Xianyang is an ancient capital bearing a long history. It was established as a capital by the first Qin Emperor. From the Western Han Dynasty onwards, it was considered a city of great strategic significance because of its location near Chang'an, another ancient capital.

Xianyang City is located in the middle of the Central Shaanxi Plain. It has jurisdiction over Xingping City, two districts (Qindu and Weicheng), and ten counties (Sanyuan, Jingyang, Wugong, Qinxian, Liquan, Yongshou, Binxian, Changwu, Xunyi and Chunhua).

Xianyang is inhabited by a population of 4.981 million, which includes about 40 minority groups, of which the Hui people make up 80%. The city covers an area of 10,213 square kilometers. It has a mean temperature of 12℃ and an average precipitation of 540-630 millimeters annually. The frost-free period of the year lasts 213 days. With such a favorable climate, Xianyang is one of the major grain production bases in Shaanxi Province, as well as the only production base of commodity grain in Northwest China.

Xianyang is endowed with a large concentration of tourist attractions. As many as 27 emperors from the Han and Tang dynasties were buried on the tableland to the north of the city, while the number of their satellite tombs amount to 256, forming a large collection of imperial tomb complexes that appeal to almost every tourist.

Xianyang is a city with an advantageous geographical disposition and convenient transportation. The national artery railway line between Lianyungang and Urumqi runs across the city. An extensive network of highways and an international airport only 20 minutes by bus from Xi'an makes Xianyang highly accessible.



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Xi'an, located in the central Shaanxi Plains, was known as Chang'an in ancient times. The Weihe River lies to its north, and the Qinling Mountain Range to its south. As the capital of Shaanxi province, Xi'an is the political, economic, and cultural center. It stretches 204 kilometers from east to west and 116 kilometers from north to south, covering a total area of 9,983 square kilometers. The municipal government has jurisdiction over 9 districts (Xincheng, Beilin, Lianhu, Baqiao, Weiyang, Yanta, Yan Liang, Lintong, Chang'an), 4 counties (Lantian, Zhouzhi, Huxian, Gaoling), 174 villages and towns, 58 subdistrict offices, 3,156 administrative villages, and 1,694 resident committees.

Xi'an has a population of 8.55 million. The majority of Xi'an residents are Han Chinese, making up more than 98% of the city's total population. There are around 50 minorities living in Xi'an, the biggest of which is the Hui people.

The dialect of Xi'an, Shaanxi Hua, is strongly influenced by standard Mandarin. However, it still retains a lot of grammar and pronunciation from classical Chinese.

It has a semi-moist monsoon climate and there is a clear distinction between the four seasons. Except for the cold winter, any season is relatively suitable for traveling.


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The historic city of Dunhuang is situated along the boundary formed by China's Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang Provinces. Dunhuang, long ago, was referred to as 'Sha Zhou,' literally meaning "beautiful desert oasis," and served as the hub for silk routes in ancient times. The city is bordered by Mount Qilian in the south, Mount Mazong in the north, and desert on the east and west.

Dunhuang's inland location means the city is characterized by a very dry climate with lots of sunshine. Each year in Dunhuang can be divided into four distinct seasons, with vast temperature differences between winter and summer months. Sandstorms can be a problem in Dunhuang, with wind gusts sometimes reaching speeds of 3 meters per second. Edges of the city are threatened with being engulfed by the expansion of the Kumtag Desert, a result of longstanding overgrazing of surrounding lands.


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Jiayuguan is located in the middle part of Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province, which was the gullet of the ancient" Silk Road." It has a population of 200,000 and a total area of 2,935 square meters.

Jiayuguan is an industrial city flourishing with a large iron & steel production base. People of many different ethnicities, such as Han, Hui, Tibetan, Dongxiang, Yugu, Baoan, Hazake, Tu, Sala, Manchu, and Mongolian, live here. As Jiayuguan is in the warm variable zone, it has an arid climate.

The Jiayuguan pass is trapezoid-shaped with a perimeter of 733 meters and an area of more than 33,500 square meters. The total length of the city wall is 733 meters and the height is 11 meters. There are two gates: one on the east side of the pass, and another on the west side. The south and north sides of the pass are connected to the Great Wall. There is a turret on each corner of the pass. On the north side, inside the two gates, there are wide roads leading to the top of the pass. Jiayuguan has three defense lines: an inner city, an outer city, and a moat.


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Lanzhou is situated on the upper course of the Yellow River, where the river emerges from the mountains. It has been a center since early times, being at the southern end of the route leading via the Hexi Corridor across Central Asia. It also commands the approaches to the ancient capital area of Chang'an (modern Xi'an) in Shaanxi province from both the west and the northwest, as well as from the area of Qinghai Lake via the upper waters of the Yellow River and its tributaries.


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[ Last edited by ASHLEYTUNG at 2008-7-7 19:06 ]

         MY HOMETOWN   

Carrying the meaning of "the Green City" in the Mongolian language, Hohhot is the capital and the administrative, economic and cultural center in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Hohhot has under its administration 4 districts,4 counties,1 banner and 1 national level Economic and Technological Development Zone. It has a total land area of 17224 km2 including an urban one of 2054 km2 and a population of 2.58 million including an urban one of 1.5 million. It is an area inhabited by the 36 ethnic groups including the Mongolians as the main body, the Han as the majority, the Hui, Manchu, Korean, Daur, and Oroqen ethnic groups.

Hohhot is one of the famous historical and cultural cities of China and one of the origins of the Chinese civilization. Here, we have written records of over 2000 years ago, the relics of "Dayao Culture" indicating human activities of 500000 years ago, the Ancient City of Yunzhong of the period of Warring States, Zhaojun's Mausoleum evidencing the marriage between the princess of the Western Dynasty and the chief of the Xiongnu, Huayan Scripture Tower of the Liao Dynasty, and the Dazhao Temple, Xilituzhao Temple and 5-pagoda Temple of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and other famous historical sites. All this is a true record of the long history of Hohhot.

Enjoying a superior geographical location and the best of communication facilities, Hohhot serves as an important passage and a hub city linking Beijing, the capital of china, with the northwest of our motherland. We have a crisscrossing network of highways with a railway traversing the urban area. At Hohhot Airport, we have over 40air routes to the various major domestic cities and 2 direct ones leading to Mongolia and Russia.

Hohhot has over 40 kinds of minerals with rich deposits including coal, oil copper iron, zinc and gold in its urban and adjacent areas. We are proud of our fertile land and rich produce, which offers a unique advantage for the development of farming and animal husbandry. The city is rich in wheat, maize, naked oat, buckwheat, potato, sugar beet and flax. Our dairy industry is particularly outstanding in development and we rank the top in China in terms of the total quantity of milk, milk products, and the quantity of fresh milk available to each urban resident. As a result, the city is renowned as the Home Town of Milk of China by China Dairy Association and our milk products are distributed in all the major domestic markets. Meanwhile, we have cultivation bases of such quality medical herbs as wolfberry, Astragalus mongholicus, dangshen and licorice.

As an important industrial city in Inner Mongolia, Hohhot sticks to the path of new type of industrialization in the development of its industrial economy. At present, we have brought into being the 5 major groups of industries-dairy, electric power, electronic information biological and drug preparation, and metallurgical and chemical industries. A large number of mainstay enterprises such as YiLi,Mengniu, Datang Pharmacy, Tuoketuo Power Plant and Huameng Jinhe Group have seen fast expansion. The varied industrial estates are in vigorous development. All that has greatly promoted the local economy in Hohhot.

The urban construction of Hohhot changes for the better day by day, thus greatly improving the city's bearing capacity and sustainable development. Regarding the construction of a modernized capital city as the general goal, we have realized a readjustment of administrative districts, transformation of the old urban area, and expansion of the new urban area, and putting in great efforts in ecological improvement and environmental protection. We are working to make the city more beautiful day by day with remarkable impact and the living environment has seen further improvement. Today, Hohhot has become a civilized city full of vitality and modernization drive.

The constant progress in the city's construction has given direct impetus to the fast development of the tertiary industry. Such traditional service sectors as trading, restaurant business, and communication and transport have seen further expansion. Such new service sectors as finance, information consulting, real estate development and tourism have seen fast development. Meanwhile, we have achieved overall progress in the social undertakings of science and technology, education, culture, public health and sports.

Regarding development as the top priority, Hohhot has formulated the opening-up strategy of linking its south with the north, complementary advantages between the east and the west, mutual benefit, and quickening the development in order to meet the needs of the times. You will find in Hohhot a beautiful natural environment, strong economic foundation, convenient communication facilities, perfect service function and various potential advantages in resources. We sincerely welcome you here for sightseeing, research, and investment in cooperation with us.

(Credit: The Government Website of Huhhot. Click here for further information.)


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[ Last edited by ASHLEYTUNG at 2008-7-7 19:07 ]

Ordos has an area of 86,752 km² and covers the bigger part of the Ordos plateau. The city borders Hohhot which is to its east, Baotou to its northeast, Bayan Nur to its north, Alxa to its northwest, Wuhai to its west, Ningxia to its southwest, and Shaanxi and Shanxi to its south. At the end of 2004, Ordos had a population of about 1.36 million inhabitants.

The area of Ordos city can roughly be divided into a hilly area in the east, high plateaus in the west and center, sandy deserts in the north and south and the plains at the southern bank of the Yellow river. The highest elevation (2,149 m) is located in the west, the lowest point (850 m) in the east. The annual rainfall is 300-400 mm in he eastern part and 190-350 mm in the western part. Most of the rain falls between July and September.


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"In north China, a long distance is covered with ice and snow…."

The mysterious north area of China and the beautiful grassland in Inner Mongolia have long been a paradise in people's hearts. Blue sky, green grassland and an expanse of white snow can be seen there. In such a picture—like place, there situated the biggest industrial city in Inner Mongolia---Baotou.

In Mongolia language, Baotou is a homophonic word of "Bao Ketu", meaning a place with deer. Thus, Baotou is also called "dear city". Early in the New Stone Age in 6000 B.C, human activities could be found here.

In 1937, Baotou was built up into a municipality. Nowadays, Baotou has jurisdiction over nine countries and districts and one national development zone (Rare—earth High—tech Industrial development zone) with a total area of nearly 30,000 k㎡ and a population of 2,400,000.

In such a land full of enthusiasm, people from the other places of the country are admitted by the industrious, frank and open—minded Baotou people and they cooperate with each other to build their beautiful home, performing the tonic of building a harmonious society.

(Credit: Baotou.China. Click here for further information.)


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            Statue in Chifeng (Photo credit: China Photo Press)

Located in the southeastern part of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Chifeng is bordered by Hebei province's Chengde and Liaoning province's Chaoyang. Literally meaning "red peak," Chifeng was thus named because of a reddish brown peak in the city's northwest.

Chifeng has a population of 4.39 million, 19 percent of whom are ethnically Mongolian; the remainder of the population is composed of people belonging to 29 other ethnic groups of China.

Visitors will enjoy an array of natural scenery, including grasslands, desert, glaciers, stone forests, hot springs. Around 30 percent of the city is covered by forest.

Chifeng was the cradle of Hongshan, Qidan (Kitanye), Liao and Mongolian culture and boasts 6,800 cultural heritage sites. Today, the city is an important component of the Bohai Economic Rim.


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Harbin is the center of Heilongjiang province economy development and also is an integrated city with industry as the principal part of economy and all three industries general booming.

During " the first five and the second five year-plan", Harbin engendered industrial economics framework, the main body of which was comprised of large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises, the core of which was heavy industry, and had become an important industrial base of our country. At that time, the main products accounted to more than 3,000 varieties, covering the whole country, remotely exported to over 100 countries and areas. Thereinto, electricity station equipments, facility and measure, areoplane and engine, linen textile, magnalium artifactitious products, exactitude meter, axletree, cable, relay protection sets and other items, dominated the top status in China.

Since the implement of reform and open, Harbin had increased the stride of economics configuration modulation, meanwhile, pharmaceuticals, vehicles, vivers, electronic information and other high new-tech industries were progressing at full speed and formed new industrial situation. During " the tenth five plan", the target of industrial development, was to accelerate the industrialized process with informationization, to arduously struggle to cultivate electronic information, vehicles, vivers, pharmaceuticals, four pillar industries, and to develop furnishment produce, environmental protection, wielding, new materials, biological project …etc. five preponderant industries, to the largest extent, with actively adjustment and alteration of mechanism, textile, metallurgy, construct material, petroleum chemistry, light industry, six traditional industries, and they fabricated new industrial economics situation.

Reform and open has boosted the fast growing of Harbin tertiary industry which plays a more and more prominent function and status in Chinese National Economy. During "the tenth five plan", with tightly orientation of serving for National Economy and society development, the tertiary industry in Harbin will continue to emphasize on developing foreign trade, finance insurance, real estate, municipal transportation, tourism and scenery and technological education, information consultation, culture and sanitation and other social enterprises, so as to configurate perfect marketing economy system and satisfy the economy progress and citizen lives'necessity.

During "the tenth five year plan", Harbin agriculture and rural economics would focus on solidifying the agriculture basis and augmenting peasant's income, and regulate agriculture framework.. Harbin still ameliorated traditional agriculture production pattern, stabilized foodstuff and enhanced animal husbandry, extruded to develop molar profits agriculture with the emphases on green agriculture. We persisted in prospering agriculture by technology and extended advanced proper techniques, implemented excellent seed project, and set up modern agriculture technological region and techno-exemplification base. At the same time, it actively facilitated agriculture synthetic exploitation and the concerned department constructed fourteen green-food base chains in the whole city in order to accelerate agriculture industrialization process and promote rural economics fully booming.

In 2006, the total value of regional production reached to 209.4 billion, which increased at 13.5% by contrast with the last year and averagely increased by 13.9% that achieved the target of being double on the basis of 2000 year's budget; the gross income of finance average budget reached to 19.23 billion which rose by 12.5% compared with the last, increased by 13% annually, in which local fiscal average budget revenue accounted to 11.83 billion, increasing at 14.7% in contrast with the last and augmenting at 15% annually; the investment of capital asserts amounted to 81 billion which rose by 26.7% compared with the last, increased by 22.4% annually; the gross retail income of social consumable amounted to 89.54 billion which increased at 13.5% by contrast with the last year and annually increased by 12.5%. Municipal synthetic power has entered into the top ten of the whole country.

(Credit: Official Website of Harbin Goverment. Click here for further information.)


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[ Last edited by ASHLEYTUNG at 2008-7-10 17:53 ]

(BEIJING, May 3) -- Daqing, which means "Great Celebration" in Chinese, is a city in Heilongjiang province. Originally built in 1959 for workers of the area's oilfields and energy and petrochemical industries, Daqing is now well-respected by the Chinese government for its industry and healthcare standards.


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(BEIJING, May 1) -- Qiqihar is located in the northeastern Songnen Plain of China, adjacent to Daqing City in the east, Baicheng Area of Jilin Province in the south, Hulunbeir League of Inner Mongolia in the west, and the greater Xing'an Mountains in north. It covers a total land area of 42,289 k㎡.

Qiqihar is horse-hoof shaped, high on both sides and low in the middle, with altitude decreasing from north to south.

Not only the second largest city of Heilongjiang Province, Qiqihar stands as the economic and cultural center of the western part of Heilongjiang. Qiqihar administers 7 districts, 8 counties, and one city. There are 156 towns and townships and 1,361 villages in Qiqihar City with a total population of 5.61 million.


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General Information

Changchun City is situated at the heart of Songliao Plains in northeast China, and it's counties and districts located at 124'18" - 127'02" east longitude, 43'05" - 45'15" north latitude.

The total area of Changchun is 20,571 square kilometers, including municipal areas of 2,583 square kilometers, and the municipal constructed area is 159 square kilometers. The city is 250 - 350 meters above the sea level. The city stands at the center of the three northeast provinces, and at the crisscross point of the third east-westward "Europe-Asia Continental Bridge".

Topographic Features

Changchun area shows the variety of topographic features combining mountainous regions, mesas and plains, accounting for 9 per cent, 41 per cent and 50 per cent of total area.

Water Resources

Changchun area is dotted with 222 rivers and lakes, the tributaries of Songhua River, Rinma River and Yitong River. Of them, there are 10 rivers cover a total water area of over 1, 000 kilometres, accounting for 4.5 per cent. The number of the river with a total water area range between 200 kilometres and 1, 000 kilometres is 206, making up 92.8 per cent. The rest 2.7 per cent is the 6 rivers with a total water area of less than 200 kilometres. Mushi River, Yinma River, Yitong River, Shuangyang River, Wukai River and Xinkai River, etc., situating from the east to the west, run all the way into the Second Songhua River.

(Credit: The Official English Website of Changchun City, China. Click here for further information.)


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Located in the central west of Jilin Province, the city of Songyuan has an area of 22,000 square kilometers and a population of 2.62 million. It is richly endowed by nature and has always been known as "an oil city, a grain store, a meat store, a sea of forestm and a fish producer." The Songhua, Second Songhua, Nenjiang, and Lalin rivers flow through the city. Songyuan enjoys conveinet transportation and prompt commuications facilities. Urban construction has changed the city's outlook with each passing day, while people's livelihood has improved year by year. At presnet, the overall economic strenth of Songyuan holds the fourth place among cities in the province.

(Credit: Jilin Travel and Tours Guide . Click here for further information.)


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Jilin was formerly called "Jilin Wula", which means "along the river" in the Manchu language. Jilin is referred to as a river city because of Boat Sailing on the Songhua River, a verse composed by Emperor Kang Xi of the Qing Dynasty during his inspection tour of the east. It is surrounded on all sides by the offset of the Changbai Mountains, and the Songhua River that flows in a S-shaped course through the urban area looks like a blue ribbon.


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