Bikou
碧口镇
Town
Bikou is located in Gansu
Bikou
Bikou
Bikou is located in China
Bikou
Bikou
Coordinates: 32°44′56″N 105°14′27″E / 32.74889°N 105.24083°E / 32.74889; 105.24083
CountryChina
ProvinceGansu
Prefecture-level CityLongnan
CountyWen
Area
 • Total200 km2 (80 sq mi)
Elevation
624 m (2,047 ft)
Population
 (2008)
 • Total16,901

Bikou Town (碧口镇) is a town under Wen County, in Longnan, Gansu. It is located along the Bailong River, just downstream of the Bikou Dam.[1] In 2008 it had a population of 16,901.[2]

History

Bikou has been mentioned in Southern Song dynasty poems and Han dynasty documents.[3] Since the Ming dynasty it has been an important trading town, most of its merchants originating from Sichuan. Therefore the town has its own dialect based on Sichuanese dialect[4] Its importance for trade originates from its location as the first navigable spot of the Yangtze basin, used for shipping Longnan's famous medicinal plants to eastern China, and along a main road between Gansu and Sichuan.[5][6] Nowadays the town is home to industry and tea cultivation.[7]

Together with neighbouring Zhongmiao town, it was the hardest hit area in Gansu from the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Most of the buildings and infrastructure were destroyed.[8]

During the 1980s, a gold mine was opened near Bikou.[9]

Culture

Bikou is known for its Sichuan opera.[10]

Administration

The towns administration center is Bifeng Village (碧峰村).[11]

Other administrative villages:[12]

  • Xianglang (响浪村)
  • Hejiawan (何家湾村)
  • Shitudi (石土地村)
  • Jingdi (井地村)
  • Qushui (曲水村)
  • Liziba (李子坝村)
  • Baiguo (白果村)

History & Literature

Bikou is mentioned in the opening paragraph of Li Jieren's 1936 novel Ripple on a Standing Pool (sishui weilan, 死水微澜):[13]

Setting forth from the provincial capital, out the north gate of the city wall and onward to the county of Xindu, the distance is generally put at forty li, though in fact it’s somewhat less. The road describes a winding filament across the level tapestry of cultivated land, and although it measures scarcely five feet broad and has just two lines of flagging, both paving the right-hand side, and although the slob after rain lies so deep that without new sandals you can scarcely move a step, and although in spring around grave-sweeping time this same slob turns to dust that billows from the heels of every passing traveler, nonetheless it’s what we call Chuanbei Dadao, the Northern Sichuan Highway. It stretches as far as Guangyuan County on the provincial frontier, then on into Shaanxi, through Ningqiang County and Hanzhong prefecture and still farther on from there. This is no less than the original post route for communication with the northern capital. Moreover, since the western fork at Guangyuan passes out through the market town of Bikou on the border of Gansu Province and through the Gansu counties of Jiezhou and Wen, this dusty filament is the route too that any goods going or coming from the northwestern provinces must needs negotiate.

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 文县志 (in Chinese). 甘肃人民出版社. 1997. ISBN 978-7-226-01817-0.
  2. ↑ "文县碧口镇_行政区划网(区划地名网) www.xzqh.org". www.xzqh.org. Retrieved 2021-05-15.
  3. ↑ 档案 (in Chinese). 《档案》编辑部. 1985.
  4. ↑ 莫超 (2004). 白龙江流域汉语方言语法研究 (in Chinese). 中國社会科学出版社. ISBN 978-7-5004-4863-1.
  5. ↑ 侯丕勋; 刘再聪 (2008). 西北边疆历史地理概论 (in Chinese). 甘肃人民出版社. ISBN 978-7-226-03636-5.
  6. ↑ 武都县志 (in Chinese). 生活 · 读书 · 三知三联书店. 1998. ISBN 978-7-108-01191-6.
  7. ↑ 杨成有; 刘进琪著 (2013-12-01). 甘肃江河地理名录 (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Beijing Book Co. Inc. ISBN 978-7-226-04529-9.
  8. ↑ 毛树林; 赵殷; 三道 (2010-09-01). 大爱：深圳援建陇南纪实 (in Chinese). Beijing Book Co. Inc. ISBN 978-7-999022-56-5.
  9. ↑ 甘肃省志: 建设志. 第三十二卷 (in Chinese). 甘肃人民出版社. 2000. ISBN 978-7-226-02260-3.
  10. ↑ 中国戏曲志: 甘肃卷 (in Chinese). 中国 Isbn 中心. 1995. ISBN 978-7-5076-0088-9.
  11. ↑ "金农网甘肃省陇南市文县乡镇、村信息". Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
  12. ↑ official meaning having a village party/govt.; associated with these villages for administrative purposes may be several more villages termed natural (meaning having nonesuch).
  13. ↑ Translation by Forest Venn
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