Jingning County () is an administrative district in

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

, China. It is one of 58

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

of Gansu. It is part of the

Pingliang Pingliang ( zh, s=平凉 , t=平涼 , p=Píngliàng , l="Pacify Liang") is a inner land prefecture-level city in eastern Gansu province, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the south and east and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to the north. T ...

prefecture, with the city of the same name being the prefecture seat. Its postal code is 743400, and in 2006 its population was 463,400 people. Its county seat is Chengguan. The county government's jurisdiction is over 19

townships A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

, 392

villages A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban village ...

, 2,320 other communities and 4 neighbourhoods.

History

There is evidence of

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

settlements in Jingning. The area was also inhabited during most of Chinese history, including the

Three Kingdoms The Three Kingdoms of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu dominated China from AD 220 to 280 following the end of the Han dynasty. This period was preceded by the Eastern Han dynasty and followed by the Jin dynasty (266–420), Western Jin dyna ...

period. Sites have been dated to the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

. During the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

, the area was evacuated (1940). The

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...

entered Jingning on September 10, 1935.

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

set up a headquarters in

Shi Pu Shi Pu (時溥) (d. May 9, 893Academia Sinicabr>Chinese-Western Calendar Converter''Zizhi Tongjian'', vol. 259.), formally the Prince of Julu (鉅鹿王), was a warlord of the late Tang dynasty, who controlled Ganhua Circuit (感化, headquartered ...

. The Communists left the next month. However, the county was taken under Communist control by the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

during the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

. PLA troops entered on August 6, 1949. They met little resistance.

Geographical location

Located in the

Loess Plateau The Loess Plateau is a plateau in north-central China formed of loess, a clastic rock, clastic silt-like sediment formed by the accumulation of Dust#Atmospheric, wind-blown dust. It is located southeast of the Gobi Desert and is surrounded by t ...

, it is at an altitude of around 2,000 meters. The county has an area of 2,193 km². Out of its population of 463,400, 444,500 (95.92%) are registered as working in

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. Ethnic Han and Hui make up most of the population.

Climate

The average annual temperature is , and the climate regime is classified as

semi-arid A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a aridity, dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below Evapotranspiration#Potential evapotranspiration, potential evapotranspiration, but not as l ...

. The area is frost-free for 159 days a year, and there are an average of 2238 hours of sunshine a year. The summer is the 'wet season' whereas the spring and the winter are drier. Average annual rainfall is .

Administrative divisions

Jingning County is divided to 1 subdistrict, 17 towns and 7 townships. ;Subdistricts * Chengqu () ;Towns ;Townships

Economy

Among the items it produces are wheat, potatoes, corn,

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most millets belong to the tribe Paniceae. Millets are important crops in the Semi-arid climate, ...

, buckwheat, oats, sesame,

rapeseed Rapeseed (''Brassica napus'' subsp. ''napus''), also known as rape and oilseed rape and canola, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturall ...

, apples, pears and vegetables. The county is environmentally diverse, with more than 70 species of tree existing within the county, including apple trees, pear trees and the ash tree. For fruit production, the south of the county is more prevalent for apples, whereas pears are grown in the north. Many other things are cultivated in the county, including lilacs, leeks, garlic and licorice.

Mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

also makes up part of the economy; iron ore, lead, zinc, white clay, and limestone are all mined in places such as Gao Hui.

Transport

China National Highway 312 China National Highway 312 (312国道), also referred to as Route 312, is a key east-west route beginning in Shanghai and ending at Khorgas, Xinjiang in the Ili River valley, on the border with Kazakhstan. In total it spans , passing through Ji ...

Natural resources

Wildlife Jingning has a variety of diverse wildlife; tigers, bears, jackals, deer and Mongolian gazelle all inhabit the county. The county government registers 15 varieties of mammal as well as 27 types of bird in addition to 13 kinds of reptile and amphibians. Animals are also used in agriculture; pigs, cattle and chickens are the main animals used for farming. There are 31 varieties of rose grown in the county, along with many other varieties of

wild flower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, rather than being intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is any different from the native plant, even ...

Culture

Jingning roasted chicken is the local delicacy, the dish is included on the Gansu Intangible Cultural Heritage List. The dish is well-known throughout Gansu, Ningxia and Shaanxi provinces. In 2021 more than one million chickens were processed in Jingning.

Tourism

Attractions * Wen Miao (or "Xian Shi Wen Miao", ): A

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius ...

temple dating from 1543, built by scholar Ming Jiajing over 21 years. It covers . It was repaired by the

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 165420 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, personal name Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper. His reign of 61 ...

between 1692 and 1696. It was granted 'national heritage' status by the central government in 1993. On July 12 every year a festival is held there which usually attracts around 10,000 people. * Jingning Mosque: It was built in 1536 and originally covered only , but with an influx of

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

into the county, it was increased to in 1712. * Wutai Mountain * Fengtai Mountain: Also called Horse Stables Mountain. * Saving Dragon Mountain * Cheng Ji Cultural City: Built to commemorate

Fuxi Fuxi or Fu Hsi ( zh, c=伏羲) is a culture hero in Chinese mythology, credited along with his sister and wife Nüwa with creating humanity and the invention of music, hunting, fishing, domestication, and cooking, as well as the Cangjie syste ...

. * West Ling Mountain Park * Jieshipu Red Army Long March Memorial Museum: Commemorates the

of the

in the county seat. * Immortal Gap * Pearl forest

Notable people

* Luo Yanlin, schoolteacher in Jingning County who was executed on September 10, 2008 for the rape of several schoolchildren.

References

External links

Official website (Chinese)
{{authority control Jingning County Pingliang