Wenchuan County

Wenchuan County is a county in Ngawa Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan, China.

The county has an area of 4084 km2, and a population of 100,771 as of 2010.

Wolong National Nature Reserve is a protected area located in Wenchuan County, which houses more than 150 highly endangered giant pandas. The Wolong Special Administrative Region is also located here.

The county was the site of the epicentre and one of the areas most severely hit by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, also known as the Wenchuan earthquake.

Toponymy
The county is named after the Wenshui River, now known as the Min River.

History
Wenchuan County was established in 1958, when the former Maowen Qiang Autonomous County was split into Mao County and Wenchuan County.

A number of Neolithic sites have been excavated in the Wenchuan area. The site of Jiangweicheng, located at the northern end of the county town of Weizhou in Wenchuan, has been archaeologically confirmed as a Neolithic site in the upper reaches of the Minjiang River, which extends over a long period divided into three phases. It is estimated to be a new cultural type resulting from the introduction of a late Yangshao culture from the upper and middle reaches of the Yellow River into the upper reaches of the Min River. There are similarities between the sarcophagus burial tomb and the Majiayao culture of Gansu and Qinghai. The site of Jiangwei City is in a different spectrum from the painted pottery and jars excavated from sites in the Chengdu Plain, but lace-mouthed yansha jars of the same spectrum have also been excavated.

On 25 August 1933, a massive 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck the town of Fuxi in Mao County, north of Wenchuan, where six people were killed by a rock collapse and more than 480 people were killed in Wenchuan in the subsequent floods after the earthquake

Wenchuan earthquake
On May 12, 2008, an earthquake with moment magnitude 7.9 hit the Sichuan Province, with epicentre located in the town of Yingxiu, in Wenchuan county. The county was therefore one of the areas most severely affected by the earthquake. In Chinese, the earthquake is named after the county (the Wenchuan earthquake, 汶川地震), which made its name resonate across the nation. In the county, 15,941 people died, 34,583 were injured, and 7,474 were still missing as of June 6, 2008. The seismic intensity was the highest, reaching level XI in the China Seismic Intensity Scale. After the earthquake, the central government enforced stricter requirements for seismic design in this area. The earthquake also caused many landslides, some of which remained active for years and generated destructive debris flows during the summer rainstorms, which increased the death toll and slowed reconstruction and recovery of the communities in the county.

Subdivisions
Wenchuan County administers nine towns:

Demographics
According to a 2021 publication by the county government, Wenchuan County's ethnic composition is 39.5% Qiang, 38.7% Han, 20.4% Tibetan, 1.1% Hui, and 0.3% belonging to other ethnic minorities.

The 2010 Chinese Census reported the county's population as 100,771 people.

In 2005, the county reported a population of 106,238, with 34.16% of the population being ethnically Qiang.

The 2000 Chinese Census reported the county's population as 111,935.

In 1996, the county's population was estimated to be about 104,000, up from the 96,054 reported in 1990.

Economy
As of 2019, Wenchuan County's gross domestic product totaled ¥7.264 billion, a 6.2% increase from the previous year. Consumer retail sales totaled ¥1.082 billion. The annual per capita disposable income of the county reached ¥34,513 for its urban residents, and ¥15,049 for its rural residents, an increase of 8.2% and 12.0%, respectively.

According to the county government, there were 4,440 people in the county living in poverty in 2014. The county government claims that all its citizens were lifted out of poverty in 2019.

Tourism
Wenchuan County is home to the Wolong National Nature Reserve, as well as the Sichuan Caopo Nature Reserve. Other tourist attractions in the county include the AAAAA-rated Wenchuan Special Tourist Area and the AAAA-rated Yu the Great Cultural Tourist Area.

In 2019, the county received 6,277,800 visitors, bringing the county ¥2.87 billion in revenue.

Transport
Road traffic in Wenchuan County is dominated by National Highway 213 and National Highway 317. In 2012, the 82 km long G4217 Duwen Expressway, which connects the city of Dujiangyan and leads to cities in the Sichuan basin, was fully opened to traffic, and the Wenchuan-Markang motorway, the Wenma Expressway, was fully opened to traffic on 31 December 2021. Wenchuan County Bus Station is located in Weizhou Town, Wenchuan, with daily buses to Chengdu, Dujiangyan, Peng County, Li County, Markang, Jiuzhaigou and other places. All scenic spots can be reached by bus, except for Qipanggou Forest Park and Xiqiang Grand Canyon, which are not yet open to traffic. In 2013, bus lines covering 11 towns and townships in the county, including Yingxiu, Xuankou, Shuimo and Sanjiang, were put into operation. By the end of 2014, the total mileage of roads in Wenchuan County was 696 kilometers, 619 kilometers of high-grade highways and 51 kilometers of expressways.