Xinxiang ( ; postal: Sinsiang) is a

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' ...

in northern

Henan 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 ...

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. It borders the provincial capital of

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 ...

to its southwest,

Kaifeng Kaifeng () is a prefecture-level city in east-central Henan province, China. It is one of the Eight Ancient Capitals of China, having been the capital eight times in history, and is best known for having been the Chinese capital during the Nort ...

to its southeast,

Hebi Hebi ( ; postal: Hopi) is a prefecture-level city in northern Henan province, China. Situated in mountainous terrain at the edge of the Shanxi plateau, Hebi is about south of Anyang, northeast of Xinxiang and north of Kaifeng. As of the 202 ...

and

Anyang Anyang (; ) is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, China. The northernmost city in Henan, Anyang borders Puyang to the east, Hebi and Xinxiang to the south, and the provinces of Shanxi and Hebei to its west and north respectively. It had a ...

to its north,

Jiaozuo Jiaozuo ( ; postal: Tsiaotso) is a prefecture-level city in the northwest of Henan province, China. Sitting on the northern bank of the Yellow River, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the south, Xinxiang to the east, Jiyuan to the ...

to its west, and the provinces of

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

and

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

to its northwest and east respectively. Its total population was 6,251,929 as of the

2020 Chinese Census The Seventh National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (), also referred to as the 2020 Chinese Census, was the seventh national census conducted by the National Bureau of Statistics of the People's Republic of China. Census w ...

. As of the 2018 estimation, 2,743,200 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of 4 urban districts ('' Weibin, Hongqi,

Muye Muye District () is a district of the city of Xinxiang, Henan province, China. History The BC Battle of Muye ended Shang hegemony over the Wei and Yellow Rivers and established the state of Zhou. Administrative divisions As 2012, this district ...

, Fenquan''), Yanjin county, Xinxiang county and Huixian City which are now being conurbated as the city is expanding very quickly.

History

Xinxiang was site of the

Battle of Muye The Battle of Muye () or Battle of the Mu was a battle fought in ancient China between the rebel Zhou state and the reigning Shang dynasty. The Zhou army, led by Wu of Zhou, defeated the defending army of King Di Xin of Shang at Muye and capt ...

where the

Shang Dynasty The Shang dynasty (), also known as the Yin dynasty (), was a Chinese royal dynasty founded by Tang of Shang (Cheng Tang) that ruled in the Yellow River valley in the second millennium BC, traditionally succeeding the Xia dynasty and ...

was overthrown by the Zhou. Xinxiang dates from the

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...

(581-618) and was a small market center before being developed as an industrial center in the 1950s. It also served as the capital of the short-lived

Pingyuan Province Pingyuan () was a former province of the People's Republic of China that existed between 1949 and 1952. Its capital was Xinxiang, now in Henan province. History Pingyuan Province was established on August 20, 1949, comprising adjoining prefectur ...

, which covered neighbouring cities -

Puyang Puyang is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Henan province, People's Republic of China. Located on the northern shore of the Yellow River, it borders Anyang in the west, Xinxiang in the southwest, and the provinces of Shandong and Hebei ...

and

Heze Heze, formerly known as Caozhou, is the westernmost prefecture-level city in Shandong province, China, it borders Jining to the east and the provinces of Henan and Anhui to the west and south respectively. History Caozhou was at the center ...

, between 1949 and 1952, for the purpose of pacifying Nationalist guerillas through military action and accepting surrender. In July 2021, Xinxiang was harshly impacted by the flooding in Henan, which affected about 470,000 people and over of cropland.

Geography

Climate

Pollution

According to a 2015 report by

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by Irving Stowe and Dorothy Stowe, immigrant environmental activists from the United States. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth t ...

(Xinxiang's province) has the most severe

air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...

of all the provinces in China, with an average

PM2.5 Particulates – also known as atmospheric aerosol particles, atmospheric particulate matter, particulate matter (PM) or suspended particulate matter (SPM) – are microscopic particles of solid or liquid matter suspended in the air. The ter ...

concentration of 103.3 μg/m3 (

microgram In the metric system, a microgram or microgramme is a unit of mass equal to one millionth () of a gram. The unit symbol is μg according to the International System of Units (SI); the recommended symbol in the United States and United Kingdom whe ...

s per

cubic meter The cubic metre (in Commonwealth English and international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or cubic meter (in American English) is the unit of volume in the International System of Units (SI). Its symbol is m ...

). The report found that Xinxiang has the 13th most polluted city air in China, with a PM2.5 concentration of 114.6 μg/m3 (over 11 times the safe limit established by the

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

) during the first quarter of 2015. Swiss firm

IQAir IQAir is a Swiss air quality technology company, specializing in protection against airborne pollutants, developing air quality monitoring and air cleaning products. IQAir also operates AirVisual, a real-time air quality information platform. As ...

reported that Xinxiang suffered from an average PM2.5 concentration of 51.5 μg/m3 in 2020, ranking 31st in China, and 89th in the world. In 2015, environmental

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

Airman () purchased wheat samples farmed in the town of Wangcun, in Xinxiang, near a battery factory, and found it had

cadmium Cadmium is a chemical element with the symbol Cd and atomic number 48. This soft, silvery-white metal is chemically similar to the two other stable metals in group 12, zinc and mercury. Like zinc, it demonstrates oxidation state +2 in most of ...

levels up to 17 times the national safe limit. The following year, the group again purchased wheat samples in the towns of and Wangcun, and found cadmium levels up to 34.1 times the national safe limit. Following this report, the Xinxiang municipal government launched a program to purchase contaminated wheat, and convert the farmland to other purposes. However, again in 2017, the group purchased additional wheat samples, and found them to have cadmium levels up to 18 times the national limit, with all samples purchased exceeding national safety limits. In response, government officials from the

town 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 ...

of Dakuai met with the group, and pledged to further investigate the samples and stop growing wheat on contaminated farmland.

Religion

Xinjiang

Roman Catholics The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

are served by the Apostolic Prefecture of Xinxiang (), which was established on July 7, 1936, on missionary territory split off from the then Apostolic Vicariate of Weihuifu () (now Diocese of Jixian). It is a pre-diocesan jurisdiction, which is exempt (i.e., directly subject to the Holy See and its missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples), and not part of any

ecclesiastical province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United State ...

. It has had the following incumbent ''Apostolic Prefects of Xinxiang (Roman Rite) :'' * Father Thomas Megan (),

Divine Word Missionaries The Society of the Divine Word ( la, Societas Verbi Divini), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Ri ...

S.V.D.) (born USA) (1936.07.07 – retired 1948), died 1951 * Fr. Johannes Schütte (), S.V.D. (born Germany) (1948 – death 1971.11.18), also

Superior General A superior general or general superior is the leader or head of a religious institute in the Catholic Church and some other Christian denominations. The superior general usually holds supreme executive authority in the religious community, while t ...

Society of the Divine Word The Society of the Divine Word ( la, Societas Verbi Divini), abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic Church, Catholic clerical religious congregation ...

(Divine Word Missionaries) (1958.03.28 – 1967.12.15) and Vice-Secretary of Pontifical Commission of Justice and Peace (1968–1971.11.18) * Joseph Zhang Wei-zhu () (first Chinese and secular priest) (1992, with clandestine episcopal consecration)

Military

Xinxiang is the headquarters of the

83rd Group Army The 83rd Group Army (), formerly the 54th Group Army, is a military formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Forces (PLAGF). The 83rd Group Army is one of twelve total group armies of the PLAGF, the largest echelon of ground f ...

of the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

, one of the three group armies that comprise the

Jinan Military Region The Jinan Military Region was a PLA Military Region located in the east of the People's Republic of China, covering the Shandong and Henan Provinces, which also formed military districts. It appears that Yang Dezhi was one of the first commander ...

responsible for defence 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 ...

plain.

Administration

The

administers 4

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

, 3

county-level cities A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

and 5

counties A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

. *District: ** Weibin District () **

Hongqi District Hongqi District () is a district of the city of Xinxiang, Henan province, China. Administrative divisions As 2012, this district is divided to 5 subdistricts, 2 towns and 1 township. ;Subdistricts ;Towns *Hongmen The Tiandihui, the Hea ...

() **

Muye District Muye District () is a district of the city of Xinxiang, Henan province, China. History The BC Battle of Muye ended Shang hegemony over the Wei and Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is ...

() **

Fengquan District Fengquan District () is a district of the city of Xinxiang, Henan 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 ...

() *County-level city: **

Huixian Huixian () is a county-level city under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xinxiang, in the northwest of Henan province, China, bordering Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People ...

City () **

Weihui Weihui (), formerly Jixian or Ji County (), is a county-level city in the north of Henan province, China. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xinxiang. The city has an area of and a population of Administrative divi ...

City () **

Changyuan Changyuan () is a county-level city in the east of Henan province, China, bordering Shandong province to the east. Formerly under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xinxiang, since 1 January 2014 it has been directly administered ...

City () *County: ** Xinxiang County () **

Huojia County Huojia County () is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xinxiang, in the northwest of Henan province, China. The name Huojia, which means "capturing üJia", was used as the county name in 111 BC when Emperor Wu of H ...

() ** Yuanyang County () ** Yanjin County () **

Fengqiu County Fengqiu County () is a county in the north of Henan province, located on the north (left) bank of the Yellow River. It is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xinxiang. In ancient times, Pingqiu County () was located to the ea ...

()

Economy

Frestech, a major

home appliance A home appliance, also referred to as a domestic appliance, an electric appliance or a household appliance, is a machine which assists in household functions such as cooking, cleaning and food preservation. Appliances are divided into three ty ...

company, was located in Xinxiang prior to its liquidation in 2018. One of the business units spun off in Frestech's dissolution, Xinfei Electric Group, continues to operate in Xinxiang. Xinfei Electric Group, now a wholly-owned subsidy of

Aviation Industry Corporation of China Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

, produces refrigerated trucks, military vehicles,

RVs A recreational vehicle, often abbreviated as RV, is a motor vehicle or trailer that includes living quarters designed for accommodation. Types of RVs include motorhomes, campervans, coaches, caravans (also known as travel trailers and camper ...

, modular building structures, precision equipment, refrigerators, air conditioners, and environmental control equipment. Other important enterprises located in Xinxiang include Golden Dragon Copper Group, Bailu Chemical Fibre, Henan Kelong Group, and AVIC XINHANG Industry Corporation.

Agriculture and textiles

Textiles and processed food are also major products of Xinxiang. As an old textiles base, the cotton industry is very developed in Xinxiang.

Transport

The city is a rail junction and industrial centre at the head of navigation on the

Wei River The Wei River () is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization. The source of the Wei River is close to ...

. The river, made navigable for small vessels by river improvements in the 1950s, links the city with

Tianjin Tianjin (; ; Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Tientsin (), is a municipality and a coastal metropolis in Northern China on the shore of the Bohai Sea. It is one of the nine national central cities in Mainland China, with a total popul ...

, the main port for

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Later, due to heavy industrial chemical pollution, the river course had been totally cut off and got filled up. After recent dredges, it is still no more than a man-made lake.

Rail

Xinxiang is located at the junction of the Beijing-Guangzhou, Xinxiang-Yueshan and the Xinxiang-Yanzhou Railways. Xinxiang has two railway stations: Xinxiang Railway Station and

Xinxiang East Railway Station Xinxiang East railway station () is a railway station on the Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong high-speed railway located in Xinxiang, Henan, People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is ...

Education

There are several universities and colleges located in the

. *

Henan Normal University Henan Normal University (), colloquially known as 河师大 (), is a public normal university located in the northern part of Xinxiang, Henan, China. In 2022, Henan Normal University ranked the 3rd in Henan province and top 150 in China. Henan ...

*: newly combined university located in the eastern part of Xinxiang, it has 21 faculties and 3 centers *

Henan Institute of Science and Technology 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 ...

Xinxiang Medical University Xinxiang Medical University () is located at Xinxiang city in the northern part of Henan province of China. The origin of the school can be traced back to the western medicine clinic opened by Dr. Luo Weiling in 1896 in the ancient city of Weihui, ...

* Henan Mechanical and Electrical Engineering College * Xinxiang Hygiene School

Sister city

Kashiwara file:Kashiwara City Office, Osaka pref01.JPG, 270px, Kashiwara City Hall is a city located in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 67,698 in 32007 households and a population density of . The total area of the city ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

, Japan

References

Sources and external links

Government website of Xinxiang

Window on Xinxiang

Xinxiang University
{{authority control Populated places established in the 1st millennium Cities in Henan Contaminated farmland Prefecture-level divisions of Henan National Forest Cities in China