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China Information » Places in China » Shaanxi Province
Places in China: Shaanxi Province
The highly mountainous Shaanxi Province is in the centre of China and is considered to have a major part in the birth of Chinese culture. The 206,000 square kilometres is home to over ninety-nine percent Han Chinese people. A very small number of Hui, Manchurian and Mongolian people make up less than one percent of the province's people. The total population of Shaanxi is around thirty-five million, making a population density of 213 people per square kilometre.
The name 'Shaanxi' means 'mountain west' since the province is just west of the Taihang Mountains. The southern border of the province is the Huang He (Yellow River). A part of the Great Wall joins the provincial border with Inner Mongolia Province.
The history of the province goes back at least to 772 BC. However, archaeologists have found evidence of human agricultural occupation of the area from over six thousand years ago. Several kingdoms and dynasties have been involved in the story of Shaanxi, but the province gained its name and the generally current borders during the Ming Dynasty of 1368 to 1644 AD.
Farming and forestry are not strong elements in the economy of Shaanxi Province. Rather, coal fields and coal mines enable the province to contribute heavily to China's energy needs. There are also industries producing heavy machinery and textiles in Shaanxi.
Some consider Shaanxi to be a 'natural' history museum for China since so many ruins and cultural relics are found there, some of which were buried deeply underground. One of those finds is the collection of Terracotta Warriors found at Xian, the capital of the province. The small town of Yanan served as the headquarters of the Chinese Communist Party in the 1930s and 1940s. Pagodas, mosques, tombs, museums and hot springs are among the tourist attractions in and near Xian. The second largest waterfall in China is Hukou, located in Shaanxi. Xian was the beginning point of the Silk Road in the past.
The best times to visit Shaanxi are the spring and the fall as summers are hot, and the winters are quite cold.
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