Qinhuangdao

Qinhuangdao 秦皇岛
—  Prefecture-level city  —
秦皇岛市
Minzu road
Qinhuangdao City (yellow) in Hebei
Coordinates: 39°56′N 119°36′E / 39.933°N 119.6°E / 39.933; 119.6Coordinates: 39°56′N 119°36′E / 39.933°N 119.6°E / 39.933; 119.6
Country	People's Republic of China
Province	Hebei
Government
– Mayor	Zhu Haowen (朱浩文)
Area
– Prefecture-level city	7,467 km2 (2,883 sq mi)
– Urban	383 km2 (147.9 sq mi)
– Metro	383 km2 (147.9 sq mi)
Population (2010 census)
– Prefecture-level city	2,897,605
– Density	388.1/km2 (1,005.1/sq mi)
– Urban	820,800
– Urban density	2,143.1/km2 (5,550.6/sq mi)
– Metro	820,800
– Metro density	2,143.1/km2 (5,550.6/sq mi)
Time zone	China Standard (UTC+8)
Postal code	066000
Area code(s)	(0)335
Licence Plate Prefix	冀C
Website	http://www.qhd.gov.cn/

Qinhuangdao
Traditional Chinese	秦皇島
Simplified Chinese	秦皇岛
Literal meaning	Qin Shihuang Island
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Qínhuángdǎo - Wade–Giles Ch'in-huang-tao - Postal Map Chinwangtao

Qinhuangdao is a port city in northeastern Hebei province of North China. It is about 300 km east of Beijing, on the Bohai Sea, the innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea.

Its population during the 2010 census was 2,987,605, with 820,800 living in the built-up area of 3 urban counties.

History

In the 19th century, Qinhuangdao included the separate towns of Chinwangtao and Tangho.^{[n 1]} Both were stations along the Peking–Mukden Railway.

Geography

Qinhuangdao sits on the northwest coast of the Bohai Sea and borders Tangshan to the southwest, Chengde to the northwest, and Liaoning province to the northeast. Its administrative area ranges in latitude 39° 24' to 40° 37' N and in longitude from 118° 33' to 119° 51' E, and has a total area of 7,812.4 square kilometres (3,016.4 sq mi).

Since the elevation of Tianjin to a provincial-level municipality, Qinhuangdao is the chief port of Hebei province. The Qin emperor Qin Shi Huang is said to have sought immortality on an island in the Haigang district, but did not find it.

Qinhuangdao has three main developed areas:

• Beidaihe: A summer seaside resort for senior government officials. Many political decisions affecting China are made here, making it the equivalent to resorts in Maine or Camp David in Maryland in the United States.^[1]
• Haigang: the harbor city. Qinhuangdao proper. Home of Yan Shan University, the leading university in NE Hebei province.
• Shanhaiguan: a popular tourist destination, featuring the eastern end of the Great Wall.

Qinhuangdao's Olympic Sports Centre Stadium was used as an Olympic Competition Venue (Football Preliminary) during the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Climate

Qinhuangdao has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa), with four distinct seasons. Winters are cold and dry due to the Siberian high, which can cause winds to blow in from the northwest, minimising the oceanic influence: the monthly daily average temperature in January is −4.8 °C (23.4 °F), colder than Beijing's −3.7 °C (25.3 °F).^[2] Summers are hot and humid due to the East Asian Monsoon, often allowing onshore flows; summer is also when the location on the coast moderates the weather the most: the average high temperature in July here is 28.1 °C (83 °F), as compared to 30.9 °C (88 °F) in Beijing.^[2] As measured by daily mean temperature, July and August are equally warm, averaging 24.7 °C (76.5 °F). The annual mean is 11.0 °C (51.8 °F), and 70% of the annual precipitation falls from June to August.

Climate data for Qinhuangdao (1971−2000)
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Average high °C (°F)	0.1 (32.2)	2.6 (36.7)	8.4 (47.1)	16.1 (61.0)	22.1 (71.8)	25.7 (78.3)	28.1 (82.6)	28.5 (83.3)	25.2 (77.4)	18.4 (65.1)	9.7 (49.5)	2.9 (37.2)	15.7
Average low °C (°F)	−8.8 (16.2)	−6.3 (20.7)	−0.5 (31.1)	6.9 (44.4)	13.1 (55.6)	18.0 (64.4)	21.7 (71.1)	21.0 (69.8)	15.6 (60.1)	8.4 (47.1)	0.5 (32.9)	−5.6 (21.9)	7.0
Precipitation mm (inches)	3.0 (0.118)	3.0 (0.118)	9.4 (0.37)	24.1 (0.949)	55.2 (2.173)	102.2 (4.024)	189.7 (7.469)	152.3 (5.996)	51.0 (2.008)	28.6 (1.126)	10.7 (0.421)	5.0 (0.197)	634.2 (24.969)
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm)	2.1	2.2	3.3	5.1	7.3	10.6	12.8	9.9	7.1	4.6	3.3	1.7	60.0
Source: Weather China

Administrative divisions

Map	#	Name	Hanzi	Hanyu Pinyin	Population (2004 est.)	Area (km²)	Density (/km²)
	City proper
	1	Haigang District	海港区	Hǎigǎng Qū	550,000	121	4,545
	Suburban
	2	Shanhaiguan District	山海关区	Shānhǎiguān Qū	140,000	192	729
	3	Beidaihe District	北戴河区	Běidàihé Qū	70,000	70	1,000
	Rural
	4	Changli County	昌黎县	Chānglí Xiàn	550,000	1,184	465
	5	Funing County	抚宁县	Fǔníng Xiàn	520,000	1,646	316
	6	Lulong County	卢龙县	Lúlóng Xiàn	420,000	945	444
	7	Qinglong Manchu Autonomous County	青龙满族 自治县	Qīnglóng Mǎnzú Zìzhìxiàn	520,000	3,309	157

Development Zone

The Qinhuangdao Economic & Technology Development Zone was approved by the State Council in 1984 to become one of China’s first state-level economic and technological development zones. Qinhuangdao is located in the heart of the rapidly-growing “Bohai-Rim Economic Circle”, within easy reach of both Beijing (280 km) and Tianjin (245 km).^[3] It covers a sea area of 23.81 square kilometers and has a coastline of six kilometers. The planned and controlled area of the development zone has reached 56.72 square kilometers. By the end of 2006, the number of approved projects reached 4,546, in which 647 projects were foreign-invested, with a total investment of US$4.73 billion.

Qinhuangdao Export Processing Zone is the first export processing zone in Hebei Province. It has passed joint appraisal held by Customs General Administration People's Republic of China, State Development Planning Commission and other six departments in 2003. Industries encouraged in the zone include Electronics Assembly & Manufacturing, Building/Construction Materials, Computer Software, Trading and Distribution.^[4]

Economy

Qinhuangdao Port is a strategically important port on China and is the largest coal shipping port in the country, much of which is shipped to power plants elsewhere in China. With recent expansion, its capacity has reached 209 million metric tons. The harbor is also adding a further six berths to add further capacity and is increasingly being invested in by other port operators, such as South Africa's Richards Bay Coal Terminal, who have announced plans to invest US$150 million to increase capacity by at least 28 percent.^[5]

China is also the worlds third largest coal exporter, and Qinhuangdao is expected to handle much of the nations coal exports. Rail links from Shanxi province (China’s largest coal producer) to Qinhuangdao Port are in the process of being upgraded, which should allow for Qinhuangdao to ultimately increase its throughput to 400 million tones of coal per annum from its current level of about 250 million tons by 2015.^[5]

Other Chinese and foreign service suppliers are also moving to Qinhuangdao to support this. China Ocean Shipping (Group) Co, China's biggest shipping company, expects US$49 billion of spending on ports over the next five years as the industry tackles bottlenecks created by the nation's unprecedented economic boom.^[6]

Qinhuangdao is located along the Jingshen Expressway which links Beijing with Shenyang, Liaoning

Red Ribbon

Qinhuangdao is home to the Tanghe River Park, which features the Red Ribbon, a knee-high steel sculpture that runs through the length of the park, providing seating, environmental interpretation, lighting, and the display of native plants. The project has won an honor award from the American Society of Landscape Architects and was selected by readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine as one of the seven new wonders of the architecture world.^[7]

Sister cities

• Lugo (Galicia)

Notes

1. ^ Chinese: t 湯河, s 汤河, p Tānghé, w Tang-ho, lit. "Soup River".

References

1. ^ "China Expat City Guide". Asia Briefing. 2009. http://www.chinaexpat.com/front-page. Retrieved 2009-02-08. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ ^{a b} "中国地面国际交换站气候标准值月值数据集（1971－2000年）" (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. http://cdc.cma.gov.cn/shuju/index3.jsp?tpcat=SURF&dsid=SURF_CLI_CHN_MUL_MMON_19712000_CES&pageid=3. Retrieved 2011-05-28. 
3. ^ RightSite.asia | Qinhuangdao Economic & Technology Development Zone
4. ^ RightSite.asia | Qinhuangdao Export Processing Zone
5. ^ ^{a b} "Dezan Shira & Associates". Dezan Shira & Associates. 2009. http://www.dezshira.com. Retrieved 2009-02-08. 
6. ^ "China Briefing Business Guide". China Briefing. 2009. http://www.china-briefing.com/download.php?download_file=ChinaBriefing_200807_EN.pdf. Retrieved 2009-02-08. 
7. ^ "Red Ribbon in Tanghe River Park". http://www.contemporist.com/2008/03/27/red-ribbon-in-tanghe-river-park/. 

External links

• Qinhuangdao Government Online
• Historic US Army map of Qinghuangdao and Beidaihe, 1944