Ting River

　　    Also known as Yan River, it was renamed because while all rivers in the world flow eastward, only the Ting flows south. In the Eight Trigrams, the south corresponds to the "Ding" position, and "Ding" combined with "water" forms "Ting," hence the name Ting River. It is the only "interprovincial river" in Fujian that flows through other provinces. Originating from the northern slope of Muma Mountain in Ninghua County, it flows through Changting, Wuping, Shanghang, and Yongding counties, spanning a total length of 260 kilometers with a drainage area of 9,228 square kilometers, including 85 kilometers within Shanghang. The Ting River is the mother river of the Hakka people, where the Hakka ethnic group formed, developed, and migrated outward, and it also forged the Hakka people’s industrious, hospitable, and resilient pioneering character. The late Qing Dynasty patriotic poet Qiu Fengjia wrote: “The mountain gap in the southeast opens to a great river; the Ting waters come from the south and then flow east. Surrounded by green hills on four sides and water on three, a picturesque city basks in the sunset,” vividly depicting the beautiful scenery of Shanghang, embraced by mountains and water.