Dingnan county is located at the southernmost tip of Jiangxi Province, bordering Anyuan and Xunwu in the east, Longchuan and Heping in Guangdong in the south, Longnan in the west and Xinfeng in the north. Since ancient times, Dingnan has been the traffic throat and merchant artery of Jiangxi and Guangdong provinces, and is known as the "South Gate" of Jiangxi. The county has a total area of 13 18.72 square kilometers, governs 6 towns and 7 townships and has a population of192,000. Dingnan belonged to Yangzhou in ancient times, Chu in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, and Jiujiang in the Qin Dynasty. In the third year of Qin Long in Ming Dynasty (A.D. 1569), Longnan, Xinfeng and Anyuan counties were established, which belonged to Ganzhou Prefecture, and the counties occupied Li Antang Town (now the old town). In the thirty-eighth year of Qing Qianlong (A.D. 1773), the county was changed into a hall, and Tongzhi of Ganzhou Prefecture moved to Dingnan, which became the Dingnan Hall of Fenfang Prefecture of Ganzhou. In the winter of the second year of the Republic of China (A.D. 19 13), the county government moved from Li Antang to Xiali City (now Shili Town), and has been attacked repeatedly since then. Hakka dialect is commonly used in the county.