Clockwise from top: Southward View from Jiulong Mountain, a street in Chuanshi Village, the Ao River passing through Fengcheng, Huangqi fishing port, and the Wenzhou-Fuzhou Railway.
Lianjiang, in 282, during the Jin dynasty, was Wenma, named after a shipyard there, Wensha Ship-hamlet (溫麻船屯). It was incorporated into Min Prefecture (閩縣) in 607, during the Sui dynasty.
Wenma was changed to the present name and made its own county in 623, during the Tang dynasty, when Baisha (白沙) or Fusha (伏沙) of Aojiang was the capital of Lianjiang County. The capital was changed to Fengcheng as today in 742.
After the Republic of China was established, Lianjiang switched back and forth numerous times between two special regions:
Minhou Special Region (閩侯專區): 18 years in total
Fu'an (Ningde) Special Region (福安（寧德）專區): 16 years in total
During the Second Sino-Japanese War on September 10, 1937, Japan seized the two Lianjiang islands of Beigan and Nangan via the Collaborationist Chinese Army, making the islands the first in Fujian to fall to Japan.[3][4] This led the county government to relocate to Danyang Township on April 19, 1941, before returning at the end of the war.
In 1949, the county was split in two due to the Chinese Civil War, as it remains today.
Beginning on 1 July 1983, the PRC side reverted control to Fuzhou Municipality. In the late 1980s, people living in Lianjiang County began a massive emigration wave to western countries like the United Kingdom and the United States.[9]
Geography
Map including Lianjiang (labelled as Lienkong) (1917)
Gaodeng Island in Lienchiang County (the Matsu Islands), ROC (Taiwan), is located 9.25 kilometres (5.75 mi) away from the Beijiao Peninsula (北茭半岛) in Lianjiang County, China (PRC).[2][10][11][12][13]
Map including Lianjiang (labeled as LIEN-CHIANG (LIENKONG) 連江) and surrounding region (AMS, 1954)Satellite image including part of Lianjiang County, PRC and part of Lienchiang County, ROC
Residents of Lianjiang – both on the Mainland and Matsu – speak the Lianjiang dialect, a subdialect of the Fuzhou dialect, a branch of Eastern Min. The dialect is also known as Bàng-uâ (平話).
Language
The Lianjiang dialect is a subdialect of Fuzhou dialect (the most prestigious dialect of Eastern Min). The Lianjiang dialect is mutually intelligible with Fuzhou dialect. It differs from Fuzhou dialect in its tonal sandhi pattern and vowel sandhi system. Small lexical differences also exist on object names, e.g. waxmelon is called "卷瓜" /kuoŋ˨ŋua˦/ in Fuzhou but "冬瓜" /tøyŋ˦ŋua˦/ in Lianjiang.
Generally speaking, the tonal sandhi system of Lianjiang is more conservative than that of Fuzhou, in that the Lianjiang tonal sandhi is still largely controlled by the Middle Chinese tonal registers,[19] while the Fuzhou tonal sandhi shows more deviation and irregularity.
Lianjiang vowel sandhi is more complicated than that of Fuzhou. Both Lianjiang and Fuzhou have systematic vowel variations between citation forms and non-final forms of the same morpheme, e.g. "地" /tei/ "land" – "地主" /ti-tsuo/ "landlord". However, not all morphemes have such variations. Only the morphemes with low-starting tones show such variation. The morphemes with high-starting tones instead only have the more close variant, e.g. "迟" /ti/ "late"- "迟早" /ti tsia/ "early or late".[20][21] However, some cognates are produced with different vowels in Lianjiang and Fuzhou, e.g. "江 river" is produced as /kyeŋ/ in Lianjiang, but /kouŋ/ in Fuzhou. Also, the rimes in Lianjiang are generally more close and front than that in Fuzhou, which is especially salient in the open vowels, e.g. "下 down" is [ɑ] in Fuzhou, but [a] in Lianjiang.[20]
Surrounded by mountains, Lianjiang used to be a relatively isolated from the inland part of China for centuries. This explains why the Lianjiang phonological system is relatively more conservative. However, with the construction of the high-speed railway system[22] and the improvement of tunnel system, northern migrants are flooding into Lianjiang in the past decade, which may bring language contact into perspective. Just like in Fuzhou, most young or middle-aged Lianjiang speakers speak Mandarin Chinese fluently, but usually with a local accent influenced by the local dialect. However, due to the misleading language policy (Not speaking Mandarin Chinese is taken as "immoral".)[23] and disadvantageous status of the dialect, both Fuzhou and Lianjiang dialects are losing speakers in the youngest generation. More and more young people and children are only receptive bilinguals in Lianjiang.[20]
Luochang Expressway runs through the county's section of National Highway 104 in 500.3 kilometres (310.9 mi). 42.6-kilometre (26.5 mi) navigable river length.
Guantou and Kemen (可門) are the largest seaports in Lianjiang with national access.
Tourism
There are hot springs in Gui'an (貴安) and Tanghui (湯尾) of Pandu. There is a Dragon King Palace-Temple (龍宮廟) in the Xiaocang She Ethnic Township.
^ abc连江县历史沿革 [Lianjiang County Historical Evolution]. XZQH.org (in Simplified Chinese). 16 June 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2020. 2000年第五次人口普查，连江县常住总人口599962人，{...}2000年末，连江县面积1168平方千米，人口61.75万人。{...}2007年末，连江县总面积1190.7平方千米（含马祖列岛23.5平方千米）。总人口为613354人（不含马祖列岛），其中城镇人口128298人。{...}2010年第六次人口普查，连江县常住总人口561490人，其中：凤城镇75553人，敖江镇52636人，东岱镇18791人，琯头镇60055人，晓澳镇29520人，东湖镇15272人，丹阳镇24284人，长龙镇9143人，透堡镇13455人，马鼻镇26516人，官坂镇24948人，筱埕镇25825人，黄岐镇23368人，苔箓镇25629人，浦口镇27955人，坑园镇16163人，潘渡乡16755人，江南乡22984人，蓼沿乡24216人，安凯乡14296人，下宫乡11180人，小沧畲族乡2946人。
^ abc辞海第六版. Cihai (Sixth Edition) (in Chinese). 上海. Shanghai: 上海辞书出版社. Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House. September 2009. pp. 1365, 1516. ISBN978-7-5326-2859-9. 连江{...}2 县名。{...}面积1191平方千米。{...}农产有稻、甘薯、甘蔗、茶叶、蜜橘等。水产丰富，以鳀鳁鱼、毛虾、海蜇、蛏、蛤、牡蛎等著名。工业有水产加工、机械、水泥、化学、造纸等。{...}马祖列岛 中国闽江口外25~40千米的岛群。{...}属福建省连江县，现由台湾当局管辖。{...}高登岛又称北沙岛，距黄岐半岛9.2千米，面积1.25平方千米，地形南宽北窄，地势南高北低，南部下目山177米为全岛制高点。
^北竿鄉志 大事記（民國十七年至四十九年） [History of Beigan Major Events (1928-1960)]. 馬祖資訊網 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 2 September 2019. 二十六年 九月十日 北竿、南竿被日軍侵占，成為福建最早淪陷的島嶼。
^林金炎 (15 September 2014). 馬祖歲月印記 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). p. 46. ISBN978-986-90943-0-6. 0910 日軍透過偽軍侵佔馬祖列島的南、北竿島，成為福建最早淪陷的島嶼。《連江縣志，大事紀P.34，連江縣地方志編纂委員會，2000.6，方志出版社。》
^Ralph N. Clough (22 May 1964). "Letter From the Charge to the Republic of China (Clough) to the Assistant Secretary of State for Far Eastern Affairs (Bundy)". Office of the Historian, U.S. Department of State. The Chinese Communist shelling of Matsu on May 16, which clearly seems to have been a reaction to GRC artillery fire from Matsu covering a raiding party launched from Matsu against Lienchiang (FCT 8622), caused me to give consideration to repeating to the GRC the warning we gave them last spring that they should not assume the US would assist the GRC should the Chicoms attack the smaller offshore islands in retaliation for raids mounted by the GRC from such islands.
^Richard Baum (1975). Prelude to Revolution. Columbia University Press. p. 12. ISBN0-231-03900-X. Clearly, China's aging leader was deeply concerned about the course of economic, political, and ideological developments in his country. That there was indeed a great deal for him to be concerned about has been confirmed in a unique set of official CCP documents captured by the Chinese Nationalists during a 1964 commando raid on the Party headquarters of Lienchiang county, Fukien province.
^Zhao, Xiaojian. The New Chinese America: Class, Economy, and Social Hierarchy. p. 2010.
^DeWitt Copp; Marshall Peck (1962). The Odd Day. New York City: William Morrow & Company. pp. 58, 67, 71, 206 – via Internet Archive. Kueffer indicated two islands bunched near Peikan, "Tachiu and Kaoteng. The latter is five miles off the mainland, the closest to the enemy."
^"FAQ". Matsu National Scenic Area. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 27 August 2019. The area closest to the mainland is Gaodeng Island, 9.25 km off the Beijia [sic] Peninsula.
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