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Hanzhong (l=middle of the Han River; abbreviation: Han) is a prefecture-level city in Southern Shaanxi of Shaanxi, China, bordering the provinces of Sichuan to the south and Gansu to the west.
The founder of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, was once enfeoffed as the king of the Hanzhong region after overthrowing the Qin dynasty. During the Chu-Han contention, Liu Bang shortened his title to the King of Han (漢王), and later used it as the name of his imperial dynasty. In this way, Hanzhong was responsible for the naming of the Han dynasty, which was later hailed as the first golden age in imperial Chinese history and lends its name to Han Chinese.
Hanzhong is located at the modern headwater of the Han River, the largest tributary of the Yangtze River. Hanzhong city covers and is centered around the Hantai District. The prefecture-level city consists of two urban district and nine rural counties. As of the 2020 census, its population was 3,211,462, of whom 1,084,448 lived in the built-up ( or metro) area made of Hantai and Nanzheng districts.
From 900 BC, the area has been called Nanzheng (l=southern Zheng). The ancient geographical treatise entitled Shui Jing Zhu records that Duke Huan of Zheng, a vassal lord from the Western Zhou dynasty, was slain in a battle with the nomadic Quanrong people, and some of the Zheng citizens fled Huazhou District to establish a new settlement to the south, giving rise to the area's name. Shui Jing Zhu, juan 27, Mian River. t=《水經注·沔水》、卷二十七。 However, the veracity of this story is controversial.
In the second century AD, the Eastern Han dynasty gradually weakened. Outsiders from the Ba region attacked the Hanzhong area, as they had in the past. The Han dynasty lost power. Zhang Lu, supported by followers of a Taoist sect, Way of the Celestial Masters, led an independent theocratic government in Hanzhong.Sima Guang (司馬光), Zi Zhi Tong Jian (資治通鑒), juan 58. link (Chinese) Thirty years later, after the Battle of Yangping, Zhang Lu surrendered Hanzhong to the warlord, Cao Cao.
Prior to and during the Three Kingdoms period, Hanzhong was a militarily strategically important site. It was located at a critical point along the route an army would take from the Central Plain to the Sichuan Basin. At this time, Cao Cao lost control of Hanzhong to Liu Bei, who assumed the title of King of Hanzhong. Ruins and landmarks of the Three Kingdoms era remaining in Hanzhong include the tomb of the Shu Han chancellor Zhuge Liang. Much of this period of Hanzhong's history is retold in the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
The Wanli Emperor (r. 1572–1620) installed his fifth son, Zhu Changhao (c=朱常浩), as king of Hanzhong. Changhao built a large, luxurious palace in what is now the Children's Park. History of Ming, juan 42. The palace's Radiant Glass Wall (c=玻璃照壁) was demolished during road construction in 1935. Since then, a 13.6 m section has been rebuilt on the eastern end of Sanpu Street (p=Sǎnpù Jīe).
In 1643, Zhu Changhao fled south to Sichuan ahead of Li Zicheng's rebel army. As he departed, his Hanzhong palace was looted. Qing dynasty historians remembered the massive but empty palace.
In December 1949, in the Chinese Civil War, Hanzhong was captured by the People's Liberation Army as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expelled the Kuomintang.
Hanzhong consists two urban districts and nine rural counties.
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| Hantai District | 汉台区 | Hàntái Qū | 530,000 | 556 | 954 |
| Nanzheng District | 南郑区 | Nánzhèng Qū | 550,000 | 2,849 | 193 |
| Chenggu County | 城固县 | Chénggù Xiàn | 510,000 | 2,265 | 225 |
| Yang County | 洋县 | Yáng Xiàn | 440,000 | 3,206 | 137 |
| Xixiang County | 西乡县 | Xīxiāng Xiàn | 400,000 | 3,204 | 125 |
| Mian County | 勉县 | Miǎn Xiàn | 420,000 | 2,406 | 175 |
| Ningqiang County | 宁强县 | Níngqiáng Xiàn | 330,000 | 3,243 | 102 |
| Lueyang County | 略阳县 | Lüèyáng Xiàn | 200,000 | 2,831 | 71 |
| Zhenba County | 镇巴县 | Zhènbā Xiàn | 280,000 | 3,437 | 81 |
| Liuba County | 留坝县 | Liúbà Xiàn | 50,000 | 1,970 | 25 |
| Foping County | 佛坪县 | Fópíng Xiàn | 30,000 | 1,279 | 23 |
The Daba Mountains rise to the south of the city. To the north are the Qin Mountains. These mountains make a northern geographical limit of southern China. However, officially, Shaanxi is part of Northwest China. For more on the divisions between northern and southern China, see Northern and southern China.
The coordinates of the city's prefecture ranges in latitude from 33° 02' to 33° 22' N and in longitude from 106° 51' to 107° 10' E. It covers . Profile of Hanzhong , Accessed 2008-05-27. The northern part of the prefecture is elevated while the southern part is generally low lying. Height above sea level varies from around in the urban area to in the Qin Mountains.
The Wuchiapingian Age in the Permian Period of geological time is named from Wuchiaping (from l=Wu Family Flatland") in the Liangshan area of Hanzhong.
The Qin Mountains to the north help shield the city from cold Siberian winds in the winter. Hence, the winter in Hanzhong is warmer than that at similar latitudes east of Shannan. This is despite Hanzhong's elevation and inland location.
In contrast, because of its elevation, Hanzhong summers are temperate, with average highs in July and August about . The area is far more humid than Guanzhong and Shanbei. In Hanzhong, there is precipitation annually, as compared to in Xi'an, the provincial capital. The chance of sunshine days per month varies from twenty-six percent in November and December to fifty percent in August. Hanzhong receives 1,569 hours of bright sunshine each year. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July. The annual mean is . Record extremes there have ranged from on 14 January 1957 to on 16 July 2025.
Hanzhong railway station lies in downtown Hanzhong, and is served by the Xi'an–Chengdu high-speed railway and Yangpingguan–Ankang railway lines.
Hanzhong is also part of a national system of highways. It joins the G5 Beijing-Kunming expressway and the G7011 Shiyan-Hanzhong-Tianshui expressway. National Highway 108, China National Highway 316, China National Highway 210 and the provincial roads 211 and 309 constitute the developed traffic network of Hanzhong.
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