Time zone China Standard (UTC+8) Population 495,100 (2010) | Area 2,957 km² | |
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Country People's Republic of China | ||
Wushan County (Chinese: 巫山县; pinyin: Wūshān Xiàn) is a county located in Chongqing municipality. It occupies roughly 2,958 km2 (1,142 sq mi) and has a population of about 600,000.
Map of Wushan, Chongqing, China
The county seat is located at the western entrance to the Wu Gorge (巫峡) in the Three Gorges region of China. Wushan is famous for its Little Three Gorges (小三峡) located on the nearby Daning River (大宁河).
The Wushan county seat is on the northern bank of the Yangtze River channel, which in the Gorges region was flooded after the construction of the Three Gorges Dam. The original town was abandoned and submerged under the rising waters, and the new town constructed on the hills above.
The population of the town is something in excess of 100,000, and the main economic activity in the area is coal mining, almost all from very small mines in the surrounding mountains. Tourism also plays a role, although tourist activity is not as great as it was before the flooding of the Gorges in the first decade of the 21st century. The Little Three Gorges are no longer as deep or as spectacular as they once were.
Mount Wushan is located east of the county.