Geography

Engchoon’s terrain is elongated, with the land sloping from northwest to southeast, at an altitude of about 100 meters to over 1,000 meters. It can be roughly divided into two parts: east and west. The eastern terrain is mainly hilly and valley terraces, with many basins in between. The areas where the closely connected towns of Shigu, Wufeng, Wulijie, Taocheng, Dongping, and Hushan are located, are the most suitable for farming in Engchoon County and also the most prosperous with commercial activities.

The western part of Engchoon is mountainous, with fifty-eight mountains over one thousand meters high. The terrain is rugged with steep ridges interlacing, making the roads very rough and the transportation extremely inconvenient. The streams in the west are not navigable due to the terrain, and the connections with the outside world are not as smooth as in the east. The rate of population outflow after the Opium War was not as severe as in the east.

During the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican period, the population of the eastern towns of Engchoon seriously emigrated, mainly because the only waterway from Engchoon to the outside world, Taoxi, could go directly to Quanzhou Port and overseas. The history of Taoxi’s navigation to Quanzhou began in the second year of the Kaibao period of the Song Dynasty (969). Taoxi flows through the core areas of eastern Engchoon, providing convenience for the eastern people to go abroad.

Engchoon County currently has 18 towns and 4 townships. According to statistics from the Engchoon County Government’s Overseas Chinese Affairs Office in 2006, the overseas population of the western towns of Yidu, Hengkou, Xiayang, and Yudou is less than one thousand. In contrast, the number of expatriates and their descendants from the towns of Huyang, Waishan, Dongguan, Dongping, Taocheng, Wulijie, Wufeng, Jiafu, Hushan, Xianjia, Shigu, Penghu, and Dapu in the eastern part of Engchoon County far exceeds those currently remaining in the country.