Lianjiang, in 282, during the Jin Dynasty, was Wenma, named after a shipyard there, Wensha Ship-hamlet. It was incorporated into Min Prefecture in 607, during the Sui Dynasty. Wenma was changed to the present name and made its own county in 623, during the Tang Dynasty, when Baisha or Fusha of Aojiang was the capital of Lianjiang County. The capital was changed to Fengcheng as today in 742. After the Republic of China was established, Lianjiang switched back and forth numerous times between two special regions:
Residents of Lianjiang – both on the Mainland and Matsu – speak the Lianjiang dialect, a subdialect of the Fuzhou dialect, a branch of Eastern Min. The dialect is also known as Bàng-uâ.
Language
The Lianjiang dialect is a subdialect of Fuzhou dialect. The Lianjiang dialect is mutually intelligible with Fuzhou dialect. It differs from Fuzhou dialect in its tonal sandhi pattern and vowel sandhi system. Small lexical differences also exist on object names, e.g. waxmelon is called "卷瓜" in Fuzhou but "冬瓜" in Lianjiang. Generally speaking, the tonal sandhi system of Lianjiang is more conservative than that of Fuzhou, in that the Lianjiang tonal sandhi is still largely controlled by the Middle Chinese tonal registers, while the Fuzhou tonal sandhi shows more deviation and irregularity. Lianjiang vowel sandhi is more complicated than that of Fuzhou. Both Lianjiang and Fuzhou have systematic vowel variations between citation forms and non-final forms of the same morpheme, e.g. "地" /tei/ "land" – "地主" /ti-tsuo/ "landlord". However, not all morphemes have such variations. Only the morphemes with low-starting tones show such variation. The morphemes with high-starting tones instead only have the more close variant, e.g. "迟" /ti/ "late"- "迟早" /ti tsia/ "early or late". However, some cognates are produced with different vowels in Lianjiang and Fuzhou, e.g. "江 river" is produced as /kyeŋ/ in Lianjiang, but /kouŋ/ in Fuzhou. Also, the rimes in Lianjiang are generally more close and front than that in Fuzhou, which is especially salient in the open vowels, e.g. "下 down" is in Fuzhou, but in Lianjiang. Surrounded by mountains, Lianjiang used to be a relatively isolated from the inland part of China for centuries. This explains why the Lianjiang phonological system is relatively more conservative. However, with the construction of the high-speed railway system and the improvement of tunnel system, northern migrants are flooding into Lianjiang in the past decade, which may bring language contact into perspective. Just like in Fuzhou, most young or middle-aged Lianjiang speakers speak Mandarin Chinese fluently, but usually with a local accent influenced by the local dialect. However, due to the misleading language policy and disadvantageous status of the dialect, both Fuzhou and Lianjiang dialects are losing speakers in the youngest generation. More and more young people and children are only receptive bilinguals in Lianjiang.
Luochang Expressway runs through the county's section of National Highway 104 in. navigable river length. Guantou and Kemen are the largest seaports in Lianjiang with national access.
Tourism
There are hot springs in Gui'an and Tanghui of Pandu. There is a Dragon King Palace-Temple in the Xiaocang She Ethnic Township.
