...the path crosses the Tsin-ling Shan, and passes from the basin of the Huang Ho into that of the Yang-tse by an easy pass. The south-eastern corner of Kan-su, south of the Tsin-ling Shan range, differs greatly from the rest of the province. The bareloess hills of Central Kan-su with their waterless valleys give way to jungle-covered mountains with abundance of water, and coolie transport takes the place of camels, carts, and mules. The people are in close touch with Sechuan.
The Liba gold deposit lies within the county limits.
Agriculture
are a speciality agricultural product of the region.
History
Scientists from Lanzhou University have established that widespread agriculture began in Li County around 6,400 years ago as part of the Banpo phase of the Yangshao culture of the Wei River valley. The warm, humid climate of the mid-Holocene made the area productive for millet prior to the drier conditions which began about 2000 . By the time of ancient China, Lixian was part of the territory of Xichui. During the Shang dynasty, Zhongjue and his son Feilian controlled Xichui from the midst of the area's Rong tribes. Feilian's son Elai served King Zhou as his bodyguard and was killed when King Wu overthrew him and founded the Zhou dynasty. Under the Zhou, however, Elai's familythe House of Yingcontinued to control the area. His great-great-grandson was Daluo who had two sons by different mothers in the early 9th century . Cheng, his son by the daughter of the Marquis of Shen, inherited Xichui and the other son, Feizi, initially went without and served as his brother's horse breeder. His reputation grew to the point that KingXiao charged him with breeding and providing the imperial cavalry. He proved so successful that, when the Marquis of Shen blocked his inheritance of Daluo's estate, King Xiao created him lord of nearby Qin. During the 842 Compatriots Rebellion, the Zhou king Li was overthrown at Hao and forced into a prolonged exile; the Rong took the occasion to attack and massacre Cheng's clan at Xichui. King Xuan named Feizi's great-grandson Qin Zhong commander over the Zhou expeditions against the Rong around 827 but the Rong killed him at Qin in 822. His son Zhuang and his four younger brothers successfully invaded the Rong lands with 7,000 Zhou soldiers and recovered both Qin and Xichui. At some point during Spring and Autumn period, barley and wheat were introduced into the area in addition to its traditional millet. Created a duke over Xichui, Zhuang moved his family's capital to the site, establishing the city of Quanqiu. When Zhuang died in 778 , his eldest son Shifu refused to inherit official duties but chose instead to live a life on his chariot, fighting the Rong in revenge for his grandfather's death. His younger brother Xiang opted to marry his sister Mu Ying to King Feng of the Rong and, the next year in 776 , he moved his capital from Quanqiu to Qian. Shifu led the defense of Quanqiu against the Rong who subsequently invaded. Overcome, he was captured and lived among the Rong for a year before being released. When the Quanrong overcame Hao in 771 and ended the Western period of the Zhou, Xiang was granted a promotion by King Ping and no longer suffered subordinate status. Under the Qin and Han dynasties, it was part of Longxi Commandery, headquartered at Didao. During the Northern Wei dynasty, it was part of Hanyang Commandery, headquartered at Hanyang. Under the Western Wei, this was changed to Hanyang County. During the Tang, Lixian was known as Changdao and was part of Qinzhou, a province centered variously at Shanggui and Chengji. The area was the home of the noted 10th-century memoirist Wang Renhui. Li County was separated from Tianshui's jurisdiction during the ninth year of Chenghua during the Ming dynasty. Li County's loess is prone to erosion and landslides. Amid the increasing collectivization of agriculture from 1964 to 1978, just seven flows damaged of farmland, destroyed 17,544 homes, and killed 1,142 people. During the Cultural Revolution, the area received a bit of local notoriety for its flagging grain production. The "experiences of Li County" were used by regional officials to caution against implementation of Tachai-style collectivism in the mid-1970s. The collective farms in the area saw decreasing year-on-year yields of grain until, by 1976, all 29 of the county's communes were consuming more grain than they produced. This provoked official action, which denounced the complaints as "sabotage" and "poison", in the period between the fall of the Gang of Four and the rise of Deng Xiaoping's economic reforms. The area is also subject to earthquakes, with 25 recorded as having a magnitude of 5.0 or higher. The largest recorded was an 8.0-magnitude quake that struck on July 21, 1654; most recently, a 6.6-magnitude quake struck on July 22, 2013.
