Shihezi is a

sub-prefecture-level city A sub-prefectural municipality (), sub-prefectural city, or vice-prefectural municipality, is an unofficial designation for a type of administrative division of China. A sub-prefectural city is officially considered to be a county-level city, b ...

in Northern

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

, People's Republic of China. It has a population of 380,130 according to the 2010 census. The city is also home to Shihezi University, the second-largest comprehensive university under the

Project 211 Project 211 () was an abolished project of developing comprehensive universities and colleges initiated in 1995 by the Ministry of Education of China, with the intent of raising the research standards of comprehensive universities and cultivat ...

in Xinjiang.

History

In 1951, General Wang Zhen decided to build a new base for 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, ...

and selected the location of current Shihezi. Zhao Xiguang (赵锡光) took charge in the development of the city, and established the

Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (), also known as XPCC or Bingtuan ("The Corps"), is a state-owned economic and Paramilitary forces of China, paramilitary organization in China, China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). ...

in 1954. Quasimilitary-structured farms surrounding Shihezi fueled the development of the city by producing materials for the factories that have been the economic drivers of the city. In 1974, Shihezi became a city.

Demographics

Economy

Nowadays textile and food industries are the most important in Shihezi. The railway to

Wusu UsuThe official spelling according to , (Beijing, ''SinoMaps Press'' 1997); as the official romanized name and transliterated from Mongolian, also known as Wusu, is a county-level city with more than 100,000 residents in Xinjiang, China. It i ...

and

Ürümqi Ürümqi ( ; also spelled Ürümchi or without umlauts), formerly known as Dihua (also spelled Tihwa), is the capital of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the far northwest of the People's Republic of China. Ürümqi developed its ...

skirts the city, while a United Nations economic development project provided a high-quality highway system for the city. The textile industry is the primary employer, although the international trade environment on textiles has brought in fluctuations in employment. As a hub to surrounding farms, the city's destiny is currently tied with theirs.

Sugar beet A sugar beet is a plant whose root contains a high concentration of sucrose and which is grown commercially for sugar production. In plant breeding, it is known as the Altissima cultivar group of the common beet (''Beta vulgaris''). Together wi ...

s are cultivated near Shihezi. Cultivation of

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor perce ...

in the farms was accelerated in the 1990s and now dominates the economy. Shihezi is also home to a

polysilicon Polycrystalline silicon, or multicrystalline silicon, also called polysilicon, poly-Si, or mc-Si, is a high purity, polycrystalline form of silicon, used as a raw material by the solar photovoltaic and electronics industry. Polysilicon is produce ...

factory of Daqo New Energy Corp., one of the largest polysilicon producers in the world.

Geography and climate

Shihezi is located at the northern foothills of the middle part of the

Tian Shan The Tian Shan,, , otk, 𐰴𐰣 𐱅𐰭𐰼𐰃, , tr, Tanrı Dağı, mn, Тэнгэр уул, , ug, تەڭرىتاغ, , , kk, Тәңіртауы / Алатау, , , ky, Теңир-Тоо / Ала-Тоо, , , uz, Tyan-Shan / Tangritog‘ ...

range approximately from the regional capital of

. Although Shihezi is almost surrounded on the east, west and north by the

Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture ( zh, s=昌吉回族自治州; ug, سانجى خۇيزۇ ئاپتونوم ئوبلاستى) is an autonomous prefecture for Hui people in the middle north of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Western China. The ...

(which also includes the city's eastern neighbor, the much older historically Hui town of Manas), it is not a part of it. Located in an area further from the nearest seacoast than any other region on earth, Shihezi has a

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continent, the major landmasses of Earth * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' ( ...

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

(

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 ...

BSk BSK is a three-letter abbreviation that may refer to: Sports * OFK Beograd, Serbian football club * FK BSK Borča, Serbian football club * FK BSK Batajnica, Serbian football club * FK BSK Banja Luka, Bosnian-Herzegovinian football club * FK BSK L ...

''), with a large temperature differences between summer and winter. Monthly average temperatures range from in January to , and the annual mean temperature is . Precipitation is very low year-round, with an annual total of only , compared to the annual evaporation rate, which is usually more than . The Manas River forms the administrative border between Shihezi City and its eastern neighbor,

Manas County Manas County is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region under the administration of the Changji Hui Autonomous Prefecture. It covers an area of and census it had a population of 170,000. The county seat is the old town of Manas (), lo ...

. An extensive system of reservoirs (such as the Jiahezi Reservoir (, with the dam at ) and irrigation canals has been constructed in the area, supporting irrigated agriculture.

Education

Shihezi University is located in Shihezi. It is the second-largest university in Xinjiang, with approximately 40,000 students.

Transport

Shihezi is served by

China National Highway 312 China National Highway 312 (312国道), also referred to as Route 312 or The Mother Road, 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 , pa ...

, the

Northern Xinjiang Dzungaria (; from the Mongolian words , meaning 'left hand') is a geographical subregion in Northwest China that corresponds to the northern half of Xinjiang. It is thus also known as Beijiang, which means "Northern Xinjiang". Bounded by the A ...

and the Second Ürümqi-Jinghe Railways. Reconstruction of the

Shihezi Huayuan Airport Shihezi Huayuan Airport is an airport serving the city of Shihezi in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China. It was moved and rebuilt at a new location 15 kilometers southwest of the city center. Construction began on May 24, 2012, after the p ...

began in May 2012 and it reopened on 26 December 2015.

References

External links

Shihezi economic development zone

Shihezi party politics public information network

Shihezi (China) -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
{{Authority control Populated places in Xinjiang National Forest Cities in China Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Socialist planned cities County-level divisions of Xinjiang