Xingyang (), 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 ...

Henan Province Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

, South Central

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, it is under the administration of the

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China' ...

Zhengzhou Zhengzhou (; ), also spelt Zheng Zhou and alternatively romanized as Chengchow, is the capital and largest city of Henan Province in the central part of the People's Republic of China. Located in north-central Henan, it is one of the National ...

. It is situated 15 kilometers to the west of Zhengzhou city proper. The population of Xingyang is around 590,000 and the

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

of Xingyang is about .

Administration

The

of Xingyang administers 16

township-level division The administrative divisions of China have consisted of several levels since ancient times, due to China's large population and geographical area. The constitution of China provides for three levels of government. However in practice, there a ...

s, including 2 sub-districts , 9

towns A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

, 2

townships A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

, 1

ethnic township The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , ''asteriskos'', "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often voc ...

and 1 landscape division. ;Subdistricts # Suohe Subdistrict () # Jingcheng Subdistrict () ;Towns # Qiaolou Town () #

Yulong Yulong may refer to: * Yulong Naxi Autonomous County (), of Lijiang, Yunnan * Yulong Snow Mountain (), or Jade Dragon Snow Mountain * Yulong River (), in Guangxi * Yulongsi Formation, in Yunnan * Yulong, Xingyang (), town in Xingyang City, Henan ...

Town () # Guanwu Town () # Wangcun Town () # Sishui Town () # Gaoshan Town () # Liuhe Town () # Cuimiao Town () # Jiayu Town () ;Townships # Chengguan Township () # Gaocun Township () # Beimang Township () ;Ethnic townships # Jinzhai Hui Ethnic Township ()

Climate

History

The name of Xingyang, coming from ''

Shangshu The ''Book of Documents'' (''Shūjīng'', earlier ''Shu King'') or ''Classic of History'', also known as the ''Shangshu'' (“Venerated Documents”), is one of the Five Classics of ancient Chinese literature. It is a collection of rhetorica ...

'', means the city located in the north of Xing River (). The history of Xingyang can be retrieved in books written more than 3,000 years ago. It is believed in Chinese legend that Xingyang is the place where Chang'e flew to the Moon. In addition, many influential persons in

Chinese history The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapter ...

were from Xingyang, such as

Shen Buhai Shen Buhai (; c. 400c. 337) was a Chinese essayist, philosopher, and politician. He served as Chancellor of the Han state under Marquis Zhao of Han for fifteen years, from 354 BC to 337 BC. A contemporary of syncretist Shi Jiao and Legalist Sh ...

, a legalist in the

Warring States period The Warring States period () was an era in History of China#Ancient China, ancient Chinese history characterized by warfare, as well as bureaucratic and military reforms and consolidation. It followed the Spring and Autumn period and concluded ...

) and

Li Shangyin Li Shangyin (, 813858), courtesy name Yishan (), was a Chinese poet and politician of the late Tang dynasty, born in the Henei Commandery (now Qinyang, Henan). He is noted for the imagist quality of his poems and his "no title" () style of poe ...

(a poet in late

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...

). Moreover, Xingyang is considered as the origin place of the people whose surname is

Zheng Zheng may refer to: *Zheng (surname), Chinese surname (鄭, 郑, ''Zhèng'') *Zheng County, former name of Zhengzhou, capital of Henan, China *Guzheng (), a Chinese zither with bridges *Qin Shi Huang (259 BC – 210 BC), emperor of the Qin Dynasty, ...

() in the world. Xingyang is home to remains from the Han dynasty. Buddhist antiquities have been found there.

Economy

In 2004 the

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...

is ¥ 14.5 Billion, and the

per capita is ¥ 23,387. Located on the flat southern bank of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Standard Beijing Mandarin, Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system in the world at th ...

, Xingyang's Wangcun Town is known for its

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

. Since their development started in 1986, the pond systems in Wangcun have grown to the total size of 15,000 '' mu'' (10 km²), making the town the largest aquaculture center in

North China North China, or Huabei () is a List of regions of China, geographical region of China, consisting of the provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Part of the larger region of Northern China (''Beifang''), it lies north ...

. In 2007, construction started in Wangcun on a large

turtle farm Turtle farming is the practice of raising turtles and tortoises of various species commercially. Raised animals are sold for use as gourmet food, traditional medicine ingredients, or as pets. Some farms also sell young animals to other farms, e ...

raising the Yellow River Turtle (a local variety of the

Chinese softshell turtle The Chinese softshell turtle (''Pelodiscus sinensis'') is a species of softshell turtle that is native to China (Inner Mongolia to Guangxi, including Hong Kong) and Taiwan, with records of escapees—some of which have established introduced po ...

). With the capacity for raising 5 million turtles a year, the facility was expected to become Henan's largest farm of this kind.荥阳开建河南省最大黄河鳖养殖基地
(Construction started in Xingyang on the province's largest Yellow River Turtle farm), www.zynews.com,　 2007-07-24

Transportation

Travelling within the city is convenient and cheap by bus or taxi. In 2005, the start fee of Taxi for the first 3 kilometres is about ¥ 4, and the cost for every additional kilometre is ¥ 1. Fares are generally somewhat higher during 10 pm to 6 am. Normally ¥ 6-7 is maximum for traveling in the city Xingyang. The Zhengzhou West Railway Station is located in Xingyang.

Tourist attractions

* Chuhehanjie (, or Hong Gou) is a famous place in early

Western Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a war ...

where

Liu Bang Emperor Gaozu of Han (256 – 1 June 195 BC), born Liu Bang () with courtesy name Ji (季), was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning in 202–195 BC. His temple name was "Taizu" while his posthumous name was Empe ...

, the creator of

, fought for years with his rival,

Xiang Yu Xiang Yu (, –202 BC), born Xiang Ji (), was the Hegemon-King (Chinese: 霸王, ''Bà Wáng'') of Western Chu during the Chu–Han Contention period (206–202 BC) of China. A noble of the Chu state, Xiang Yu rebelled against the Qin dynas ...

. Because none of them could win after years, they decided to use the Chuhehanjie to divide China into two parts, with the eastern part to

and western part to

after negotiation.

broke this agreement later when

retreated from Xingyang to rescue the capital of his territory, which was attacked by

Han Xin Han Xin (; 231/230–196 BC) was a Chinese military general and politician who served Liu Bang during the Chu–Han Contention and contributed greatly to the founding of the Han dynasty. Han Xin was named as one of the "Three Heroes of the ear ...

. The border between the two is commonly referenced in ''

Xiangqi ''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' ch ...

'' (i.e., Chinese chess) as the symbolic divider between the two sides of a game board. *

Hulao Pass Hulao Pass () is a choke point northwest of Xingyang, Henan province, China in the foothills of Mount Song. It is the site of many historical battles, being the eastern guard for the capital Luoyang for several dynasties. With Mount Song to the s ...

is an important site in

Three Kingdoms Period The Three Kingdoms () from 220 to 280 AD was the tripartite division of China among the dynastic states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The Three Kingdoms period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and was followed by the West ...

where

Lü Bu Lü Bu () (died 7 February 199), courtesy name Fengxian, was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty of Imperial China. Originally a subordinate of a minor warlord Ding Yuan, he betray ...

fought with

Liu Bei Liu Bei (, ; ; 161 – 10 June 223), courtesy name Xuande (), was a warlord in the late Eastern Han dynasty who founded the state of Shu Han in the Three Kingdoms period and became its first ruler. Although he was a distant relative of the H ...

Guan Yu Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him on ...

, and

Zhang Fei Zhang Fei () (died July or August 221 AD), courtesy name Yide, was a military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei in the late Eastern Han dynasty and early Three Kingdoms period of China. Zhang Fei and Guan Yu, who were among the earlie ...

. * The Ruins of Yangshao civilization () * Huancuiyu Landscape area

Agricultural products

* Xingyang dried

persimmon The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus ''Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-pers ...

* Guangwu Megranate

Notable residents

The hometown of the character Zheng (T: 鄭, S: 郑) from '' The Tale of Li Wa'' is Xingyang.Nienhauser, William H. Jr. (

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

).
A Third Look at "Li Wa Zhuan"
" '' T'ang Studies'' (Print , Online ), 2007(25), pp. 91–110. -- Cited: p. 100.

References

External links

Official website of Xingyang Government
{{Authority control County-level divisions of Henan Zhengzhou Cities in Henan