Qingtian County

Qingtian (Chinese: 青田; pinyin: Qīngtián; Wade–Giles: Ch'ing-t'ien; lit. 'azure field') is a county located in the southeastern part of Lishui, Zhejiang, China. It is split in two by the Ou River, which flows 388 kilometers before finally reaching the city of Wenzhou and emptying into the East China Sea. Situated in a hilly terrain with many ravines, the county's seat is Hecheng (鹤城, lit: 'the town of cranes'), also known as Qingtian City. As one of China's best-known qiaoxiangs (侨乡, hometown of overseas Chinese), Qingtian is particularly famous for its diasporas, whose strong commercial networks and family ties have created highly visible diasporan communities across the globe, forming the bulk of Chinese populations in many European states, especially in Spain where they constitute over 80% of the entire Chinese community. It is also well known for its traditional stonecarving industry, which has been widely acclaimed as "embroidery on stone" since the Northern and Southern dynasties period.