Landforms and Drainage of Lishui

Survey

Lishui District lies between 118°51′ and 119°14′ east and between 31°23′ and 31°48′ north (district government, geographical position page). Its area is given in three official figures, all from the district government website but on different pages: 1067.26 sq km on the geographical position page, 1064 sq km on the administrative divisions page and 1067 sq km on the district overview page. This entry sets the three side by side and does not choose among them.

Terrain. Two district government plans, of 2019 and 2024, carry the same wording: Lishui lies in the Ningzhenyang hill country, the land falls from south-east to north-west, hills make up 72.5 per cent of the total area, and the district high point is 368.5 m. The two texts are identical and so corroborate one another on the same set of figures in two different years. The 2024 document adds that, taking the divide between the Shijiu Lake and Qinhuai systems as the line, the northern Qinhuai system falls from south-east to north-west while the southern Shijiu Lake system falls from the north-east in two directions and meets in the lake area, so that the terrain overall is distinctly stepped.

Water systems. The district government's geographical position page records that the divide between the two systems runs east to west across the middle of the district, that northern water flows to the Qinhuai and southern water to Shijiu Lake, and that Tianshengqiao Sluice is the north-south marker of the divide. The same page divides the district by catchment into three parts: the Qinhuai basin, 464.82 sq km; the Shijiu Lake basin, 599.39 sq km; and 2.73 sq km of hill country in the south-east corner, the only part belonging to the western Taihu region. These three are the values used in the basin filter on this site's list pages.

Rivers and reservoirs. The district government's natural resources page records seven main rivers, six medium-sized reservoirs and 73 small ones, the six being Fangbian, Zhongshan, Wolongshan, Laoyaba, Yaojia and Zheshantou. The High-Standard Farmland Construction Plan (2022–2025) instead gives 79 small and medium-sized reservoirs with a total capacity of 1.69 100 million m³, and the 14th Five-Year Water Plan gives seven medium-sized reservoirs. The three cover different ranges, as set out under Open questions.

Water bodies. The main data bulletin of Lishui's third national land survey, with a uniform reference date of 31 December 2019, records 9052.81 ha of lake surface, 2616.97 ha of reservoir surface and 33.65 ha of wetland, all of it inland mudflat. The bulletin's figures are totals for the whole district and are not the area of any single lake or reservoir.

Periods and areas

This entry is not divided by period: the sources available give no comparable basis for dating changes in natural terrain. It is divided two ways, both following official figures.

By catchment, using the district government's geographical position page:

• The Qinhuai basin, 464.82 sq km: the north of the district, falling from south-east to north-west, with water flowing north to the Qinhuai.
• The Shijiu Lake basin, 599.39 sq km: the south of the district, falling from the north-east in two directions and meeting in the lake area.
• The western Taihu region, 2.73 sq km: a single tract of hill country in the south-east corner, the only part of the district outside the other two.

By terrain, using the wording of the two plans: the divide runs east to west across the middle of the district, with the Qinhuai system to its north and the Shijiu Lake system to its south, Tianshengqiao Sluice marking the parting. The terrain is stepped overall, so the hills lie to the south-east and the low ground where the systems meet, in the lake area and the river valleys. The entries in this site's Mountains section fall on that south-eastern side; the geographical position page names Donglu Mountain and Huifeng Mountain among the higher ones.

The lay of the hill country itself comes from the Master Plan for the Wuxiang Mountain National Forest Park, Nanjing (2023–2035): the park's divide is V-shaped, with northern water leaving by the Yigan and Lishui rivers for the Qinhuai and southern water by the Xinqiao or Tianshengqiao river for Shijiu Lake; within the park the Wuxiang Temple, Xiangshan, Qiuhu Mountain and Taohuaba Reservoir belong to the Shijiu Lake system and Wangjiadian Reservoir to the Qinhuai. The same section of the plan gives Wuxiang Mountain as 209.8 m and Qiuhu Mountain as 279.8 m, both listed among the park's peaks.

Open questions

• Three figures for the district area: 1067.26 sq km (geographical position page), 1064 sq km (administrative divisions page) and 1067 sq km (district overview page). All three come from the district government website on different pages; this entry sets them side by side and does not choose among them.
• The 368.5 m high point appears in two district government plans, of 2019 and 2024, and neither names the mountain it belongs to. This site does not guess and does not fall back on an encyclopaedia; the entries in the Mountains section give only the figures each has verified, which are not the same thing as 368.5 m and are not rewritten into it.
• The figure of 72.5 per cent of the area in hills has so far been found in the plan documents only, with no equivalent from a natural resources or forestry department; it is cited with its year.
• Catchment area and lake area are not interchangeable: the 599.39 sq km of the Shijiu Lake basin is a catchment, while the lake's own area is given in two figures, 207.65 and 214.7 sq km. They differ in order of magnitude and in meaning.
• Three sets of reservoir counts: six medium-sized and 73 small (natural resources page); 79 small and medium-sized with a total capacity of 1.69 100 million m³ (High-Standard Farmland Construction Plan 2022–2025); seven medium-sized (14th Five-Year Water Plan). The 73 is the combined figure for small class I and class II, and the 79 is the combined figure for small and medium-sized together; the two refer to the same set of works and may not be added together or rewritten into one another. The 14th Five-Year plan does not name the reservoirs, and this site does not supply a name for a seventh.
• Three sets of climate figures: the geographical position page gives a mean annual temperature of 16.4 °C, annual rainfall of 1204.3 mm and 1980.0 hours of sunshine; the High-Standard Farmland Construction Plan (2022–2025) gives 16.6 °C, 1491.5 mm and 2205.6 hours. The two differ widely; each is cited with its source and year, and no average or compromise is struck.
• The 9052.81 ha of lake surface in the third national land survey bulletin is the district total and is not the area of Shijiu Lake alone; the uniform reference date is 31 December 2019, not the state of things in the year of publication, 2022.
• The Periods and areas section sets out no periods in time: the available sources give no comparable basis for dating changes in natural terrain, and this site does not infer such periods from the history of administrative divisions or from the first appearance of watercourse names.