Shaanxi is a province in Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to the west.
Shaanxi covers an area of over with about 37 million people, the 16th-largest in China. Xi'an, which includes the sites of the former capitals Fenghao and Chang'an, is the provincial capital and largest city in Northwest China and also one of the oldest cities in China. It is also the oldest of the Four Ancient Capitals, being the capital for the Western Zhou, Western Han, Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties. Xianyang, which served as the capital of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), is just north across the Wei River. The other prefecture-level cities into which the province is divided are Ankang, Baoji, Hanzhong, Shangluo, Tongchuan, Weinan, Yan'an and Yulin.
The province is geographically divided into three parts, namely Northern (or "Shaanbei"), Central ("Shaanzhong") and Southern Shaanxi (or "Shaannan"). Northern Shaanxi makes up the southeastern portion of the Ordos Basin and mainly comprises the two prefectural cities of Yulin and Yan'an on the northern Loess Plateau, demarcated from the Ordos Desert and the grasslands of Inner Mongolia's Ordos City by the Ming Great Wall. Central Shaanxi is also known as the Guanzhong region, and comprises the drainage basin of lower Wei River east of Mount Liupan and north of the Qinling Mountains, where the majority of Shaanxi's population reside. Southern Shaanxi comprises the three prefectural cities in the edge of the historical Bashu region south of the Qinling Mountains and includes the three mountainous cities of Hanzhong, Ankang and Shangluo.
The area comprising Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan formed the cradle of Chinese civilization. During the Republican era, the city of Yan'an was near the endpoint of the Long March by the Chinese Red Army, who fled from Jiangxi after the Chinese Soviet Republic was destroyed by the Kuomintang armies, and became the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Revolution from late 1935 to early 1947; the Communists formed the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region in constituent parts of Shaanxi.
The vast majority of the population of Shaanxi is Han Chinese, with Hui, Manchu and Mongol being the more significant ethnic minorities. Mandarin Chinese is the main spoken language in Shaanxi, including Central Plains Mandarin and Southwestern Mandarin dialects; another variety of Chinese, Jin Chinese, is also spoken in the regions neighboring Shanxi.
Shaanxi is China's 15th largest economy, ranking within the middle tier among China's administrative divisions. The fossil fuel and high technology sectors compose the two largest industries in Shaanxi Province. The high technology sector includes aircraft and aerospace industries and Shaanxi produces more than 50% of the R&D and manufacturing equipment for the country's domestic commercial aviation industry.
Name Language Pronunciation Jin Chinese Informant: Wang Zhaofu, born in 1948, . 13th-century Mandarin Locality: Yuan-era North China . [ʃem si] [ʃan si] Xi'an Mandarin Audio released as Informant: 杨绳信, born in 1932, Xi'an. [ʂæ̃ ɕi] [sæ̃ ɕi] Beijing Mandarin [ʂan ɕi]
The meaning of the province, 'west of Shan', is attested , when the dukes of Shao and Zhou marked their borders along the Shan plateau (). Reprinted on In Chinese typing, the toponym often got mixed up with 'valley' (note: distinguish and ). Simplified characters merged the two as .
The romanizations of Shaanxi () and its neighboring province Shanxi () are troublesome in Beijing Mandarin because their pronunciation differs only in tone (rendered as Shǎnxī and Shānxī in pinyin transcription, 1958). To avoid confusion, mainland China recognized the Gwoyeu Romatzyh transcription (1928) for , "Shaan".
Nonetheless, the vowels and consonants of and are distinguished in the more conservative Jin Chinese languages native to the two provinces. This conservative phonology is reflected in the historical spelling of Shaanxi, "Shensi", known to the Europeans in the 18th century. "Shensi" was recognized in the 1906 Chinese postal romanization and continued to be popular until 1987, when the People's Republic of China banned romanizations made before their establishment.
History
Shaanxi is considered one of the cradles of Chinese civilization. Thirteen feudal dynasties established their capitals in the province during a span of more than 1,100 years, from the Zhou dynasty to the Tang dynasty.
The province's principal city and current capital, Xi'an, is one of the four great ancient capitals of China and is the eastern terminus of the Silk Road, which leads to Europe, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa.
The region was briefly governed as the Three Qins after the fall of the Qin dynasty. This is the origin of one of Shaanxi's two abbreviations, (Qin), the other being (Shaan). Then it was conquered by Liu Bang during the Chu-Han Contention. Under the Han dynasty, the Northern Silk Road was expanded to advance exploration and military purposes to the west. This Northern Silk Road is the northernmost of the Silk Roads and is about in length. It connected the ancient Chinese capital of Xi'an to the west over the Wushao Ling Pass to Wuwei and emerging in Kashgar before linking to ancient Parthia.
The Xiongnu-led kingdom Northern Xia (407–431) set its capital in Tongwancheng.
The Northern Song dynasty and the Tangut-led Western Xia contested their border in Shaanxi. Western Xia found the Luōwùchéng (罗兀城) frontier fort in 1071 but was taken by Song in 1081.
Under the Ming dynasty, Shaanxi was established with the founding of the Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission in 1376, whose administration also included the modern provinces of Gansu, Ningxia, and part of Qinghai. During this dynasty, most visitors from Central and West Asia entered the country via Shaanxi.
One of the most devastating earthquakes in history occurred near Hua Shan in southeastern Shaanxi on 23 January 1556, killing an estimated 100,000 people and causing a regional reduction in population by an estimated 830,000 due to emigration and famine (see 1556 Shaanxi earthquake).
The end of the short-lived Jiangxi Soviet signaled the beginning of the Long March by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communists to the Shaanxi Soviet at Yan'an.
The administrative evolution of Shaanxi: The Northern Song established the Shaanxi Lu (circuit), governed from modern Xi'an in 997. The Yuan dynasty established Shaanxi Province (Yuan dynasty), governed by a Branch Secretariat in 1286.Dictionary of the Ben cao gang mu, Volume 2: Geographical and Administrative Designations First Edition, Paul Unschuld, Series Editor Edition by Hua Linfu (Author), Paul D. Buell (Author), Paul U. Unschuld (Editor) After the founding of the Qing dynasty, Gansu was split from Shaanxi, but both provinces were governed under the Viceroy of Shaan-Gan.
Prehistoric site The Lantian Man site, with hominin fossils from approximately one million years ago, was found in Lantian County in northwestern Shaanxi province, near the city of Xi'an. Scientists classify Lantian Man as a subspecies of Homo erectus. The fossils are displayed at the Shaanxi History Museum, Xi'an, China.
Geography
The geography of the area is described as being part of the Ordos Desert in the north along the border with Inner Mongolia, the Loess Plateau in the central part of the province, the Qin Mountains (Qinling) running east to west in the south central part, and subtropical climate south of the Qinling. In between the Loess Plateau and the Qinling lies the Wei River Valley, or Guanzhong, a cradle of early Chinese civilization.
Going clockwise, Shaanxi borders Shanxi (E, NE), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), Ningxia (NW), and Inner Mongolia (N). In terms of number of bordering provincial-level divisions, Shaanxi ties Inner Mongolia.
Due to its large span in latitude, Shaanxi has a variety of climates. Under the Köppen climate classification, the northern parts, including the Loess Plateau, have either a cold arid (Köppen BWk) or cold semi-arid (Köppen BSk), with cold and very dry winters, dry springs and autumns, and hot, humid summers. The area known as Guanzhong is mostly semi-arid, though there are a few areas with a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), with cool to cold winters, and hot, humid summers that often see early-season heatwaves. The southern portion is much more humid and lies in the humid subtropical zone, with more temperate winters and long, hot, humid summers. Annual mean temperature is roughly between , with January temperatures ranging from and July temperatures ranging from .
Besides the provincial capital of Xi'an, other cities include: Baoji, Hanzhong, Lintong, Tongchuan, Xianyang, Yan'an and Ankang.
Administrative divisions
Shaanxi consists of ten prefecture-level divisions: all prefecture-level cities (including a sub-provincial city):
+Administrative divisions of Shaanxi Division code Division Area in km2 Population 2010 Seat Divisions Districts Counties CL cities 610000 Shaanxi Province 205,800.00 37,327,378 Xi'an city 30 71 6 610100 Xi'an city 10,096.81 8,467,837 Weiyang District 11 2 610200 Tongchuan city 3,884.81 834,437 Yaozhou District 3 1 610300 Baoji city 18,116.93 3,716,731 Jintai District 3 9 610400 Xianyang city 10,323.99 4,894,834 Qindu District 3 9 2 610500 Weinan city 13,030.56 5,286,077 Linwei District 2 7 2 610600 Yan'an city 37,030.54 2,187,009 Baota District 2 10 1 610700 Hanzhong city 27,096.43 3,416,196 Hantai District 2 9 610800 Yulin city 42,920.18 3,351,437 Yuyang District 2 9 1 610900 Ankang city 23,536.31 2,629,906 Hanbin District 1 9 611000 Shangluo city 19,587.31 2,341,742 Shangzhou District 1 6
Administrative divisions in Chinese and varieties of romanizations English Chinese Pinyin Shaanxi Province Shǎnxī Shěng Xi'an city Xī'ān Shì Tongchuan city Tóngchuān Shì Baoji city Bǎojī Shì Xianyang city Xiányáng Shì Weinan city Wèinán Shì Yan'an city Yán'ān Shì Hanzhong city Hànzhōng Shì Yulin city Yúlín Shì Ankang city Ānkāng Shì Shangluo city Shāngluò Shì
The ten prefecture-level cities of Shaanxi are subdivided into 107 county-level divisions (30 districts, four county-level cities, and 73 counties).
+ Population by urban areas of prefecture & county cities # Cities 2020 Urban area 2010 Urban area 2020 City proper1Xi'an9,392,9385,206,25312,183,2802Xianyang1,192,776730,7044,983,3403Baoji1,107,702871,9403,321,8534Yulin884,292429,1893,624,7505Hanzhong673,476350,1673,211,4626Weinan642,594347,4844,688,7447Yan'an577,851336,8562,282,5818Ankang514,068379,7072,493,4369Tongchuan417,324463,866698,32210Shenmu403,13311Xingping309,463247,53912Hancheng268,583196,57413Shangluo228,426156,7812,041,23114Yangling169,254104,94415Binzhou160,29816Zichang160,29817Huayin109,472127,987
Politics
The politics of Shaanxi is structured in a triple party-government system like all other governing institutions in mainland China.
The Governor of Shaanxi is the highest-ranking official in the People's Government of Shaanxi. However, in the province's dual party-government governing system, the Governor is considered to have less power than the Shaanxi Chinese Communist Party Provincial Committee Secretary; since the Governor is always ranked as the First-Deputy Secretary in the Shaanxi Chinese Communist Party Provincial Committee.
Shaanxi was established as a provincial government since Qing dynasty. On 10 January 1950, the People's Government of Shaanxi was established in Xi'an. Ma Minfang was then appointed as the first Governor of Shaanxi.
Economy As of the mid-19th century, Shaanxi exported animal skins, wine, liquor, and musk. Money loans were also common, with Shaanxi business people involved in the Guangzhou loan business. Shaanxi commonly imported European animal skins, watches, Chinese language books, and cloth.