Xianning
Xianning
咸宁 | |
|---|---|
| 咸宁市 | |
 In the fields just south of Xianning center city. | |
.png) Location of Xianning within Hubei | |
| Country | China |
| Province | Hubei |
| Area | |
| • Total | 580 sq mi (1,501 km2) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 2,772,000 |
| Time zone | UTC+8 (China standard time) |
| Website | http://www.xianning.gov.cn/ |
Xianning (simplified Chinese: 咸宁; traditional Chinese: 咸寧; pinyin: Xiánníng) is a prefecture-level city in China's Hubei province. It is known as the "City of Osmanthus".
Geography and climate
Xianning is located in southeastern Hubei province, just south of Wuhan, between the southern bank of the Yangtze River in the north and the Mufu Mountains in the south. It borders Jiangxi to the southeast and Hunan to the southwest. It is called Hubei's southern gateway. Xianning is hilly and mountainous (especially in its southern part), with some flatlands (mostly in the north) and lakes. Its area is 1,501 km², 56% of which is forested.
Xianning's climate is temperate/continental. Average annual temperature is 17 °C and precipitation is 1400 mm.
Administration
Xianning has 1 district, 4 counties, 1 county-level city, 9 towns, 1 township, and 3 sub-districts.
City:
- Chibi (赤壁市)
District:
- Xian'an (咸安区)
Counties:
- Tongshan County (通山县)
- Chongyang County (崇阳县)
- Tongcheng County (通城县)
- Jiayu County (嘉鱼县)
Demographics
Xianning has a population of 2,772,000 people. Most of the inhabitants of Xianning are Han; only 4,785 are from other ethnic groups including Hui, Tujia, Zhuang, Miao, Manchu, and Dong. The place with the largest ethnic minority population is in Chibi City.
Economy
Agriculture and forestry are two of Xianning's biggest industries. It is known by the three names, "City of Osmanthus", "City of Nan Bamboo", and "City of Tea". There are more than 1 million mu (6 English acres) of "Nan" Bamboo, 30,000 Chinese acres of osmanthus, and more than 150,000 Chinese acres of tea.
Mineral resources are also an important part if Xianning's economy. Niobium, gold, magnesium, antimony, monazite, coal, manganese, vanadium, mica, and marble are all mined or quarried in Xianning.
On 17Aug10, the Shaw Group announced an agreement with State Nuclear Power Engineering Corp. Ltd., a subsidiary of China’s State Nuclear Power Technology Corp. Ltd. (SNPTC), to add two new AP1000 units at the Xianning nuclear power plant project in Hubei province.[1]
Transportation
Xianning has major rail lines, including the Beijing-Guangzhou line, many national highways, and a large stretch of the Yangtze River, making it an important transportation and shipping center.
The two passenger train stations within the Prefecture-level city of Xianning - the one in Xianning urban area itself (80 km from Wuhan's Wuchang train station), and the one in Chibi (118 km from Wuchang) - are usually the first and the second stops for the slower trains leaving Wuchang toward Changsha and Guangzhou. Typical travel times from Wuchang is 40-50 min and 1 hour 20 min, respectively.[2]
Tourism
Xianning's biggest tourist draw is its natural scenery. There are many sites including Taiyi Cave(太乙洞), Star Bamboo Sea(星星竹海), Nine Palaces Mountain(九宫山, Jiugong Shan, in Tongshan County), Lushui Lake(陆水湖), as well as the historical site the Chibi Ancient Ruins(赤壁遗址).
At the "Underground Project 131" site, some 15 km southeast of Xianning urban area (within Xian'an District, tourists can visit a system of underground tunnels that were built in 1969-71 to accommodate national military headquarters in the case of a war, but never used.[3]
References
External links
