Zigui County

Zigui County 秭归县
County
Part of the town of Maoping, the county seat
Zigui Location in Hubei
Coordinates: 31°01′N 110°35′E / 31.017°N 110.583°E / 31.017; 110.583Coordinates: 31°01′N 110°35′E / 31.017°N 110.583°E / 31.017; 110.583
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Hubei
Prefecture-level city	Yichang
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)

Zigui County (simplified Chinese: 秭归县; traditional Chinese: 秭歸縣; pinyin: Zǐguī Xiàn) is a county of western Hubei province, People's Republic of China. It is under the administration of Yichang City and encompasses the easternmost portion of the Yangtze River Gorges, including the Xiling Gorge (西陵峡).

In the Xiling Gorge in the western part of Zigui County

The county seat of Zigui is now the town of Maoping (茅坪镇, Maoping Zhen), situated a few kilometers west of the Three Gorges Dam on the high southern shore of the river. The original Zigui town was upstream to the west and was abandoned and submerged under the rising waters of the reservoir in the early years of the 21st century. As it is common in China, Maoping is typically labelled as "Zigui County" (秭归县) or simply "Zigui" (秭归) on most maps.

A good view of the Three Gorges Dam, and of an ancillary dam further south, can be had from Maoping's riverside parks.

Funiculars take passengers down to the boats at the Maoping Town dock

Passenger boats and ferries travelling up and down the river can dock at the large passenger dock ("Zigui Harbor", 秭归港) at Maoping, or at Taipingxi Town on the north bank close to the Dam. Frequent bus service connects Maoping with the center city of Yichang to the east; there is also bus service to most towns in the county, as well as to the neighboring counties.

Most of Zigui is hilly or mountainous with basic farming and tea production. There are many small coal mines in the mountains, with the coal trucked to the river then loaded onto barges for shipping downstream.

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