiaxia Town 32190 Yanguoxia Town 25723 Liujiaxia Township 19484 Xihe Township 11834 Sanyuan Township 16243 Xianyuan Township 8622 Guanshan Township 8037 Xuding Township 4549 Chenjing Township 11919 Santiao Xian Township 3960 Pinggou Township 3956 Duanling Township 4786 Wangping Township 3825 Xinsi Township 4835 Chuancheng Township 7203 Xiaoling Township 6361 Wangtai Township 6718 Hongquan Township 6740 Yangta Township 5048

In 2004, Yongjing County governed 10 towns and 9 townships: Liujiaxia Town, Yanguoxia Town, Taiji Town, Xihe Town, Sanyuan Town, Xianyuan Town, Chenjing Town, Chuancheng Town, Wangtai Town, Hongquan Town, Guanshan Township, Xuding Township, Santiaoxian Township, Pinggou Township, Duanling Township, Wangping Township, Xinsi Township, Xiaoling Township, and Yangta Township.

Hydropower Resources

The three tributaries of Daxia River, Tao River and Huangshui River intersect with the Yellow River, which flows through the county for 107 kilometers. Since 1958, the state has built three power stations in our county: Liujiaxia, Yanguoxia and Bapanxia, ??with a total installed capacity of 2.042 million kilowatts (Liujiaxia 1.35 million kilowatts, Yanguoxia 472,000 kilowatts, and Bapanxia 22 10,000 kilowatts), with a total power generation capacity of 7.81 billion kilowatt hours (4.65 billion kilowatt hours in Liujiaxia, 2.17 billion kilowatt hours in Yanguoxia, and 990 million kilowatt hours in Bapanxia). It is the cradle and base of the hydropower industry in New China. The Bingling Hydropower Station with an investment of 1.86 billion yuan and an installed capacity of 240,000 kilowatts is under construction. There are three high-gorge and flat lakes, Bingling Lake, Taiji Lake and Maogong Lake, with a total storage capacity of 5.97 billion cubic meters (Biling Lake 5.7 billion cubic meters, Taiji Lake 220 million cubic meters, and Maogong Lake 49 million cubic meters). The per capita water occupancy is 190,860 cubic meters, which is 68 times and 128 times the national and provincial averages respectively. The reservoir area has many harbors, slow water flow, good water quality and no pollution, making it an excellent place for aquaculture. The water area within the territory reaches 218 square kilometers (Liujia Gorge 140 square kilometers, Yanguo Gorge 16.1 square kilometers, Bapan Gorge 11 square kilometers), which is an ideal place for water tourism and competitive events.

Dinosaur footprint fossil group

From the discovery of two to the unearthed 1,831 pieces

“Important scientific discoveries are based on previous discoveries and scientific research results. The discovery of these dinosaur footprints, Professor Li Daqing, said that as early as May 1947, Mr. Sun Jianchu made the first discovery in Majiahu Gou during a petroleum geological survey in the Haishiwan area of ??Lanzhou. The discovery of sauropod fossils later named Mamenchisaurus and crocodile fossils was the first dinosaur bone fossil found in the area.

After that, in 1948, 1955 and 1956, geologists and paleontologists came here successively and collected dinosaur bone fossils such as sauropods and stegosaurs. In 1962, Professor Gu Zugang of Lanzhou University led his students to collect four dinosaur footprint fossils during an internship in the Haishiwan area. Unfortunately, the specimens were later lost. This was the first dinosaur footprint fossil discovered in the Lanzhou-Minhe area. In 1998, when Associate Professor Li Changan of China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) and others conducted a regional geological survey of 150,000 Honggucheng sheets and Xinsixiang sheets in the area, they discovered 8 individuals in a row in the Cretaceous strata of Honggu District, Lanzhou City. Three-toed dinosaur footprints. These discoveries paved the way for subsequent major discoveries.

In early July 1999, a scientific research team led by Li Daqing carried out Cretaceous biostratigraphic research in the Yanguoxia area of ??Yongjing County. After nearly two months of field geological surveys, by the end of August, dinosaur footprints, ancient plants, arthropods and insect trace fossils were found in many places in this area.

In a place called Laohukou by local residents, the scientific expedition team members discovered two dinosaur footprints while wandering on the barren mountains.

This place was originally a small gully on the hillside. When it was first discovered, it was just two three-toed theropod footprints with a stride of 1 meter exposed on a small piece of blue-gray argillaceous sandstone. One of the footprints has been basically weathered.

After analyzing the rock properties and paleogeographic environment of the location where the footprints were produced, Li Daqing decided to conduct preliminary excavations here. So we traced and excavated along the direction of this set of footprints (uphill direction), and found another set of intersecting theropod footprints and a set of small sauropod footprints.

Soon, one with a hind foot length of 118 centimeters and a width of 90 centimeters was found that was close to the world’s largest (previously, the largest known footprint in the world was a 120 centimeters long and 64 centimeters wide footprint found on the seaside of Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea). Centimeter brachiosaurus footprints) giant sauropod footprints, as well as dung and tail support marks. Excavation continued until late June 2000, when new giant footprints appeared in rows and clearly showed the direction of continued extension.

At this time, the scientific expedition personnel had realized that this site might become an important paleontological geological relic. With the support of relevant departments, the excavation work made a breakthrough in late September. Three groups of giant sauropod footprints appeared in the direction of the mountain and diagonally below (downhill direction) the earliest discovered giant sauropod footprints.

In March 2001, an inspection team composed of the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other units conducted an on-site inspection here and believed that this is a rare and important place in the world. The location of scientifically significant dinosaur remains and fossils. The number of types and genera of its footprints, as well as their clear and complete preservation, are among the best in the world and have great conservation and scientific research value.

After that, the dinosaur footprint groups at Points 2, 4 and 6 were successively revealed, including a total of 1,831 dinosaur footprints, as well as pterosaur and bird footprints.

The large scale and good preservation are rare in the world

Professor Zhao Xijin, an expert on vertebrate paleontology and ancient humans in my country, believes that the geological remains of these dinosaur foot fossil groups are well preserved and of high definition. The strong three-dimensional sense is rare at home and abroad; the dense distribution of footprints is unique at home and abroad.

Most of the dinosaur footprint fossils from the origin were exposed to the surface by natural processes, and the footprints were often damaged to a certain extent. However, the Yongjing dinosaur footprint fossil group was completely carefully crafted by humans. It was revealed that it was preserved very completely and clearly, with a strong three-dimensional sense; at the same time, dinosaur sleeping marks, tail drag marks and dung marks were also preserved on the same rock layer, which constituted the only surviving traces of footprints, lying marks and dung marks. The scene is therefore very unique.

Expert research has confirmed that the dinosaur footprint fossil group here includes at least two types of giant sauropods, two types of theropods, one is an ornithosaur, one is a pterosaur, and one is a coeloid. and other unique yet unattributed footprints, representing at least 10 genera and species. These footprints were left by dinosaurs that lived in the Early Cretaceous era 100 million years ago. It is the first time in China that such a variety of plant-eating and carnivorous dinosaur footprints appear in the same place, and it is also extremely rare in the world. rare.

In April 2002, Professor Martin Rockley, a world-renowned expert on dinosaur footprints and director of the Museum of Paleontology at the University of Colorado, USA, discovered 13 new dinosaurs at Fossil Site No. 1 during a field trip here. The total length of the pterosaur hindfoot footprints is 5 meters, and ornithopod and sauropod dinosaur footprints were found at points 1 and 6, filling the gap between the lack of pterosaur footprints and ornithopod and sauropod footprints in China. Blank spaces where dinosaur-like footprints appear.

"The footprints of pterosaurs are very precious because they are flying dinosaurs. Only five footprints have been found in the world." Li Daqing said, "China's Yongjing is the fifth and the The most complete and best-preserved one has the longest path, with as many as 25 steps, which can reflect the movement posture of the pterosaur." Li Daqing said that the pterosaur found in Liujiaxia, Yongjing, is a smaller type. According to analysis. It is 2 meters wide when its wings are spread, and its shape is about the size of a vulture.

The world’s largest tooth and the fattest dinosaur in China

What’s special about the Yongjing dinosaur footprint fossil group is that two special dinosaur bone fossils were discovered nearby: The largest toothed dinosaur - "Lanzhouosaurus" and the fattest dinosaur in China - "Liujiaxia Yellow River Giant".

In the contemporary strata dozens of kilometers away from the Yongjing dinosaur footprint group, scientific researchers discovered relatively complete dinosaur tail vertebrae fossils, including mandibles, cervical vertebrae, vertebrae, ribs, and tail vertebrae. , ischium, toe bones and other 103 fossils were named "Lanzhouosaurus". It has been identified by the Chinese Academy of Sciences as the herbivorous dinosaur with the largest teeth in the world. It is also a newly discovered new genus and new species of dinosaur. It represents a new type of bulky four-legged walking in the evolution of ornithopod dinosaurs, filling the research field of dinosaurology. A blank item in .

Near the Liujiaxia Reservoir not far away, scientific researchers discovered another special fossil - the Yellow River dragon. Excavations began in 2002 and lasted for three years. The research results in 2006 showed that Yellow River Megalosaurus was characterized by wide hips and long forelimbs. It was the fattest dinosaur known in China. The Yellow River dragon is about 20 meters long, with a sacral vertebra (the middle part of the hip bone) less than half a meter high, but up to 110 centimeters wide. The 123-centimeter-long shoulder blade can reach 83 centimeters at its widest point. The largest dinosaur ever discovered in China - Mamenchisaurus could reach a length of more than 30 meters, but its body was slender. It is speculated that its weight was not as heavy as the newly discovered Yellow River dragon.

Li Daqing said that the Yellow River Megalosaurus belongs to the original titanosaur-type sauropod dinosaur. The discovery of the Liujiaxia Yellow River Megalosaurus has added a new member of the Early Cretaceous titanosaur-type sauropod dinosaur in Asia, and is a great contribution to the research of giant dragon-type sauropods. The origin and early evolution of sauropods are of great significance.

“Using this footprint group as a clue, we found a dinosaur fauna unknown to the world around us,” Li Daqing said: “This provides a basis for further research on the types of dinosaurs and the study of footprint remains and traces. The relationship between living things provides important clues.”

The conditions for the formation of dinosaur footprints are very harsh

How are these dinosaur footprints formed? According to experts, the conditions for its formation are very harsh, so it is a precious natural relic.

According to geologists’ inferences from the dinosaur footprint fossils in Liujiaxia, it was once an ancient structural basin that was warm, hot, humid, and had a lot of water and lakes. During the dry season, the beach of the lake is exposed and in a semi-humid state. The members of the huge dinosaur family climbed out of the lake, walked past the beach to the shore, and crawled along the mountain. Their footprints were left on the soft beach, and the more they walked to the shore, the more they left their footprints. The clearer. Later, the beach was further dehydrated and dried, forming a hard crust on the surface of the footprints. During the wet season, the water level rose and quickly submerged the beach. The sediment brought by the lake covered the footprints. After a complex and long diagenetic process, the beach was further dehydrated and dried. Later, footprint fossils were formed. Later, the sediment was stripped away to reveal the original footprints and their fillings.

The conditions for footprint fossils from their creation to solidification are very harsh. If a dinosaur walked on very dry ground, it would not be able to leave obvious footprints. Although it is easy to leave footprints when walking on too much mud or sand, they are difficult to shape and easily disappear when lifting your feet. Only when the humidity of the muddy ground is moderate, the footprints can be clearly left; and the footprints that have been formed The footprints must be buried quickly in a short period of time to avoid being destroyed by natural forces. This series of conditions shows the possibility and rarity of the formation of dinosaur footprint fossils.

Experts believe that these dinosaur footprint fossils have great scientific significance: first, they can provide supplementary information for dinosaur anatomy. Fossilized footprints, for example, confirm that theropod feet had a prehensile function, a structure that was later inherited by birds. Second, footprint fossils are important hints about the living habits of dinosaurs, often providing clues that cannot be obtained from the study of bones and teeth. For example, whether dinosaurs lived in groups or alone. Third, relics like footprints cannot be transported from one environment to another: they can accurately indicate what kind of dinosaur lived in what kind of environment. Fourth, footprint fossils contain rich information about dinosaur living habits, and they can sometimes be interpreted straightforwardly, just like hunters can determine the whereabouts of their prey based on footprints. Footprints also provide clues to determine the dinosaur's general appearance, body size and weight, and measurements of dinosaur footprints can be used to determine the dinosaur's stride length and speed. Fifth, the discovery of this footprint group is also of great significance for studying the appearance, behavioral habits, paleogeography, and paleoclimate of the Cretaceous vertebrate fauna in the area.

There must be more dinosaur footprints nearby

In fact, in addition to Site 1, where a protective shelter has been established, the Paleontological Research and Development Center of the Gansu Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources has also established a presence in nearby areas. Four points were revealed, but because preservation was difficult, they were covered with loess.

"Although one of the points was covered with loess, a heavy rain washed away the soil, and we quickly covered it with plastic sheeting." Li Daqing said: "There are indeed some difficulties in protection, and there are some Problem. The use of protective sheds is a good protection method, but it is very expensive and the funds are insufficient." "We have done a lot in recent years," Li Daqing said. The Paleontology Research and Development Center of the Gansu Provincial Bureau of Geology and Minerals actively cooperated with the people of Yongjing County to carry out emergency protection work here, including building slope protection, drainage ditches, fences and building steel frame closed greenhouses. At the same time, the application for provincial nature reserves and national geological parks was carried out. In December 2001, it was approved as a national geological park by the Ministry of Land and Resources.

“Although five years of protection and development have been carried out, the follow-up work here is still difficult.” Kong Delai, director of the Liujiaxia Dinosaur National Geopark Administration Bureau, said a very prominent practical problem is that here The transportation is really difficult. There are no roads yet, and we can only travel by water, which is also quite dangerous. In August 2006, the construction of the 23-kilometer-long highway finally started, but due to insufficient funds, the progress of the project was very slow.

What makes Kong Delai particularly worried is that after being exposed, the large number of dinosaur footprints at points 2, 4, and 6 in the geopark can only be protected by sand filling, making this Precious natural relics still face various threats such as weathering, erosion, and burial by loess landslides. Some naturally exposed fossils of other ancient organisms, arthropods, and insect traces are still suffering from wind, sun, rain, snow, and weathering. serious.

In terms of excavation research, experts speculate that there may be many valuable footprint fossils waiting to be discovered nearby. Within an area of ??more than 400 square meters at site No. 1, 6 of the 10 sets of footprints are very clear and continuous. The layout of the footprints shows that dinosaurs at that time mainly walked along the lakeshore or from the water's edge to the land.

These footprints were probably left by a large group of plant-eating dinosaurs while they were foraging for food or drinking water. At that time, there were also carnivorous dinosaurs surrounding or following them. Judging from the walking direction of the preserved footprints, some are up the mountain and some are down the mountain. Through continued excavation, there will definitely be new discoveries. However, due to conservation and funding reasons, further excavations can only remain in the plan.

Li Daqing and Kong Delai both fervently hope that with the development and construction of the geopark, this rare dinosaur footprint group of paleontological geological relics in the world can be properly protected, and on this basis, Reasonable development and utilization.

In January 2021, the Central Civilization Office determined the list of nominated cities for national civilized cities in the 2021-2023 creation cycle, and Yongjing County was on the list.

On December 9, 2019, the State Ethnic Affairs Commission named Yongjing County as the seventh batch of national national unity and progress demonstration areas.

On August 16, 2018, Yongjing County won the honor of the fourth batch of advanced units in the national rule of law county and city creation activities.

On February 21, 2017, Yongjing County was included in the list of counties (cities, districts) with basically balanced development of compulsory education nationwide in 2016.