Yulin, Guangxi

Yulin (Chinese: 玉林; pinyin: Yùlín; lit. 'Jade Forest', 鬱林), alternately romanized as Watlam, is one of the fourteen prefecture-level cities of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. Its Chinese name was changed in 1956 from the historical name "鬱林" (pinyin: Yùlín; lit. 'Dense Forest'), which is homophonous in Standard Mandarin, but different in the local dialect of Yue Chinese; "鬱" is [uat˥] while "玉" is [ȵok˨].[1] The former romanization follows the pronunciation of the historical name in Yue Chinese. Its built-up area is made of two urban districts, and Beiliu City was home to 2,309,600 inhabitants as of 2016 census.

Yulin

玉林市 • Yilinz Si

Watlam
Prefecture-level city
Yulin in 2013
Location of Yulin City jurisdiction in Guangxi
Coordinates (Yulin municipal government): 22°39′14″N 110°10′52″E
CountryPeople's Republic of China
Autonomous regionGuangxi
Municipal seatYuzhou District
Area
 • Prefecture-level city12,828 km2 (4,953 sq mi)
 • Urban
1,237 km2 (478 sq mi)
 • Metro
3,689.4 km2 (1,424.5 sq mi)
Population
 (2016 estimation)
 • Prefecture-level city5,756,000
 • Density450/km2 (1,200/sq mi)
 • Urban
1,117,800
 • Urban density900/km2 (2,300/sq mi)
 • Metro
2,309,600
 • Metro density630/km2 (1,600/sq mi)
Time zoneUTC+8 (China Standard)
Postal code
537000
Area code(s)0775
ISO 3166 codeCN-GX-09
Websiteyulin.gov.cn

Geography and climate
Map including Yulin (labeled as YÜ-LIN (WATLAM) 鬱林) (AMS, 1954)

Yulin is located in southeastern Guangxi province along the border with Guangdong. It is a hilly basin with a total area of 12,838 km2 (4,957 sq mi).

Yulin's climate is subtropical and monsoonal. Average annual temperatures is 21.6 °C. Yearly precipitation is 1,475 mm.

Climate data for Yulin, Guangxi
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 16.9
(62.4)		 17.4
(63.3)		 21.2
(70.2)		 25.5
(77.9)		 29.4
(84.9)		 30.7
(87.3)		 32.1
(89.8)		 31.6
(88.9)		 30.7
(87.3)		 27.8
(82.0)		 23.2
(73.8)		 19.2
(66.6)		 25.5
(77.9)
Daily mean °C (°F) 12.8
(55.0)		 13.9
(57.0)		 17.7
(63.9)		 22.0
(71.6)		 25.7
(78.3)		 27.2
(81.0)		 28.4
(83.1)		 27.8
(82.0)		 26.7
(80.1)		 23.5
(74.3)		 18.7
(65.7)		 14.7
(58.5)		 21.6
(70.9)
Average low °C (°F) 8.8
(47.8)		 10.4
(50.7)		 14.2
(57.6)		 18.6
(65.5)		 22.1
(71.8)		 23.7
(74.7)		 24.7
(76.5)		 24.0
(75.2)		 22.7
(72.9)		 19.2
(66.6)		 14.3
(57.7)		 10.2
(50.4)		 17.7
(64.0)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 43
(1.7)		 70
(2.8)		 73
(2.9)		 166
(6.5)		 225
(8.9)		 230
(9.1)		 189
(7.4)		 230
(9.1)		 116
(4.6)		 63
(2.5)		 39
(1.5)		 31
(1.2)		 1,475
(58.2)
Source: Climate-Data.org [2]

History

Artifacts suggest that the area was settled before the Qin dynasty but a commandery by the name of Yulin was not established until early Han dynasty. The urban centre of Yulin became a zhou in 996 AD. Since ancient times, Yulin has been important for trade and communications between central China and the south, especially along the coast of the Tonkin Gulf.

Administration

Yulin has two districts, one city, four counties, and 119 towns and townships.

Districts:

County-level City:

Counties:

Demographics:

  • Yulin has a population of approximately 6.7 million. The majority of Yulin's population is Han but also includes Zhuang, Miao, and other ethnic minorities, totaling more than 100,000 people.
Map

Language and culture

Some Chinese linguists have suggested that the Yulin dialect is the best surviving example of what ancient spoken Chinese would have sounded like based on rhyme patterns in Tang dynasty poetry.

Dog meat festival
Main article: Lychee and Dog Meat Festival

Yulin is also known for its annual dog meat festival which takes place on 21 June. Over 10,000 dogs are killed at this festival for human consumption. Reports of inhumane treatment, including torture, caused celebrities and others to protest against the Festival.[3] Du Yufeng has been to Yulin Dog Meat Festival every year since 2012. Another woman named Yang Xiaoyun went as far as to pay 150,000 yuan to save 360 dogs and dozens of cats from the festival in 2014 and 7,000 yuan to save 100 dogs in 2015.[4] Some Chinese celebrities such as Ai Weiwei, Chen Kun and Yang Mi, as well as international celebrities like Ken Todd, Lisa Vanderpump, Ricky Gervais, Ian Somerhalder, Leona Lewis, Lori Alan, and Tom Kenny, have also publicly expressed a distaste for the festival.[5][6]

Economy

Yulin is rich in natural resources. Important mineral resources include granite, limestone, iron, and gemstones. It is also Guangxi's biggest source of porcelain clay. Major agricultural products are rice, bananas, tomatoes, mandarin oranges, mangoes, longan, anise, tea, sugarcane, livestock such as cattle, pigs, geese, chickens and dogs. Industrial goods include machinery, construction materials, processed food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cigarettes, and ceramics.

Tourism

It is famous for its many mineral hot springs and one of China's oldest towers, Shiyi Tower (石嶷文塔). Also noteworthy is the annual Yulin Dog Meat Festival.

Transportation

Yulin are where the G59 Hohhot–Beihai Expressway and G80 Guangzhou–Kunming Expressway intersect, and there are also provincial highways and "not tolled" roads available.

Yulin is served by Yulin railway station which sees both high-speed and conventional services. Typical trains take approximately 2 hours to reach Nanning, Guangxi, and 3–4 hours to Guilin, Guangxi.

There is an airport named Yulin Fumian Airport serving the area under construction. It's estimated that the construction will finish by the end of this year, and the airport has a 2600m-long-runway capable for 4C standard operations.

Education

Yulin is home to Yulin Normal University, where there are 13 departments with 38 four-year undergraduate specialties, 14 three-year specialties, more than 17,200 students including 12,000 full-time students and 5,200 higher education students.

Guangxi Yulin High School[7] is a high-level key middle school in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and an advanced unit of national spiritual civilization construction. It is also the first demonstration ordinary high school in Guangxi.

References
  1. 郁南（鬱南）的「郁」和玉林（鬱林）的「玉」在粤语读音上有没有区别？. Zhihu (in Chinese). 5 September 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  2. "Climate: Yulin, Guangxi". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  3. "Dog-lovers v dog-eaters: Pet food". The Economist. 20 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  4. "Chinese woman pays to rescue 100 dogs from meat festival: report". The Straits Times. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. Co. 21 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  5. de Cadenet, Julia (19 June 2015). "Yulin Dog Meat Torture Festival Will Go Ahead Despite Celebrity Pleas". The Huffington Post United Kingdom. AOL (UK) Limited. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  6. "Celebrities join campaign to stop dog meat festival in China". AsiaOne. Singapore Press Holdings Ltd . Co. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 21 June 2015.
  7. (Beta版)玉林高中-Guangxi Yulin High School. www.gxylgz.cn (in Chinese). Retrieved 2018-07-04.
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