Xinhua County

Xinhua County (Chinese: 新化县; pinyin: Xīnhuà Xiàn) is a county and the fourth-most populous county-level division in the province of Hunan, China. It is under the administration of Loudi City. Located along the middle reaches of the Zi River, it covers 3,635 square kilometers and has a population of 1,196,538 (November 2020). Xinhua shares borders with Lengshuijiang, Lianyuan, Xinshao, Xupu and Longhui counties and cities. As a county, it was founded in 1072 (Northern Song dynasty) and is now under jurisdiction of the Loudi City, subdivided into 7 townships and 19 towns, with Shangmei as the county seat. The economy of Xinhua County is largely agricultural, with 741 thousand of Xinhua County's population of 1.2 million working in agriculture. Other than agriculture, industries include machinery, electronics, ceramics, building materials, metallurgy, coal, chemical, food, paper, bamboo and wood processing. In recent years, Xinhua County's economy has grown quite a lot. In 2011, media attention was attracted by a construction project started by the county's government. In the hope of attracting tourists, the officials wanted to build a lavish temple (Xiongshan Si - 熊山寺; 'Bear Mountain Temple'), diverting funds from more essential projects.