Yuncheng is the southernmost prefecture-level city in

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 ...

province, People's Republic of China. It borders Linfen and Jincheng municipalities to the north and east, and Henan ( Luoyang and Jiyuan to the east, Sanmenxia to the south) and Shaanxi ( Weinan) provinces to the east, south and west, respectively. As of the 2020 census, its population was 4,774,508 inhabitants (5,134,779 in 2010), of whom 928,334 (680,036 in 2010) lived in the built-up (''or metro'') area made of Yanhu District. One can note than Pinglu County, 205,080 inhabitants in the south, is now part of Sanmenxia built-up (or metro) area.

History

In early China, it was the location of the state of Kunwu (). Yuncheng was the site of the Yuncheng Campaign (三打运城), battle between the

Kuomintang army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in China ...

and 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, ...

during Chinese civil war. The famous general Guan Yu from the late Han Dynasty was also born in this region.

Archaeology

In July 2022, archaeologists announced a discovery of a 2.8 cm long 5.200 years old stone carving

chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their ...

in a semi-crypt house at the Shangguo Site in Wenxi County. Archaeologists made suppositions that this house may have belonged to the Yangshao Culture period, based on the unearthed pottery pieces. According to archaeologist Tian Jianwen, discovery of stone carving chrysalises provided significant information for the study of the

silkworm The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of ''Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically imp ...

culture in China.

Administration

There are 13 county-level administrative divisions under Yuncheng‘s jurisdiction, including 1 district, 10 counties and 2 county-level cities. The Municipal executive, legislature and judiciary are in Yanhu District (), together with the

CPC CPC may refer to: Organizations Companies * Canada Post Corporation, the primary postal operator in Canada * Caspian Pipeline Consortium, consortium and a pipeline to transport Caspian oil to Russia's Black Sea coast * Consolidated Pastoral Co ...

and Public Security Bureau.

Climate

Yuncheng has a continental, monsoon-influenced semi-arid climate ( Köppen ''BSk''), with four distinct seasons. Due to its southerly location and position to the north of the Zhongtiao Mountains, allowing for

downsloping A katabatic wind (named from the Greek language, Greek word κατάβασις ''katabasis'', meaning "descending") is a drainage wind, a wind that carries high-density air from a higher elevation down a slope under the force of gravity. Such w ...

when winds are from the south, it is among the warmest locales in the province. Winters are cold and very dry, while summers are hot and humid. Monthly mean temperatures range from in January to in July, and the annual mean is . Over 60% of the annual rainfall occurs from June to September. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 45% in March to 54% in May and July, the city receives 2,219 hours of bright sunshine annually, low by Shanxi standards and

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 ...

Notable people

* Guan Yu, general and deified historical figure * Jing Haipeng, PLAAC astronaut * Zhang Ziyi, Chinese zootechnician

Transportation

* China National Highway 209 *

G59 Hohhot–Beihai Expressway The Hohhot–Beihai Expressway (), designated as G59 and commonly referred to as the Hubei Expressway (; not to be confused with the province of Hubei), is an incomplete expressway in China. It is a major north–south expressway that when complet ...

* Datong–Xi'an Passenger Railway, with frequent service to Beijing, Taiyuan, and Xi'an.Yuncheng North schedule
Besides the

Yuncheng North Railway Station The Yuncheng North railway station () is a railway station of Datong–Xi'an Passenger Railway located in Yuncheng Yuncheng is the southernmost prefecture-level city in Shanxi province, People's Republic of China. It borders Linfen and Jinch ...

(near Yuncheng's central city), the railway also has stations at Yongji and Wenxi. *

Yuncheng Zhangxiao Airport Yuncheng Zhangxiao Airport () is an airport serving the city of Yuncheng in Shanxi Province, China. It is located in Zhangxiao Village, Taocun Town, 11 kilometers northeast of the city center, and is also mistakenly called Yuncheng Guangong Ai ...

Notes and references

{{Authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Shanxi Cities in Shanxi