Zhuanglang County
Zhuanglang County is a rural county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Pingliang in the east of Gansu Province, China. It borders Ningxia to the north, the Gansu county-level divisions of Huating City to the east, Zhangjiachuan County to the southeast, Qin'an County to the southwest, and Jingning County to the west. Nearby major cities include Pingliang, Tianshui, Guyuan, and Lanzhou. The county seat of Zhuanglang—once known as Zhuanglang, Tchouang-lan, Chwang-lan, or Chwanglang—is now called Shuiluo. Its walled town was an important regional post in late imperial China, visited by  Jesuit missionaries and reported on by the Macartney Embassy. It remains a relatively busy administrative, educational, and trading spot for the county. Other market towns in the county include Nanhu, Zhudian, and Handian in the north, south-west, and south-east respectively. The people of Zhuanglang are predominantly farmers, producing wheat and potatoes on terraced hills. The farmers of Zhuanglang were proclaimed in the 1980s for having terraced all available hillside, and a monument in the county town records the famous 'Zhuanglang Spirit' by which this was achieved. In recent years, education has been a priority for the local government . With the help of World Bank funding, schools in Zhuanglang have been well supported. Nearly all children now complete primary education, while there are 23 junior middle schools, and 3 senior middle schools which send students on to colleges and universities. The cultural sites of Zhuanglang include: The highest point of the county is Taomushan at 2857m above sea level. Population (2005 est.) Administrative Divisions. Zhuanglang County is divided to 1 Subdistricts, 15 towns and 3 townships. -Towns are upgraded from Township.