| Sandu County | |
| Native Name: | Chinese: 三都县 · Sanyduy xianq |
| Official Name: | Sandu Shui Autonomous County |
| Postal Code: | 558100 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code |
| Settlement Type: | Autonomous county |
| Pushpin Map: | Guizhou#Southwest China |
| Pushpin Label: | Sandu |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of the seat in Guizhou |
| Coor Pinpoint: | Sandu County government |
| Coordinates: | 25.9836°N 107.8694°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | China |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Guizhou |
| Subdivision Type2: | Autonomous prefecture |
| Subdivision Name2: | Qiannan |
| Seat Type: | County seat |
| Seat: | Sanhe Subdistrict |
| Area Code: | 0854 |
| Area Total Km2: | 2384 |
| Population As Of: | 2020 census |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Population Total: | 276347 |
| Population Footnotes: | [1] |
| Elevation M: | 675 |
| Timezone: | China Standard |
| Utc Offset: | +8 |
| Elevation Max M: | 1665.5 |
| Elevation Min M: | 303 |
| Elevation Min Point: | Duliu River |
| Elevation Max Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population Blank1: | 367,100 |
| Elevation Max Point: | Gengding Mountain |
| Population Blank2: | 261,300 |
| Population Blank2 Title: | Shui people |
| Population Blank1 Title: | Ethnic minorities |
| Population Urban: | 177,882 |
| Population Urban Footnotes: | [3] |
Sandu Shui Autonomous County (; Bouyei: Sanyduy Suijzuf Ziqziqxianq) is an autonomous county in the southeast of Guizhou province, China. It is under the administration of the Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, and the only Shui Autonomous County in China; 63% of Shui in China live in this county, which is the heartland of the Shui people.[4] Per a 2022 county government publication, Sandu has a population of 381,000, 97% of whom belong to ethnic minorities, and 67% of the total population are Shui.[5]
It is one of the poorest counties of Guizhou.[6] Most of the county is forested and it is noted for its clean air.[7] [8]
Sandu administers the following 2 subdistricts and 6 towns:[9]
Sandu County's urban center is located 68km (42miles) from Duyun, the administrative center of the Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture, and 177km (110miles) from the provincial capital of Guiyang.
All of Sandu belongs to the watershed of the Liu River which flows into the Pearl River. The Duliu River has its source in Sandu and flows into the Liu River. The county is rather mountainous with Karst landscape resulting in large locale temperature and climate differences. Antimony is mined commercially in Sandu.
As of 2021, Sandu Shui Autonomous County has a registered hukou population of 380,871, of which, 96,869 belong to urban areas, and the remaining 284,002 belong to rural areas, giving the autonomous county an urbanization rate of 25.43%.[10]
Per a 2022 county government publication, 67% of the autonomous county's population is ethnically Shui, another 30% belong to other recognized ethnic minorities, and just 3% of the population is ethnically Han Chinese.
The average annual disposable income for urban residents as of 2021 totaled 35,874 renminbi (RMB), a 9% increase from the previous year, and the second highest among county-level divisions in the Qiannan Buyei and Miao Autonomous Prefecture.
Sandu is served by the Guiyang–Guangzhou high-speed railway, with a travel time of 50 minutes to Guiyang. It is also connected by G76 Xiamen–Chengdu Expressway and several provincial expressways.[11]