Taikang County

Taikang County (Chinese: 太康县; Pinyin: Tàikāng Xiàn) is a county in the north of Zhoukou Municipality, Henan. It is divided into 23 townships and 766 villages. The county is home to 1.43 million Han Chinese and 25,000 Hui, with a population density of 581 people per kilometre squared.

History

The name comes from the Xia Dynasty king Taikang, who sited his capital in the area. It was also called Yangxia, also a reference to the Xia king. As a major thoroughfare, the county has been historically important. It was the hometown of Wu Guang, one of the peasant leaders of the rebellion against the Qin Dynasty. It was also the ancestral hometown of the Xia (surname) and Yuan (surname) clans, who dominated the government of the Southern Dynasties.

Today, Taikang is a primarily agrarian county, with some light industry. The county is famous for its production of cotton.