It covers an area of 2,200 km2 (850 sq mi) and has a population of approximately 365,000 (2002), of which 88% belong to ethnic minorities and 95% is associated with agriculture. The majority of the inhabitants of the county are from the Hani ethnic group. The GDP of Yuanyang county in 2002 was 630 million Yuan.[3] The administrative seat of the county is the town of Nansha (a.k.a. New Yuanyang) down in the Red River valley at an elevation of 240 meters. It is situated 12 km towards the north-east of the former administrative seat Xinjie (a.k.a. Old Yuanyang or just Yuanyang) to which it is connected by a 27 km long twisting mountain road. To the south of Old Yuanyang, the town of Panzhihua is positioned near the top of another major valley of rice-terraces. There are a total of 928 settlements in Yuanyang county, 826 of them being inhabited by only one single ethnic group.[4]
