Xiangning County

Xiangning County is a county in the southwest of Shanxi province, China, bordering Shaanxi province across the Yellow River to the west. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Linfen. The county spans an area of 2029 km2, and is home to a population of 240,000 people as of 2013.

History
During the Spring and Autumn period, Marquis E of Jin lived in what is now present-day Xiangning County.

In the Warring States period, the area had been occupied by both the Han and Zhao states.

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, the area was initially named Changping, and was later changed to Pingchang. Eventually, the name was changed to Changning, but in 923 was changed to Xiangning , its present-day name.

From 1958 to 1961, Xiangning County was briefly merged with neighboring Ji County.

Geography
The county is located in the Lüliang Mountains of the Loess Plateau, and has a largely hilly terrain with an average elevation of about 900 m. The county's highest point is Gaotian Mountain, which reaches 1820.5 m in altitude; the county's lowest point is along the banks of the Yellow River, at 385.1 m in altitude.

38.2% of the county is forested.

Administrative divisions
Xiangning County is divided into five towns and five townships. These are then divided into 182 village-level divisions.

The county's five towns are, , , , and.

The county's five townships are, , , , and.

Economy
The county is home to a large coal field, which covers 1600 km2 of the county's area. Said coal field is estimated to have 15.3 billion tons of coal in reserve.

Xiangning also has a number of tourist sights, such as the, Yunqiu Mountain , and a number of temples and pagodas.

Major agricultural products from Xiangning include Zanthoxylum, apples, walnuts, Chinese yams,, and wine.

Transportation
National Highway 209 and National Highway 309 both run through the county, as well as three provincial highways.