Zhumadian, Henan Province, China

🇨🇳 Zhumadian is a prefecture-level city in southern Henan province, China. It borders Xinyang to the south, Nanyang to the west, Pingdingshan to the north-west, Luohe to the north, Zhoukou to the north-east, and the province of Anhui to the east.

The metro area includes Yicheng District (驿城区). It was once the centre of the Cai state during the Eastern Zhou era. The state leaves its name in several of the subdivisions of including Shangcai County and Xincai County.

The prefecture-level city of Zhumadian includes 9 counties: Runan County (汝南县)

Pingyu County (平舆县); Xincai County (新蔡县); Shangcai County (上蔡县); Xiping County (西平县); Suiping County (遂平县); Queshan County (确山县),

Zhengyang County (正阳县); Biyang County (泌阳县).

Geography Zhumadian is situated at 32° 18'−33° 35' N latitude, and 113° 10'−115° 12' E longitude, with a maximum east–west width of 191.5 km (119.0 mi), and at most 137.5 km (85.4 mi) long from south to north. The area of the prefecture is 15,083 square km (5,824 sq mi), occupying 8.9% of the total provincial area. Neighbouring prefectures are: • Fuyang, Anhui (E) • Xinyang (S) • Nanyang (W) • Pingdingshan (NW) • Luohe (N) • Zhoukou (NE)

The terrain is dominated by mountains, hills, hillocks, and plains.

Agriculture Mainly wheat, maize, peanut, sesame, green beans and tobacco.

Culture Zhumadian has a rich cultural history and the birthplace of many great people in ancient times. There is an old site of Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai who are the characters in the Butterfly Lovers, a famous Chinese story.

Dams Zhumadian has 62 different dams including Banqiao Dam within its territory. The failure of the Banqiao and Shimantan Dams in 1975, which caused more than 150,000 casualties and made more than 10 million people homeless, is considered the biggest catastrophe of its kind.

Transport One of the Chinese main highways, China National Highway 107, runs through Zhumadian. Zhumadian also has its own transportation system. The old Golden Decade-built Zhumadian Aerodrome primarily served military operations from 1931 until late-2018, when it was converted for commercial passenger airliner use as well.