Liangshan (; Yi: ''Niep Sha'', pronounced ), officially the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, is an

autonomous prefecture Autonomous prefectures () are one type of autonomous administrative divisions of China, existing at the prefectural level, with either ethnic minorities forming over 50% of the population or being the historic home of significant minorities. A ...

occupying much of the southern extremity of

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

province, People's Republic of China; its seat is

Xichang Xichang, formerly known as Jiandu, Jianchang and Ningyuan(fu), is a city in and the seat of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in the south of Sichuan, China. In 2012 it had a population of 481,796. History The Qiongdu were the local peop ...

. Liangshan has an area of and over 4.5 million inhabitants (2010). It is also has the largest population of ethnic Yi nationally. Liangshan Yi contains a number of isolated villages high up on its cliffs, often known as " cliff villages". Xichang has the

Xichang Qingshan Airport Xichang Qingshan Airport () is an airport serving Xichang, the seat of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, China. The airport started an expansion project in February 2010. Airlines and destinations See also *List of ai ...

and the

Xichang Satellite Launch Center The Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC), also known as the Xichang Space Center, is a spaceport of China. It is located in Zeyuan Town (), approximately northwest of Xichang, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. The facility beca ...

. The prefecture also features a substantial network of railways for both passengers and freight.

Terrain and climate

The

Anning River The Anning River () is a river in the Hengduan Mountains region of southwestern Sichuan, China. The river is tributary of the Yalong River, itself a tributary of the Jinsha River which is the head stream of the Yangtze. The river is located pri ...

, which runs into the

Jinsha River The Jinsha River (, Tibetan: Dri Chu, འབྲི་ཆུ) is the Chinese name for the upper stretches of the Yangtze River. It flows through the provinces of Qinghai, Sichuan, and Yunnan in western China. The river passes through Tiger L ...

(Yangtze River headwaters), is the main river in the area. Owing to its low latitude and high elevation, Liangshan has a mild climate. Under the Köppen system, the prefecture belongs to the

humid subtropical A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

zone (

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 ...

''Cwa''). Winters feature mild days and cool nights, while summers are very warm and humid. Monthly daily mean temperatures range from in January to in July. Unlike much of the province, which lies in the

Sichuan Basin The Sichuan Basin (), formerly transliterated as the Szechwan Basin, sometimes called the Red Basin, is a lowland region in southwestern China. It is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is drained by the upper Yangtze River and its tributa ...

, humidity levels in winter are rather low, but like the rest of the province, rainfall is concentrated in the months of June through September, and the prefecture is virtually rainless in winter.

Cliff villages

Due to the mountainous terrain, many villages that lie among the mountain cliffs of Liangshan Yi are isolated from the rest of Sichuan. They are called cliff villages as they tend to be isolated and lie at vertical heights of about . Access to these cliff villages tends to be through vines of trees along the cliffs and steep ladders made of ropes. In 2016, the state run ''

The Beijing News ''The Beijing News'' is a Chinese Communist Party-owned newspaper from Beijing. The Chinese name of the newspaper is ''Xīn Jīng Bào'' (), meaning "New Beijing News", which is a reference to the defunct ''Peking Gazette'' (). The Chinese publ ...

'' reported one such village called

Atulie'er The Atulie'er village (), also transliterated as Atuleer, and Ado Ler, is located in the Zhi'ermo Township () of Zhaojue County. The Atulie'er village is home to 72 families. The village was the focus of a Chinese news video and photojournalism ...

where children climbed up a rope ladder for two hours to reach their home from school, often leading to falls and deaths. In light of this, the local government constructed a special steel ladder (dubbed "Stairway to heaven") in November 2016 for people to climb up and down in a safer manner.

Subdivisions

Liangshan directly controls one

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 ...

, 15

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 ...

, and 1

autonomous county Autonomous counties () and autonomous banners () are county-level autonomous administrative divisions of China. The two are essentially identical except in name. There are 117 autonomous counties and three autonomous banners. The latter are fo ...

Ethnic groups in Liangshan, 2010 census

References

External links

Official website of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture government
{{Authority control Yi autonomous prefectures Prefecture-level divisions of Sichuan