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Shaanxi is a province in north Northwestern China bordering the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to the west. Shaanxi covers an area of over with about 37 million people, the 16th-largest in China. Xi'an, which includes the sites of the former capitals Fenghao and Chang'anis the provincial capital and largest city in Northwest China and also one of the oldest cities in China. It is also the oldest of the Four Ancient Capitals, being the capital for the Western Zhou, Western Han, Sima Jin, Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty dynasties. Xianyang, which served as the capital of the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC), is just north across the Wei River. The other prefecture-level cities into which the province is divided are Ankang, Baoji, Hanzhong, Shangluo, Tongchuan, Weinan, Yan'an and Yulin.
The province is geographically divided into three parts, namely Northern Shaanxi (or "Shaanbei"), Guanzhong ("Shaanzhong") and Southern Shaanxi (or "Shaannan"). Northern Shaanxi makes up the southeastern portion of the Ordos Basin and mainly comprises the two prefectural cities of Yulin and Yan'an on the northern Loess Plateau, demarcated from the Ordos Desert and the grasslands of Inner Mongolia's Ordos City by the Ming Great Wall. Central Shaanxi is also known as the Guanzhong region, and comprises the drainage basin of lower Wei River east of Mount Liupan and north of the Qinling Mountains, where the majority of Shaanxi's population reside. Southern Shaanxi comprises the three prefectural cities in the edge of the historical Bashu region south of the Qinling Mountains and includes the three mountainous cities of Hanzhong, Ankang and Shangluo.
The area comprising Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan formed the cradle of Chinese civilization. During the Republican era, the city of Yan'an was near the endpoint of the Long March by the Chinese Red Army, who fled from Jiangxi after the Chinese Soviet Republic was destroyed by the Kuomintang armies, and became the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Revolution from late 1935 to early 1947 and the Communists formed the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region in constituent parts of Shaanxi.
The vast majority of the population of Shaanxi is Han Chinese, with Hui people, Manchu and Mongol being the more significant ethnic minorities. Mandarin Chinese is the main spoken language in Shaanxi, including Central Plains Mandarin and Southwestern Mandarin dialects; another variety of Chinese, Jin Chinese, is also spoken in the regions neighboring Shanxi.
Shaanxi is China's 15th largest economy, ranking within the middle tier among China's administrative divisions. The fossil fuel and high technology sectors compose the two largest industries in Shaanxi Province. The high technology sector includes aircraft and aerospace industries and Shaanxi produces more than 50% of the R&D and manufacturing equipment for the country's domestic commercial aviation industry.
The meaning of the province, 'west of Shan', is attested , when the dukes of Shao and Zhou marked their borders along the Shan plateau (陝塬, now the Zhanbian plateau). Reprinted on In Chinese typing, the toponym 陝 often got mixed up with 'valley' 陜 (note: distinguish 㚒 and 夾). Simplified characters merged the two as 陕.
The romanizations of Shaanxi (陝西) and its neighboring province Shanxi (山西) are troublesome in Beijing Mandarin because their pronunciation differs only in tone (rendered as Sh ǎnxī and Sh ānxī in pinyin transcription, 1958). To avoid confusion, mainland China recognized the Gwoyeu Romatzyh transcription (1928) for 陝, "Sh aan".
Nonetheless, the vowels and consonants of 陝 and 山 are distinguished in the more conservative Jin Chinese languages native to the two provinces. This conservative phonology is reflected in the historical spelling of Shaanxi, " Shensi", known to the Europeans in the 18th century. "Shensi" was recognized in the 1906 Chinese postal romanization and continued to be popular until 1987, when the People's Republic of China banned romanizations made before their establishment.
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.
The region was briefly governed as the Three Qins after the fall of the Qin dynasty. This is the origin of one of Shaanxi's two abbreviations, 秦 ( Qin), the other being 陝 ( Shaan). Then it was conquered by Liu Bang during the Chu-Han Contention. 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 and is about 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.
The Xiongnu-led kingdom Northern Xia (407–431) set its capital in Tongwancheng.
The Northern Song dynasty and the Tangut people-led Western Xia contested their border in Shaanxi. Western Xia found the Luōwùchéng (罗兀城) frontier fort in 1071 but was taken by Song in 1081.
Under the Ming dynasty, Shaanxi was established with the founding of the Shaanxi Provincial Administration Commission in 1376, whose administration also included the modern provinces of Gansu, Ningxia, and part of Qinghai. During this dynasty, most visitors from Central and West Asia entered the country via Shaanxi.
One of the most devastating earthquakes in history occurred near Mount Hua in southeastern Shaanxi on January 23, 1556, killing an estimated 100,000 people and causing a regional reduction in population by an estimated 830,000 due to emigration and famine (see 1556 Shaanxi earthquake).
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 administrative evolution of Shaanxi: The Northern Song established the Shaanxi Lu (circuit), governed from modern Xi'an in 997. The Yuan dynasty established Shaanxi Province (Yuan dynasty), governed by a Branch Secretariat in 1286.Dictionary of the Ben cao gang mu, Volume 2: Geographical and Administrative Designations First Edition, Paul Unschuld, Series Editor Edition by Hua Linfu (Author), Paul D. Buell (Author), Paul U. Unschuld (Editor) After the founding of the Qing dynasty, Gansu was split from Shaanxi, but both provinces were governed under the Viceroy of Shaan-Gan.
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 Shanbei, 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, humid 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 , with January temperatures ranging from and July temperatures ranging from .
Besides the provincial capital of Xi'an, other cities include: Baoji, Hanzhong, Lintong, Tongchuan, Xianyang, Yan'an and Ankang.
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| Shǎnxī Shěng |
| Xī'ān Shì |
| Tóngchuān Shì |
| Bǎojī Shì |
| Xiányáng Shì |
| Wèinán Shì |
| Yán'ān Shì |
| Hànzhōng Shì |
| Yúlín Shì |
| Ānkāng Shì |
| Shāngluò Shì |
The ten prefecture-level cities of Shaanxi are subdivided into 107 county-level divisions (30 districts, four county-level cities, and 73 counties).
| 12,183,280 |
| 4,983,340 |
| 3,321,853 |
| 3,624,750 |
| 3,211,462 |
| 4,688,744 |
| 2,282,581 |
| 2,493,436 |
| 698,322 |
| 2,041,231 |
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 Chinese Communist Party Provincial Committee Secretary; since the Governor is always ranked as the First-Deputy Secretary in the Shaanxi Chinese Communist Party 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.
Shaanxi was a major recipient of China's investment in industrial capacity during the Third Front campaign.
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. 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. Nominal GDP for 2011 was 1,239 billion RMB (US Dollar196.7 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%.
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