# Pingtang County

Pingtang County (Chinese: 平塘县; pinyin: Píngtáng Xiàn) is a county in the Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture of Guizhou province, China, bordering Guangxi to the south. It is a high mountain valley and is inhabited mainly by members of the Buyei and Miao ethnic minorities, who together make up 55% of the county's population.
The county's area is 2,799.08 square km and at the 2010 Census its population was 228,560. The county's government is based in the town of Pinghu.
The Five Hundred Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) is located in the southwestern part of Pingtan County, near its Kedu and Tangbian Towns and Dongjia Township of the adjacent Luodian County.

## Administrative divisions

Pingtang County is divided into 1 subdistrict, 9 towns and 1 ethnic township:

### subdistrict

* Jinpen Subdistrict 金盆街道

### towns

* Pingzhou Town 平舟镇
* Yazhou Town 牙舟镇
* Tongzhou Town 通州镇
* Datang Town 大塘镇
* Kedu Town 克度镇
* Tangbian Town 塘边镇
* Jiacha Town 甲茶镇
* Zhemi Town 者密镇
* Zhangbu Town 掌布镇

### ethnic township

* Kapu Maonan Ethnic Township 卡蒲毛南族乡

## Curiosities
### Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope

The world's largest filled-aperture radio telescope, Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST) is located in the Dawodang, a natural sinkhole in Pingtang.

## Climate

Climate data for Pingtang, elevation 709 m (2,326 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1981–2010) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 24.6 (76.3) | 32.2 (90.0) | 32.8 (91.0) | 35.4 (95.7) | 34.9 (94.8) | 34.2 (93.6) | 36.1 (97.0) | 36.6 (97.9) | 35.8 (96.4) | 33.5 (92.3) | 30.3 (86.5) | 27.9 (82.2) | 36.6 (97.9) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 10.8 (51.4) | 14.2 (57.6) | 18.2 (64.8) | 23.6 (74.5) | 26.7 (80.1) | 28.7 (83.7) | 30.3 (86.5) | 30.6 (87.1) | 28.3 (82.9) | 23.3 (73.9) | 19.3 (66.7) | 13.9 (57.0) | 22.3 (72.2) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 6.6 (43.9) | 9.5 (49.1) | 13.0 (55.4) | 18.3 (64.9) | 21.7 (71.1) | 24.1 (75.4) | 25.3 (77.5) | 24.8 (76.6) | 22.2 (72.0) | 18.0 (64.4) | 13.6 (56.5) | 8.8 (47.8) | 17.2 (62.9) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 3.9 (39.0) | 6.4 (43.5) | 9.6 (49.3) | 14.5 (58.1) | 18.0 (64.4) | 21.0 (69.8) | 22.1 (71.8) | 21.2 (70.2) | 18.3 (64.9) | 14.7 (58.5) | 10.1 (50.2) | 5.6 (42.1) | 13.8 (56.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −4.0 (24.8) | −4.1 (24.6) | −1.7 (28.9) | 2.4 (36.3) | 6.8 (44.2) | 12.5 (54.5) | 13.8 (56.8) | 15.1 (59.2) | 10.0 (50.0) | 4.9 (40.8) | −1.2 (29.8) | −5.1 (22.8) | −5.1 (22.8) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 24.7 (0.97) | 29.2 (1.15) | 54.2 (2.13) | 95.7 (3.77) | 201.8 (7.94) | 217.0 (8.54) | 202.8 (7.98) | 104 (4.1) | 79.6 (3.13) | 72.2 (2.84) | 42.6 (1.68) | 22.7 (0.89) | 1,146.5 (45.12) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 11.3 | 11.3 | 14.2 | 15.5 | 16.3 | 17.0 | 17.2 | 12.7 | 9.9 | 11.2 | 9.1 | 8.9 | 154.6 |
| Average snowy days | 1.9 | 0.8 | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 3.3 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 77 | 76 | 76 | 77 | 77 | 81 | 81 | 81 | 79 | 79 | 78 | 75 | 78 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 45.4 | 57.0 | 76.3 | 104.4 | 123.2 | 106.8 | 156.2 | 177.1 | 142.6 | 96.9 | 91.7 | 67.3 | 1,244.9 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 14 | 18 | 20 | 27 | 30 | 26 | 37 | 44 | 39 | 27 | 28 | 21 | 28 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||