Meixian, Meizhou

Meixian, Meizhou
Meixian, Meizhou
Traditional Chinese	梅縣
Simplified Chinese	梅县
Hakka	Mòi-yen; (IPA: [mɔi˩jɛn˥˧])
Literal meaning	Plum County
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Méixiàn
Hakka
Romanization	Mòi-yen; (IPA: [mɔi˩jɛn˥˧])
Yue: Cantonese
Jyutping	Mui4 Jyun6
Former Name (Qing dynasty)
Traditional Chinese	嘉應
Simplified Chinese	嘉应
Hanyu Pinyin
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyin	Jiaying

Meixian

梅县区
Meixian 梅县区
District
	District of Meixian
	Location of the district in Meizhou
	Meixian Location in Guangdong
	Coordinates: 24°19′17″N 116°07′10″E / 24.32139°N 116.11944°E
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Guangdong
Prefecture-level city	Meizhou
Area
• Total	2,755.36 km2 (1,063.85 sq mi)
Population (2020 census)
• Total	556,735
• Density	200/km2 (520/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC+8 (China Standard)
Website	www.gdmx.gov.cn

Meixian District (梅县区) is a district of Meizhou City, in northeastern Guangdong Province, China.^[1] The district is an important Hakka settlement and is the ancestral home of many Hakka descendants living in Taiwan.

History

Its original name was Chengxiang county (程鄕) during the southern Han Dynasty where it was first created, all the way to the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties, and then renamed Jiaying county during the Qing dynasty. It only obtained the name Meixian in 1911 during the Xinhai Revolution.

Geography

Map including Meixian (MEI-HSIEN 梅縣 (KAYING)) area (1954)

Meixian almost completely surrounds Meizhou's central urban Meijiang District. This is due to the old urban core of Meixian becoming separated from the bulk of the county in the territorial reorganization following the 1949 establishment of the People's Republic of China, when it was given equal status.