Jiuquan
Jiuquan
酒泉市 | |
|---|---|
 Jiuquan Park | |
.png) Location of Jiuquan City jurisdiction in Gansu | |
| Country | People's Republic of China |
| Province | Gansu |
| Area | |
| • Total | 191,342 km2 (73,878 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 1,483 m (4,865 ft) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 1,095,947 |
| • Density | 5.7/km2 (15/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China Standard) |
| Postal code | 735000 |
| Area code | 0937 |
| Licence plate prefixes | 甘F |
| Website | www |
Jiuquan (Chinese: 酒泉; pinyin: Jiǔquán) is a prefecture-level city in the northwesternmost part of Gansu province, People's Republic of China. The entire "prefecture-level city" (that is, a multi-county administrative unit - an equivalent to the traditional Chinese prefecture) stretches for more than 600 km (370 mi) from east to west, occupying 191,342 km2 (73,878 sq mi); its population as of 2002 was 962,000.
History
The city's name came from legendary tale of the young Han general Huo Qubing, who poured a jar of precious wine into a local creek in order to share the taste with his troops, in celebration of their crushing victory against Xiongnu forces. The creek was later named Jiu Quan ("Wine Spring"), which became the name of the Han prefecture established there. It was an active military garrison during the Later Han Dynasty.[1]
It is known in popular legend as the place where rhubarb was first grown and is also the town where the Portuguese Jesuit missionary and explorer Bento de Góis (1562–1607) was robbed and died destitute.[2]
Administrative divisions
| Map | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ||||||
| # | Name | Hanzi | Hanyu Pinyin | Population (2004 est.) |
Area (km²) | Density (/km²) |
| 1 | Suzhou District | 肃州区 | Sùzhōu Qū | 350,000 | 3,349 | 105 |
| 2 | Yumen City | 玉门市 | Yùmén Shì | 170,000 | 13,500 | 13 |
| 3 | Dunhuang City | 敦煌市 | Dūnhuáng Shì | 140,000 | 26,960 | 5 |
| 4 | Jinta County | 金塔县 | Jīntǎ Xiàn | 140,000 | 14,663 | 9 |
| 5 | Guazhou County | 瓜州县 | Guāzhōu Xiàn | 90,000 | 21,350 | 4 |
| 6 | Subei Mongol Autonomous County | 肃北蒙古族 自治县 |
Sùběi Měnggǔzú Zìzhìxiàn |
10,000 | 55,000 | <1 |
| 7 | Aksai Kazakh Autonomous County | 阿克塞哈萨克族 自治县 |
Ākèsài Hāsàkèzú Zìzhìxiàn |
10,000 | 31,374 | <1 |
Geography
Jiuquan occupies the westernmost part of Gansu, bordering Zhangye City to the east, Qinghai to the south, Xinjiang to the west, Ejin Banner of Inner Mongolia and Mongolia to the north. Its administrative area ranges in latitude from 37° 58' to 42° 48' N and in longitude from 92° 09' to 100° 20' E, and reaches a maximal north-south extent of 550 km (340 mi) and maximal east-west width of 680 km (420 mi).
Jiuquan has a cold desert climate (Köppen BWk), with long, cold winters, and hot, somewhat dry summers. Monthly average temperatures range from −9.0 °C (15.8 °F) in January to 21.7 °C (71.1 °F) in July, with an annual mean of 7.47 °C (45.4 °F). The diurnal temperature variation is relatively large, averaging 13.8 °C (24.8 °F) annually. With sunny weather and low humidity dominating year-round, the area hosts one of the launch sites for the PRC's space programme. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 62% in July to 77% in October, the city receives 3,031 hours of bright sunshine annually.
| Climate data for Jiuquan (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −1.6 (29.1) |
2.3 (36.1) |
9.1 (48.4) |
17.4 (63.3) |
23.2 (73.8) |
26.8 (80.2) |
28.6 (83.5) |
27.8 (82.0) |
22.7 (72.9) |
15.3 (59.5) |
6.5 (43.7) |
−0.1 (31.8) |
14.8 (58.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −14.9 (5.2) |
−11.3 (11.7) |
−4.4 (24.1) |
2.8 (37.0) |
8.4 (47.1) |
12.7 (54.9) |
14.7 (58.5) |
13.4 (56.1) |
8.2 (46.8) |
1.2 (34.2) |
−6.1 (21.0) |
−12.6 (9.3) |
1.0 (33.8) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 1.2 (0.05) |
1.4 (0.06) |
4.8 (0.19) |
3.7 (0.15) |
7.9 (0.31) |
14.8 (0.58) |
20.5 (0.81) |
19.7 (0.78) |
8.8 (0.35) |
2.3 (0.09) |
1.6 (0.06) |
1.1 (0.04) |
87.8 (3.47) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 5.8 | 7.9 | 6.5 | 3.2 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 39.8 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 53 | 45 | 40 | 35 | 37 | 47 | 53 | 52 | 51 | 47 | 49 | 56 | 47 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 219.0 | 211.5 | 240.6 | 259.0 | 293.3 | 283.0 | 279.1 | 276.9 | 267.5 | 265.1 | 227.1 | 208.6 | 3,030.7 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 74 | 71 | 65 | 66 | 66 | 63 | 62 | 65 | 72 | 77 | 76 | 72 | 68 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration[3] | |||||||||||||
Suzhou District
The administrative center of the "prefecture-level city" of Jiuquan is the "District" of Suzhou (肃州区, Sùzhōu Qǖ), which occupies 3,386 square km in the eastern part of Jiuquan "prefecture-level city", and had a population of 340,000 as of 2002. It is where modern mapmakers would usually place the "Jiuquan" label.
There is (or was) a large billboard at the entrance to the city that read: "Without Haste, Without Fear, We Conquer the World".[2]
The District of Suzhou corresponds to the historic town of Suzhou (not to be confused with Suzhou (苏州, Sūzhōu) in Jiangsu). It was founded in 111 BC as a military outpost on the Silk Road to Central Asia (the Hexi Corridor). It is approximately 1500 m above sea level.
Being an important key point in the Hexi Corridor, Suzhou often found itself to be a defended fortress, taken with a heavy loss of life, as was the case when Meng Qiaofang took it from Ding Guodong in 1649, or when the Qing general Zuo Zongtang took it in 1873 from its Hui defenders commanded by Ma Wenlu during the Muslim Rebellion.
Transport
Jiuquan is served by China National Highway 312 and the Lanzhou-Xinjiang (Lanxin) Railway. The Lanxin Railway has several side branches within Jiuquan Prefecture. In particular, a railway branch runs from the Liugou Station in Guazhou County to Dunhuang, serving both Guazhou county seat and Dunhuang. There are plans to expand it further south into Qinghai; the extension, known as the Golmud–Dunhuang Railway, will connect Dunhuang to Golmud on the Qingzang Railway.[4] There is also the Jiayuguan–Ceke branch, which runs through the desert areas of Jiuquan Prefecture's Jinta County.
Jiuquan is also served by Jiuquan Airport. There is also Dunhuang Airport in Dunhuang.
Space launch center
Jiuquan is the closest major city to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Still, the space launch center is more than 100 km (62 mi) away from the city, and is actually located not in Gansu province, but in the neighboring Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It was built in 1958; the first Chinese human spaceflight, Shenzhou 5 was launched there on 15 October 2003, making Yang Liwei China's first cosmonaut and a national hero.[5] The second was in 2005.
See also
Footnotes
- ^ Hill (2009), pp. 124, 126.
- ^ a b Winchester (2008), p. 264.
- ^ "中国地面国际交换站气候标准值月值数据集（1971－2000年）" (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 2010-05-04.
- ^ 格尔木至敦煌铁路开工, Renmin Tielu Bao, 2012-10-20
- ^ Winchester (2008), 264.
References
- Hill, John E. (2009) Through the Jade Gate to Rome: A Study of the Silk Routes during the Later Han Dynasty, 1st to 2nd Centuries CE. BookSurge, Charleston, South Carolina. ISBN 978-1-4392-2134-1.
- Winchester, Simon (2008). The Man Who Loved China. HarperCollins, New York. ISBN 978-0-06-088459-8.
External links
- Official website
- Rocket launch site—Astronautix
