Dai County
county in Shanxi, China
Dai County, also known by its Chinese name Daixian, is a county in Xinzhou, Shanxi Province, China. Its county seat at Shangguan is also known as Daixian. The county has an area of 1,729 km2 (668 sq mi) and had a population of 178,870 at the time of the 2020 census. The county is the home of the AAAAA-rated Yanmen Pass Scenic Area along the Great Wall, as well as the Bianjing Drum Tower, the Ayuwang Pagoda, and the Zhao Gao Forest Park.
Names
As is usual in Chinese, the name "Daixian" is used for both the county as a whole and for the county seat at Shangguan. Because the English word "county" only typically describes the area, it's more common to use a transcription of the Chinese form of the name when talking about its seat of government. Dàixiàn is the pinyin romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese placename written as 代縣 in traditional characters and as 代县 in the simplified characters now used in mainland China. The same name was formerly written as Tai County, Tai Hsien, or Tai-hsien in the Wade-Giles system. The name was most recently bestowed in 1912, during the organization of the Republic of China.
The county took its name from its predecessor Daizhou or Dai Prefecture, which had existed since AD 585.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Dai County” as county in Shanxi, China. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as county in Shanxi, China. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 18, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q1157514. VIAF identifies the subject as 158713344. The Library of Congress control number is nr90025378. Authority coordinates are 39.065, 112.957. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2020 and 1912.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dai County”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dai County primary sources, Dai County archive and County research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dai County”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dai County” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.