Shaanxi

Infobox PRC province
ChineseName = 陕西省
Pinyin = Shǎnxī Shěng
EnglishName = Shaanxi Province
Name = Shaanxi
Abbreviation = 陕 or 秦
AbbrevPinyin = Shǎn or Qín
ISOAbbrev = 61

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MapSize = 275px
OriginOfName = 陕 shǎn - Shanzhou (now Shan County, Henan)
西 xī - west
"west of Shanzhou"
AdministrationType = Province
Capital = Xi'an
LargestCity = Xi'an
Secretary = Zhao Leji
Governor = Yuan Chunqing
Area_km2 = 205800
AreaRank = 11th
PopYear = 2004
Pop = 37,050,000
PopRank = 17th
PopDensity_km2 = 180
PopDensityRank = 21st
GDPYear = 2007
GDP = 537 billion
GDPRank = 20th
GDPperCapita = 14,350
GDPperCapitaRank = 22nd
HDIYear = 2005
HDI = 0.729
HDIRank = 23rd
HDICat = medium
Nationalities = Han - 99.5%
Hui - 0.4%
Prefectures = 10
Counties = 107
Townships = 1745
Website = [http://www.shaanxi.gov.cn www.shaanxi.gov.cn] (Simplified Chinese)

Audio|zh-Shaanxi.ogg|Shaanxi (zh-stpw |s= |t= |p=Shǎnxī |w=Shan-hsi; Postal map spelling: "Shensi") is a north-central province of the People's Republic of China, and includes portions of the Loess Plateau on the middle reaches of the Yellow River as well as the Qinling Mountains across the southern part of the province.

By regular Hanyu Pinyin rules, if tone marks are not written, both Shaanxi and the neighbouring province of Shanxi should be spelled "Shanxi"; the difference is in tone: Shānxī and Shǎnxī. To make the difference clear without tonal marks, the spelling "Shaanxi" was contrived (following the romanization system of Yuen Ren Chao) for the province of Shǎnxī, while "Shanxi" is used for the province of Shānxī. It is also the official spelling on [http://english.gov.cn/ Chinese Government's official web portal] .

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, Arabia and Africa.

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 2600 kilometres 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. [ [http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=18006 "Silk Road, North China", C.Michael Hogan, the Megalithic Portal, ed. A. Burnham] ]

Under the Ming dynasty, Shaanxi was incorporated into Gansu but was again separated in the Qing dynasty.

One of the most devastating earthquakes in history occurred near Hua Shan, in south-eastern part of Shaanxi Province on January 23, 1556, killing an estimated 830,000 people (see 1556 Shaanxi earthquake).

The end of the short-lived Jiangxi Soviet signalled the beginning of the Long March by Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communists to the Shaanxi Soviet at Yan'an.

Geography

Desert in the north along the border with Inner Mongolia, the Loess Plateau in the central part of the province, the Qinling mountains running east to west in the south central part, and subtropical climate south of the Qinling mountains.

The northern part of Shaanxi is cold in the winter and very hot in summer with dry winter and spring. Its southern portion generally receives more rain. Annual mean temperature is roughly between 9°C and 16°C with January temperature ranging from −11°C to 3.5°C and July temperature ranging from 21°C to 28°C.

Other cities include: Baoji, Hanzhong, Lintong, Tongchuan, Xianyang, Yan'an, Ankang.

Administration

Shaanxi consists of nine prefecture-level cities and one sub-provincial city:

The prefecture-level cities:
* Ankang (安康 | "Ānkāng Shì")
* Baoji (宝鸡 | "Baoji Shì")
* Hanzhong (汉中 | "Hànzhōng Shì")
* Shangluo (商洛 | "Shāngluò Shì")
* Tongchuan (铜川 | "Tóngchuān Shì")
* Weinan (渭南 | "Wèinán Shì")
* Xianyang (咸阳 | "Xiányáng Shì")
* Yan'an (延安 | "Yán'ān Shì")
* Yulin (榆林 | "Yúlín Shì")

The sub-province-level city:
* Xi'an (西安 | "Xī'ān Shì")

See List of administrative divisions of Shaanxi for a complete list of county-level divisions.

Politics

The politics of Shaanxi is structured in a dual 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 Communist Party of China Provincial Committee Secretary (中共陕西省委书记), colloquially termed the "Shaanxi CPC Party Chief"; since the Governor is always ranked as the First-Deputy Secretary in the Shaanxi Communist Party of China Provincial Committee.

Shaanxi was established as a provincial government since Qing Dynasty. In 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

Shaanxi's nominal GDP for 2007 was 536.985 billion RMB (70.6 billion USD) and GDP Per Capita was 14,350 RMB (1,887 USD). It ranked 22nd in the PRC.

Demographics

Nearly all the people in Shaanxi are ethnic Han Chinese, with pockets of Hui population in the north western region (adjacent to Ningxia). The southern part of Shaanxi, known as Guanzhong, where the provincial capital Xi'an is located, is more populated compared to the northern part.

Culture

* Qinqiang, the representative folk opera of Shaanxi.

Tourism

* Banpo Neolithic village, near Xi'an
* Daqin Pagoda
* Imperial mausoleums
** Zhao Mausoleum
* Huashan (Mount Hua), one of the five most famous mountains in China.
* Taibaishan (Mount Taibai), the highest peak of the Qinling Range.
* Mausoleum and Terracotta Army Museum of the First Qin Emperor in Xi'an (World Heritage Site)
* The city of Xi'an: City Walls, Great Mosque, Bell Tower and Drum Tower, Forest of Stone Steles Museum, Shaanxi History Museum, Wild Goose Pagoda
* Yan'an, the destination of the Long March and the center of Chinese Communist revolution from 1935 to 1948
* Biang Biang Noodles, one of the "ten strange wonders of Shaanxi" (陝西十大怪)

Media

*Shaanxi Radio serves Xi'an and the surrounding Shaanxi province area with music, and news.

*The Story of Yue Fei, a 17 – 18th century wuxia fiction novel about the life of Song Dynasty general Yue Fei, says his military arts teacher, Zhou Tong, was from Shaanxi. [Qian, Cai. "General Yue Fei". Trans. Honorable Sir T.L. Yang. Joint Publishing (H.K.) Co., Ltd., 1995 (ISBN 978-962-04-1279-0)]

Education

Universities and colleges

*Xi'an Jiaotong University
*Xi'an Highway University
*Northwest University
*Xidian University
*Xi'an Institute of Posts and Telecommunications
*Northwestern Polytechnical University
*Xi'an University of Technology
*Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology
*Xi'an Medical University
*Shaanxi Education and Research Network
*Xi'an Petroleum Institute
*Xi'an Institute of Technology
*Fouth Military Medical University
*Shaanxi Normal University
*Shaanxi Institute of Finance and Economics
*Northwest Institute of Textile Science and Technology
*NorthWest Agriculture University

Sports

Professional sports teams based in Shaanxi include:
* Chinese Basketball Association
** Shaanxi Kylins
* Chinese Football Association Jia League
** Xi'an Anxinyuan

References

External links

* [http://www.shaanxi.gov.cn/ Shaanxi Government website]
*wikitravel