Shaanxi

The name "Shaanxi" is an irregular romanization of the Mandarin pronunciation of the Chinese name 陕西, meaning "[Land] West of the Shan Pass". This pass in Henan, now part of Sanmenxia's Shanzhou District, was considered to be the place where the Yellow River left the Loess Plateau and entered the North China Plain.

Because the Mandarin pronunciation of Shaanxi and its eastern neighbour Shanxi differs only in tone, their spelling in pinyin romanization differs only by tone marks (Shǎnxī and Shānxī, respectively). The People's Republic of China therefore adopted the special official spelling "Shaanxi". The first syllable is derived from Gwoyeu Romatzyh romanization, which reflects the tones of the words' vowels in their spelling.[8] Before the adoption of pinyin, Shaanxi was romanized as Shensi in the Chinese postal romanization scheme. When tone marks are noted, it is spelled Shǎnxī rather than Shǎanxī or Shaǎnxī.

The name first appeared as a lu (circuit) established by the Song dynasty in 997.[9]

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.

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 2,600 kilometres (1,600 mi) 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.[10]

The Northern Song dynasty established a Shaanxi Lu, (circuit) in the area, governed from modern Xi'an in 997. The Yuan dynasty established Shaanxi Province (Yuan dynasty), governed by a Branch Secretariat in 1286.[9]

Under the Ming dynasty, Shaanxi was established with the founding of the Saanxi Provincial Administration Commission in 1376, whose administration also included the modern provinces of Gansu, Ningxia, and part of Qinghai.[9]

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).

After the founding of the Qing dynasty, Gansu was split from Shaanxi, but both provinces were governed under the Viceroy of Shaan-Gan.

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 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 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 8 to 16 °C (46 to 61 °F), with January temperatures ranging from −11 to 3.5 °C (12.2 to 38.3 °F) and July temperatures ranging from 21 to 28 °C (70 to 82 °F).

Besides the provincial capital of Xi'an, other cities include: Baoji, Hanzhong, Lintong, Tongchuan, Xianyang, Yan'an and Ankang.

Shaanxi consists of ten prefecture-level divisions: all prefecture-level cities (including a sub-provincial city):

Administrative divisions of Shaanxi
Xi'an Tongchuan Baoji Xianyang Weinan Yan'an Hanzhong Yulin Ankang Shangluo
Division code[11]	Division	Area in km2[12]	Population 2010[13]	Seat	Divisions[14]
					Districts	Counties	CL cities
610000	Shaanxi Province	205800.00	37,327,378	Xi'an city	30	71	6
610100	Xi'an city	10096.81	8,467,837	Weiyang District	11	2
610200	Tongchuan city	3884.81	834,437	Yaozhou District	3	1
610300	Baoji city	18116.93	3,716,731	Jintai District	3	9
610400	Xianyang city	10323.99	4,894,834	Qindu District	3	9	2
610500	Weinan city	13030.56	5,286,077	Linwei District	2	7	2
610600	Yan'an city	37030.54	2,187,009	Baota District	2	10	1
610700	Hanzhong city	27096.43	3,416,196	Hantai District	2	9
610800	Yulin city	42920.18	3,351,437	Yuyang District	2	9	1
610900	Ankang city	23536.31	2,629,906	Hanbin District	1	9
611000	Shangluo city	19587.31	2,341,742	Shangzhou District	1	6
Sub-provincial cities

The ten prefecture-level cities of Shaanxi are subdivided into 107 county-level divisions (30 districts, 4 county-level cities, and 73 counties).

Shaanxi People's Government

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 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. 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.

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.[16]

The fossil fuel and high technology sectors compose the two largest industries in Shaanxi province. During 2009, the province ranked third in China for production of coal, natural gas and crude oil.[7] As the home of several of the leading universities and research institutes in Western China, Shaanxi province also plays a major role in China's burgeoning aircraft and aerospace industries, producing more than 50% of the R&D and manufacturing equipment for the country's domestic commercial air industry.[7] Nominal GDP for 2011 was 1,239 billion RMB (US$196.7 billion) and GDP per capita was 21,729 RMB (US$3,179), ranking 17th in the PRC.

In the first half of 2019, Shaanxi's total production value reached 1,162.557 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.4%. The added value of the primary industry was 55.319 billion yuan, an increase of 4.5%; the second industry was 557.935 billion yuan, an increase of 4.2%; the tertiary industry was 549.303 billion yuan, an increase of 6.8%.[17]

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

Shaanxi cuisine

• Shaanxi cuisine
• Qinqiang, the representative folk opera of Shaanxi.
• Also see Xi'an#Culture

Terracotta Army

• Banpo Neolithic village, near Xi'an
• Daqin Pagoda
• Imperial mausoleums
• Zhao Mausoleum
• Mount Hua, one of the five best known 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
• Biángbiáng noodles, one of the "ten strange wonders of Shaanxi" (陝西十大怪)

• 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.[35]

Professional sports teams based in Shaanxi include:

• Chinese Basketball Association
  • Southern Division: Shaanxi Kylins
  • National Basketball League (NBL): Shaanxi Wolves
  • Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA): Shaanxi Red Wolves
• Chinese Football Association
  • China League One: Shaanxi Chang'an Athletic F.C.

• List of prisons in Shaanxi
• Major national historical and cultural sites in Shaanxi

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shaanxi.

Look up Shaanxi or Shensi in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Shaanxi.

• Official website (in Chinese)
• Economic profile for Shaanxi at HKTDC