(, ; Hani: ''Goqjef''; formerly known as Kochiu) is a

county-level city A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a Administrative divisions of China#County level (3rd), county-level administrative divi ...

and the former capital of Honghe prefecture,

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

Province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

, China, and has 202,000 urban inhabitants (ranked 14th largest city in

). It is the site of the country's largest

tin Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn (from la, stannum) and atomic number 50. Tin is a silvery-coloured metal. Tin is soft enough to be cut with little force and a bar of tin can be bent by hand with little effort. When bent, t ...

deposits and its main industry is

mining Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic via ...

Location

Gejiu is located on top of a mountain to the north of the Red River (

pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

''Hong He'') valley, which flows from Yunnan, Dali prefecture to

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. To the south-west in this valley is Nansha, which lies directly below the town of Yuanyang. To the north-west lies

Jianshui Jianshui County (; Hani: ''Jeifsyu'') is a city in Honghe prefecture, Yunnan province, China. and remains an important transportation crossroad. Previously, it has been known as Lin'an () or Huili (); today, the name Lin'an Town is retained by J ...

, and to the north Jijie. Mengzi lies 12 miles to the East.

Layout

The town is located in a crater-like depression around a lake on top of a mountain. The main road enters the town from the north through a thin pass. To the east and west are steep cliffs. Those to the west are too steep to inhabit, however extensive new construction along the eastern side has created many new districts.

Administrative divisions

Administratively, the County-level City of Gejiu consists of 10 township level units: * 1

subdistrict A subdistrict or sub-district is an administrative division that is generally smaller than a district. Equivalents * Administrative posts of East Timor, formerly Portuguese-language * Kelurahan, in Indonesia * Mukim, a township in Brunei, In ...

:Chengqu (城区街道), which includes the city proper * 7 towns: Xicheng (錫城镇),Shadian (沙甸镇), Jijie (雞街镇), Datun (大屯镇), Laochang (老廠镇), Kafang (卡房镇),and

Manhao Manhao () is a town in Gejiu County-level city of Yunnan Province of China. History Located on the Red River, Manhao was a transhipment point of some significance prior to construction of the Kunming–Hai Phong Railway in the early 20th centur ...

(蔓耗镇) * 2 townships: Jiasha (贾沙乡),and Baohe (保和乡)

History

Originally a small mining settlement Gejiu was called ''Gejiuli''. Under the Yuan (1206–1368) and Ming (1368–1644) dynasties the mining of silver was begun there. In the late 17th and 18th centuries, mining in Yunnan boomed, but tin mining in Gejiu did not develop until the second half of the 18th century. In the 1880s the city was created a subprefecture under

Mengzi County Mengzi (; Hani: ) is a city in the southeast of Yunnan Province, China. Administratively, it is a county-level city and the prefectural capital of the Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture, located about southeast from Kunming, and 400 kilome ...

, about to the east. Gejiu only began to be developed after the French connected the area to the railway down off the

Yunnan plateau Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

into

. After the 1911

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

it was further developed due to its location up in the mountains, surrounded by abundant

reserves. In 1889 Mengzi was opened as a treaty port, its trade being almost entirely with

Hanoi Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...

and

Haiphong Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta. Haiphong wa ...

in what was then

French Indochina French Indochina (previously spelled as French Indo-China),; vi, Đông Dương thuộc Pháp, , lit. 'East Ocean under French Control; km, ឥណ្ឌូចិនបារាំង, ; th, อินโดจีนฝรั่งเศส, ...

. One of the main purposes in constructing the French-built Kunming–Hai Phong Railway, completed in 1910, was to service the mines. A

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industri ...

was built from Gejiu to Mengzi between 1915 and 1928. During the last years of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12), the mines were organized by the Chinese-owned Gejiu Tin Company, but the company was deficient in

capital Capital may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** List of national capital cities * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Economics and social sciences * Capital (economics), the durable produced goods used f ...

, technical skill, and managerial efficiency and was replaced by a joint state-private company, the Gejiu Tin-Mining Company, under which production boomed. By the 1930s Gejiu tin accounted for 80 percent of the traffic exported on the railway. Tin production is said to have reached 10,000 tons in 1938. After 1949 management passed to the state Yunnan Tin-Mining Corporation, which by 1955 had reached and surpassed prewar production figures. In addition to mining tin, which remains the chief product, Gejiu has also become a major producer of lead, and a thriving

metallurgical industry Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...

has been developed. Tin articles made in Gejiu are highly acclaimed in China. Coal for smelting is supplied to the city from nearby Kaiyuan to the north, located on the rail line to

Kunming Kunming (; ), also known as Yunnan-Fu, is the capital and largest city of Yunnan province, China. It is the political, economic, communications and cultural centre of the province as well as the seat of the provincial government. The headquar ...

. There is some engineering and chemical production closely allied with Gejiu's metallurgical industries. The town surrounds a lake which, however, was not naturally formed. A turning point in the city's history was when a mining accident occurred sometime in the 1950s, when water welled up through the mines which led to groundwater rising to the surface, and this flooded a large part of the narrow valley that the city was located in. This accident may well have turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Gejiu, as it provided a nice scenic lake right in the city center. An already cramped upland location became even more cramped after this and, this has resulted in an extremely dense, high-rise center compared with other small Chinese cities that are built on plains. Later the adjacent area to the flood-caused lake was turned into a park. Today the town is protected from further flooding by an underground

spillway A spillway is a structure used to provide the controlled release of water downstream from a dam or levee, typically into the riverbed of the dammed river itself. In the United Kingdom, they may be known as overflow channels. Spillways ensure tha ...

. Today Gejiu is a relatively modern prosperous city with high-rise density buildings with a lakeside setting and has backdrop of rocky hills.

Climate

It is a typical

subtropical highland climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Cwb''), with a low temperature variation but cold for latitude.{{Weather box, width=80% {{Weather box, width=auto , metric first=y , single line=y , collapsed = Y , location = Gejiu (1981−2010) , Jan high C = 14.8 , Feb high C = 17.1 , Mar high C = 20.3 , Apr high C = 22.8 , May high C = 23.5 , Jun high C = 24.0 , Jul high C = 23.8 , Aug high C = 24.2 , Sep high C = 23.0 , Oct high C = 20.5 , Nov high C = 17.7 , Dec high C = 14.8 , Jan mean C = 10.8 , Feb mean C = 12.7 , Mar mean C = 15.7 , Apr mean C = 18.2 , May mean C = 19.4 , Jun mean C = 20.5 , Jul mean C = 20.5 , Aug mean C = 20.3 , Sep mean C = 18.9 , Oct mean C = 16.6 , Nov mean C = 13.4 , Dec mean C = 10.6 , year mean C = , Jan low C = 7.9 , Feb low C = 9.5 , Mar low C = 12.1 , Apr low C = 14.7 , May low C = 16.4 , Jun low C = 18.1 , Jul low C = 18.1 , Aug low C = 17.7 , Sep low C = 16.2 , Oct low C = 14.1 , Nov low C = 10.6 , Dec low C = 7.7 , Jan record high C = 21.7 , Jan record low C = -1.8 , Feb record high C = 24.9 , Feb record low C = -0.2 , Mar record high C = 26.9 , Mar record low C = -3.0 , Apr record high C = 28.9 , Apr record low C = 4.5 , May record high C = 30.1 , May record low C = 8.2 , Jun record high C = 29.3 , Jun record low C = 11.8 , Jul record high C = 29.8 , Jul record low C = 12.7 , Aug record high C = 29.8 , Aug record low C = 12.9 , Sep record high C = 28.8 , Sep record low C = 7.7 , Oct record high C = 26.3 , Oct record low C = 5.0 , Nov record high C = 23.7 , Nov record low C = 0.3 , Dec record high C = 23.0 , Dec record low C = -4.0 , year high C =, year low C= , year high F = , year low F = , precipitation colour = green , Jan precipitation mm = 27.1 , Feb precipitation mm = 28.4 , Mar precipitation mm = 37.4 , Apr precipitation mm = 65.0 , May precipitation mm = 126.1 , Jun precipitation mm = 155.4 , Jul precipitation mm = 222.7 , Aug precipitation mm = 184.4 , Sep precipitation mm = 106.4 , Oct precipitation mm = 64.4 , Nov precipitation mm = 59.3 , Dec precipitation mm = 21.4 , Jan humidity = 74 , Feb humidity = 68 , Mar humidity = 65 , Apr humidity = 68 , May humidity = 75 , Jun humidity = 80 , Jul humidity = 82 , Aug humidity = 81 , Sep humidity = 80 , Oct humidity = 81 , Nov humidity = 78 , Dec humidity = 76 , source 1 = China Meteorological Data Service Center{{cite web , url = http://data.cma.cn/data/weatherBk.html , script-title=zh:中国地面气候标准值月值(1981-2010) , publisher = China Meteorological Data Service Center , language = zh-hans , access-date = 5 November 2022

Ethnography

The populace is primarily

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

, however minorities such as the Muslim

Hui The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...

, Dai from the nearby Red River valley, and Hani from the surrounding mountains (see Yuanyang) are also present.

Economy

In addition to

reserves,

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...

and

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

are also found in Gejiu.

Welfare

The city is the home of the Gejiu Children's Welfare Institute, an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

for

children.

Notes

{{Reflist, group=note

References

{{Reflist

External links

{{Commons category, Gejiu
Gejiu City Official Website
{{Navboxes , list = {{Yunnan {{Most populous cities in Yunnan County-level divisions of Honghe Prefecture Cities in Yunnan