Daye

Daye is a county-level city under Huangshi in the east of Hubei, and its name means 'great smelter', a reference to metal smelting in the area dating back to the Tang dynasty. It covers 1,566 square kilometres and counts about 871,214 residents in 18 township-level divisions. Copper was mined and smelted at the Tonglushan mine as early as the Spring and Autumn period, and the mine now has a museum; although malachite and azurite are found there, the local ores are richer in iron than in copper, and modern Daye is better known for iron. The State Council approved the conversion of Daye into a county-level city on 18 February 1994, and it took effect on 1 January 1995.