1.
County-level city
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A county-level municipality, county-level city, or county city is a county-level administrative division of mainland China. County-level cities are governed by prefecture-level divisions, but a few are governed directly by province-level divisions. Most county-level cities were created in the 1980s and 1990s by replacing counties, a county-level city is a city and county that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. As such it is simultaneously a city, which is an entity. County-level cities are not cities in the strictest sense of the word, since they usually contain rural areas many times the size of their urban and this is because the counties that county-level cities have replaced are themselves large administrative units containing towns, villages, and farmland. To distinguish a city from its actual urban area, the term 市区 shìqū. In France, an equivalent of a city is an agglomeration community. For example, in New South Wales such a unit may often be called a city, city of Blue Mountains is made of a number of towns. Another example would be municipal government in the Canadian province of Ontario and this agglomeration includes all of the townships in the county of Kent, with cities and towns like Wallaceberg, Thamesville, Dresden, Wheatley. This amalgamation as it is referred to, was controversial when it was forced upon the constituents through provincial legislation. Today, instead of each city having its own mayor and city councillors, as of January 2017, there are 360 County-level city in total, A sub-prefecture-level city is a county-level city with powers approaching those of prefecture-level cities. Examples include, Xiantao, Qianjiang, Tianmen and Jiyuan, administrative divisions of China Counties of the Peoples Republic of China Prefecture-level city List of cities in China
2.
Provinces of China
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Provinces, formally provincial-level administrative divisions or first-level administrative divisions, are the highest-level Chinese administrative divisions. There are 34 such divisions, classified as 23 provinces, four municipalities, five autonomous regions, the Peoples Republic of China claims sovereignty over the territory administered by the Republic of China, claiming most of it as its Taiwan Province. The ROC also administers some offshore islands which form Fujian Province and these were part of an originally unified Fujian province, which since the stalemate of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 has been divided between the PRC and ROC. Note that every province has a Communist Party of China provincial committee, the committee secretary is in effective charge of the province, rather than the nominal governor of the provincial government. The government of each province is nominally led by a provincial committee. The committee secretary is first-in-charge of the province, second-in-command is the governor of the provincial government, the Peoples Republic of China claims the island of Taiwan and its surrounding islets, including Penghu, as Taiwan Province. The territory is controlled by the Republic of China, a municipality or direct-controlled municipality is a higher level of city which is directly under the Chinese government, with status equal to that of the provinces. In practice, their status is higher than that of common provinces. The governor of each region is usually appointed from the respective minority ethnic group. A special administrative region is an autonomous and self-governing subnational subject of the Peoples Republic of China that is directly under the Central Peoples Government. Each SAR has an executive as head of the region. The regions government is not fully independent, as policy and military defence are the responsibility of the central government. Notes,1, as of 20102, per km23, km24, Abbreviation in the parentheses is informal 5, Since founding in 1949, however, the PRC has never controlled Taiwan. Taiwan currently administers Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, the subject of whether or not Taiwan is part of China is often debated, with no clear conclusion. The Ming Dynasty kept the system set up by the Yuan Dynasty, however. By the time of the establishment of the Qing Dynasty in 1644 there were 18 provinces, in addition, there was a zongdu, a general military inspector or governor general, for every two to three provinces. Outer regions of China were not divided into provinces, military leaders or generals oversaw Manchuria, Xinjiang, and Mongolia, while vice-dutong and civilian leaders headed the leagues, a subdivision of Mongolia. The ambans supervised the administration of Tibet, in 1884 Xinjiang became a province, in 1907 Fengtian, Jilin, and Heilongjiang were made provinces as well
3.
Sichuan
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In antiquity, Sichuan was the home of the ancient states of Ba and Shu. Their conquest by Qin strengthened it and paved the way for the First Emperors unification of China under the Qin Dynasty, during the Three Kingdoms era, Liu Beis Shu was based in Sichuan. The area was devastated in the 17th century by Zhang Xianzhongs rebellion and the areas subsequent Manchu conquest, during the Second World War, Chongqing served as the temporary capital of the Republic of China, making it the focus of Japanese bombing. It was one of the last mainland areas to fall to the Communists during the Chinese Civil War and was divided into four parts from 1949 to 1952, with Chongqing restored two years later. It suffered gravely during the Great Chinese Famine of 1959–61 but remained Chinas most populous province until Chongqing Municipality was again separated from it in 1997, the people of Sichuan speak a unique form of Mandarin, which took shape during the areas repopulation under the Ming. The family of dialects is now spoken by about 120 million people, in Modern Chinese, the name Sichuan has the meaning four rivers and this folk etymology is usually extended to list the provinces four major rivers, the Jialing, Jinsha, Min, and Tuo. In addition to its map and Wade-Giles forms, the name has also been irregularly romanized as Szű-chuan and Szechuan. In antiquity, the area of modern Sichuan was known to the Chinese as Ba and Shu, in reference to the ancient states of Ba and it was the refuge of the Tang court during the An Lushan Rebellion of the mid-8th century. The region had its own religious beliefs and worldview. The most important native states were those of Ba and Shu, Ba stretched into Sichuan from the Han Valley in Shaanxi and Hubei down the Jialing River as far as its confluence with the Yangtze at Chongqing. Shu occupied the valley of the Min, including Chengdu and other areas of western Sichuan, the existence of the early state of Shu was poorly recorded in the main historical records of China. It was, however, referred to in the Book of Documents as an ally of the Zhou and this site, believed to be an ancient city of Shu, was initially discovered by a local farmer in 1929 who found jade and stone artefacts. The Sichuan basin is surrounded by the Himalayas to the west, the Qin Mountains to the north, Qin armies finished their conquest of the kingdoms of Shu and Ba by 316 BC. Any written records and civil achievements of earlier kingdoms were destroyed, Qin administrators introduced improved agricultural technology. Li Bing, engineered the Dujiangyan irrigation system to control the Min River and this innovative hydraulic system was composed of movable weirs which could be adjusted for high or low water flow according to the season, to either provide irrigation or prevent floods. The increased agricultural output and taxes made the area a source of provisions, Sichuan was subjected to the autonomous control of kings named by the imperial family of Han Dynasty. Shu-Han claimed to be the successor to the Han Dynasty, in 263, the Jin dynasty of North China, conquered the Kingdom of Shu-Han as its first step on the path to unify China again, under their rule. Salt production becomes a business in Ziliujing District
4.
Prefecture-level city
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Prefectural level cities form the second level of the administrative structure. Administrative chiefs of prefectural level cities generally have the rank as a division chief of a national ministry. Since the 1980s, most former prefectures have been renamed into prefectural level cities, a prefectural level city is a city and prefecture that have been merged into one unified jurisdiction. The larger prefectural level cities span over 100 kilometres, prefectural level cities nearly always contain multiple counties, county level cities, and other such sub-divisions. To distinguish a prefectural level city from its urban area. The first prefectural level cities were created on 5 November 1983, over the following two decades, prefectural level cities have come to replace the vast majority of Chinese prefectures, the process is still ongoing. Most provinces are composed entirely or nearly entirely of prefectural level cities, shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou are the largest prefectural level cities with populations approaching or exceeding some sub-provincial cities. A sub-prefecture-level city is a city with powers approaching those of prefectural level cities. There are total of three classification of prefecture-level city, Regular prefectural level city which consist of counties, county level cities, consolidated district-governed prefectural level city which only consist of districts as it subdivisions. Thus, Bloomington, Indiana is indicated on the map by a point, which is distinct from, and enclosed by, in China, however, large cities such as City of Xianning may, in reality, contain both urban and rural elements. Moreover, they may enclose counties or other cities, on a less detailed map, City of Xianning would be indicated by a point, more or less corresponding to the coordinates of its city government. Other populous areas may also be exhibited as points, such as County of Tongshan, with no indication that County of Tongshan is, in fact, enclosed by City of Xianning. On a more detailed map, City of Xianning would be drawn as an area, similar to a county of the United States and this convention may lead to difficulty in the identification of places mentioned in older sources. For example, Guo Moruo writes that he was born in Town of Shawan, within Prefecture of Leshan, and attended primary school in Town of Jiading. A modern map is unlikely to show either town, Shawan, because it is too small, and Jiading, because it is the seat of City of Leshan, and is therefore indicated on the map by a point labelled Leshan. A more detailed map would show Shawan as a district within City of Leshan, statistics of China such as population and industrial activity are generally reported along prefectural city lines. Thus, the relatively unknown City of Huangshi has 2.5 million residents, more than most European capitals, but upon closer inspection, furthermore, Huangshi contains several other cities, such as City of Daye. If a person wished to calculate the population of the area of Huangshi, and had a map of Huangshi, and a table of its population by district
5.
Guang'an
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Guangan is a prefecture-level city in eastern Sichuan province. It is most famous as the birthplace of Chinas former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, Guangan lies between the hills of central Sichuan and the gorges area of the east. Because of its location, it is called the Gateway to Eastern Sichuan. Its population in 2000 was 1,093,103, Guangan is located on a gradually rising section along the edge of the Sichuan Basin. The eastern part of Guangan is mountainous, the central part hilly, the elevation ranges from only 185 to 1704 meters above sea-level. The main rivers are the Qu through the center of the area, the climate is temperate and the weather is monsoonal. The average temperature is between 15. 8° and 17. 7°C, winters are mild and summers are hot. The average rainfall is between 1000–1500 mm, the frost-free period lasts 310–324 days. Winter and spring have relatively little rain while in there are heavy rain showers. Autumns have almost constant rain and light wind, Guangan has 1 city,3 counties,87 towns, and 2886 villages with a total population of 4,443,000. China National Highway 212 Guangans economy is natural resource based, mineral resources are plentiful and the soil is ideal for agriculture. Chinese leader Deng Xiaopings birthplace and former museum is located in Paifang village in Xiexing town. Guangan also has beautiful natural scenery including many mountains and gorges designated as parks
6.
Time in China
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The time in China follows a single standard time offset of UTC+08,00, despite China spanning five geographical time zones. The official national standard time is called Beijing Time domestically and China Standard Time internationally, daylight saving time has not been observed since 1991. The special administrative regions maintain their own authorities, with standards called Hong Kong Time. These have been equivalent to Beijing time since 1992, in addition, a second time standard is used in Xinjiang, two hours less than the Beijing Time, which is called Ürümqi Time or Xinjiang Time. In 1912, the Republic of China established five standard time zones, namely Kunlun, Sinkiang-Tibet, Kansu-Szechwan, Chungyuan, and Changpai. The unified time zone policy was adopted by the Communist Party of China or the Central People’s Government some time between 27 September 1949 and 6 October 1949, the date is unknown. However, recent research suggests that the policy was most likely adopted on 27 September 1949, daylight saving time was observed from 1986 to 1991. In 1997 and 1999, Hong Kong and Macau were transferred to China from the United Kingdom and Portugal, although the sovereignty of the SARs belongs to China, they retain their own policies regarding time zones for historical reasons. Due to their locations, both are within the UTC+08,00 time zone, which is the same as the national standard — Beijing time. Xinjiang Time, also known as Ürümqi Time, is set due to its location in the westernmost part of the country. The time offset is UTC+06,00, which is two hours behind Beijing, and is shared with neighbouring Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Currently, timezone usage within Xinjiang is roughly split along the divide, with most ethnic Han following Beijing time. Some local authorities are now using both time standard side by side, the coexistence of two timezones within the same region causes some confusion among the local population, especially when inter-racial communication occur. Some ethnic Han in Xinjiang might not be aware of the existence of the UTC+6 Xinjiang Time because of language barrier, regardless, Beijing Time users in Xinjiang usually schedule their daily activities two hours later than those who live in eastern China. As such, stores and offices in Xinjiang are commonly opening from 10am to 7pm Beijing Time and this is known as the work/rest time in Xinjiang. Hong Kong maintains its own time authority after transfer of sovereignty in 1997, the Hong Kong Time is UTC+08,00 all year round, and daylight saving time has not been used since 1979. Greenwich Mean Time was adopted as the basis in 1904, before that, local time was determined by astronomical observations at Hong Kong Observatory using a 6-inch Lee Equatorial and a 3-inch Transit Circle. Macau maintains its own time authority after transfer of sovereignty in 1999, the Macau Standard Time is the time in Macau
7.
Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
8.
Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
9.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
10.
China
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China, officially the Peoples Republic of China, is a unitary sovereign state in East Asia and the worlds most populous country, with a population of over 1.381 billion. The state is governed by the Communist Party of China and its capital is Beijing, the countrys major urban areas include Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Chongqing, Shenzhen, Tianjin and Hong Kong. China is a power and a major regional power within Asia. Chinas landscape is vast and diverse, ranging from forest steppes, the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir and Tian Shan mountain ranges separate China from much of South and Central Asia. The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, the third and sixth longest in the world, respectively, Chinas coastline along the Pacific Ocean is 14,500 kilometers long and is bounded by the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China seas. China emerged as one of the worlds earliest civilizations in the basin of the Yellow River in the North China Plain. For millennia, Chinas political system was based on hereditary monarchies known as dynasties, in 1912, the Republic of China replaced the last dynasty and ruled the Chinese mainland until 1949, when it was defeated by the communist Peoples Liberation Army in the Chinese Civil War. The Communist Party established the Peoples Republic of China in Beijing on 1 October 1949, both the ROC and PRC continue to claim to be the legitimate government of all China, though the latter has more recognition in the world and controls more territory. China had the largest economy in the world for much of the last two years, during which it has seen cycles of prosperity and decline. Since the introduction of reforms in 1978, China has become one of the worlds fastest-growing major economies. As of 2016, it is the worlds second-largest economy by nominal GDP, China is also the worlds largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods. China is a nuclear weapons state and has the worlds largest standing army. The PRC is a member of the United Nations, as it replaced the ROC as a permanent member of the U. N. Security Council in 1971. China is also a member of numerous formal and informal multilateral organizations, including the WTO, APEC, BRICS, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the BCIM, the English name China is first attested in Richard Edens 1555 translation of the 1516 journal of the Portuguese explorer Duarte Barbosa. The demonym, that is, the name for the people, Portuguese China is thought to derive from Persian Chīn, and perhaps ultimately from Sanskrit Cīna. Cīna was first used in early Hindu scripture, including the Mahābhārata, there are, however, other suggestions for the derivation of China. The official name of the state is the Peoples Republic of China. The shorter form is China Zhōngguó, from zhōng and guó and it was then applied to the area around Luoyi during the Eastern Zhou and then to Chinas Central Plain before being used as an occasional synonym for the state under the Qing
11.
Azalea
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Azaleas /əˈzeɪliə/ are flowering shrubs in the genus Rhododendron, particularly the former sections Tsutsuji and Pentanthera. Azaleas bloom in spring, their flowers often lasting several weeks, shade tolerant, they prefer living near or under trees. They are part of the family Ericaceae, plant enthusiasts have selectively bred azaleas for hundreds of years. This human selection has produced over 10,000 different cultivars which are propagated by cuttings, Azalea seeds can also be collected and germinated. Azaleas are generally slow-growing and do best in well-drained acidic soil, fertilizer needs are low, some species need regular pruning. Azaleas are native to several continents including Asia, Europe and North America and they are planted abundantly as ornamentals in the southeastern USA, southern Asia, and parts of southwest Europe. Magnolias owner John Grimke Drayton imported the plants for use in his estate garden from Philadelphia, with encouragement from Charles Sprague Sargent from Harvards Arnold Arboretum, Magnolia Gardens was opened to the public in 1871, following the American Civil War. Magnolia is one of the oldest public gardens in America, since the late nineteenth century, in late March and early April, thousands visit to see the azaleas bloom in their full glory. R. occidentale flowers are larger than other azaleas and are white with a splotch of yellow. R. arborescens are native to the east coast of North America and can be found growing wild from Alabama to Pennsylvania in wooded, plants grow up to 20 feet high and flowers are white and fragrant. The Flame Azalea, R. Native to the regions of Pennsylvania to Georgia. Flowers do not smell but bloom in every shade from yellow to crimson red. Flowers bloom in the late spring, a good variety for drier soils and shady areas. Foliage turns bright yellow in the Fall, Azalea leafy gall can be particularly destructive to azalea leaves during the early spring. Hand picking infected leaves is the method of control. They can also be subject to root rot in moist. In Chinese culture, the azalea is known as thinking of home bush and is immortalized in the poetry of Du Fu, the azalea is also one of the symbols of the city of São Paulo, in Brazil. In addition to being renowned for its beauty, the azalea is also highly toxic—it contains andromedotoxins in both its leaves and nectar, including honey from the nectar
12.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
13.
Chengdu
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Chengdu, formerly romanized as Chengtu, is a sub-provincial city which has served as capital of Chinas Sichuan province. It is one of the three most populous cities in Western China, as of 2014 the administrative area houses 14,427,500 inhabitants, with an urban population of 10,152,632. At the time of the 2010 census, Chengdu was the 5th-most populous agglomeration in China, with 10,484,996 inhabitants in the area including Xinjin County. The surrounding Chengdu Plain is also known as the Country of Heaven and its prehistoric settlers included the Sanxingdui culture. It was the capital of Liu Beis Shu during the Three Kingdoms Era, after the fall of Nanjing to the Japanese in 1937, Chengdu briefly served as the capital of China. It is now one of the most important economic, financial, commercial, cultural, transportation, Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport is one of the 30 busiest airports in the world, and Chengdu Railway Station is one of the six biggest in China. Chengdu also hosts many international companies and more than 12 consulates, more than 260 Fortune 500 companies have established branches in Chengdu. In 2006, China Daily named it Chinas 4th-most-livable city, the name Chengdu is attested in sources going back to shortly after its founding. The present spelling is based on pinyin romanization, its Postal Map romanization was Chengtu and its former status as the seat of the Chengdu Prefecture prompted Marco Polos spellings Sindafu, Sin-din-fu, &c. and the Protestant missionaries romanization Ching-too Foo. Although the official name of the city has remained constant, the area has sometimes taken other names. The city logo adopted in 2011 is inspired by the Golden Sun Bird excavated from the Jinsha Ruins, archaeological discoveries at the Sanxingdui and Jinsha sites have established that the area surrounding Chengdu was inhabited over four thousand years ago. At the time of Chinas Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, in the early 4th century BC, the ninth king of Shus Kaiming dynasty relocated from nearby Pi County, giving his new capital the name Chengdu. Shu was conquered by Qin in 316 BC and the settlement refounded by the Qin general Zhang Yi, under the Han, the brocade produced at Chengdu became fashionable and was exported throughout China. A Brocade Official was established to oversee its quality and supply, after the fall of the Eastern Han, Liu Bei ruled Shu, the southwestern of the Three Kingdoms, from Chengdu. His minister Zhuge Liang called the area the Land of Abundance, under the Tang, Chengdu was considered the second most prosperous city in China after Yangzhou. Both Li Bai and Du Fu lived in the city, Li Bai praised it as lying above the empyrean. The citys present Caotang was constructed in 1078 in honor of an earlier, more humble structure of that name erected by Du Fu in 760, the Taoist Qingyang Gong was built in the 9th century. Chengdu was the capital of Wang Jians Former Shu from 907 to 925, the Later Shu was founded by Meng Zhixiang in 934, with its capital at Chengdu
14.
Jinjiang District
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Jinjiang District is one of nine districts of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, China. The Jin River flows through it and it is bordered by Longquanyi District to the east, Shuangliu County to the south, Wuhou District to the west, Qingyang District to the northwest, and Chenghua District to the north. As of 2013, Chengdu’s Jinjiang district is where the young, the area has many department stores and several other retailers, including the Gap, Zara, Uniqlo, and local brands like Li Ning. It is a back area where the locals enjoy traditional Chinese pastimes such as tea. Langqiao bridge is located in the district, on the bridge there is a well-known restaurant where many famous local and national Chinese gather to enjoy the traditional food which is very spicy and numbing. The head office of the fast food chain Dicos is on the 10th Floor, China Resources Beverage, the distributor of Cestbon water, has its southwest regional office on the 7th floor of the A section of the MCC Building in the district. All Nippon Airways operates its Chengdu Office in the district, in Tower 2 of Plaza Central and it opened on June 7,2011. Chengdu International School is located in the district, official website of Jinjiang District Government
15.
Wuhou District
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Wuhou District is one of nine districts of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, China. It contains the site, Wuhou Temple and Jinli Street. The district is bordered by Jinjiang District to the east, Shuangliu County to the south and west, Wuhou District is the largest of the five internal districts of Chengdu as well as being the wealthiest. It contains the areas of Yulin and Shuangnan which are considered to be the two areas of Chengdu with the highest living standards, consulate in Chengdu is in Wuhou District. Southwest University for Nationalities maintains its campus in Wuhou District. The Chengdu Hoshuko, a Japanese supplementary weekend school, holds its classes in the Hiroshima-Chengdu Friendship Center in Wuhou District and it was established on February 12,2012
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Shuangliu District
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Shuangliu District is under the administration of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, China. Located approximately 19 kilometers away from downtown Chengdu, the district covers 1068 square kilometers and has a population of approximately 920,000 and it is the home of Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport, the fifth busiest airport in the China. Shuangliu County is rapidly being urbanized by the growth of Chengdu, the county is bordered by the prefecture-level cities of Ziyang to the southeast and Meishan to the south. When China Southwest Airlines existed, its headquarters were on the property of Shuangliu Airport, Sichuan Universitys Jiangan Campus is in the county. Southwest University for Nationalities maintains a campus near the airport, léman International School - Chengdu, a K-12 international school, is located in Daan Village, Zhengxing Township, Shuangliu County. China National Highway 318 Official website of Shuangliu County
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Dujiangyan City
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It has an area of 1,208 km2 and a population of 600,000 in 2003. Dujiangyan was formerly a county named Guanxian, in Chinese literally irrigation county, around 250 BC during the Warring States period, Li Bing, a governor of Shu in the Qin state with his son directed the construction of Dujiangyan. Li Bing gave up the old way of dam building, which was trying to catch the floodwaters. Instead he employed a new method by channeling and dividing the water to harness the Min River and he accomplished this by separating the project into two main parts, the headwork and the irrigation system. The project effectively put flood waters under control and it has contributed greatly to the richness of Chengdu Plain with its reputation as The Land of Abundance. On 12 May 2008, the city was the closest to the epicenter of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, xinjian Primary School, Juyuan Middle School, and Xiange Middle School collapsed in the earthquake, Beijie Primary School did not collapse. Ōtake, Hiroshima, Japan Dujiangyan Irrigation System Dujiangyan
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Jianyang, Sichuan
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Jianyang is a county-level city located in the Sichuan basin in Sichuan Province, in south central China. Situated only 48 kilometers south east of the city center of Chengdu, the urban center is located on the banks of the Tuo River. Jianyang has a history dating back over two thousand years. It was part of the state of Shu until the third century BC, in the early Yuan dynasty, it was named Jianzhou. It adopted the name Jianyang County after 1913 during the Republic of China, after the foundation of the Peoples Republic of China, it was incorporated into the Neijiang Administration Zone. It was divided into communes during the Cultural Revolution, when the communes were abolished, it was re-organized under Chengdu. In 1994, the county was converted into a county-level city, in 2007, the county was given broad autonomy over its budgeting and financial affairs by the State Council as part of a wider experiment. In 2016, the State Council transferred jurisdiction of Jianyang from Ziyang to Chengdu, administratively, Jianyang is subdivided into four subdistricts,25 towns,29 townships, and over 800 villages or equivalents. In practice many villages are basically urban areas with residential properties built after 2000. As of 2012, there are just over 1.48 million residents estimated to be living in Jianyang, of these, the vast majority are rural residents. The natural population growth rate without taking into account net migration figures is 1. 19% as of 2012, over 99% of the population is of Han Chinese ethnicity. There are small Yi, Tujia, and Tibetan populations, each numbering no more than a few hundred, development of local transport advanced rapidly between 1990 and 2010. Jianyang Railway Station serves the city, Jianyang South Railway Station is a high-speed rail station on the Chengdu–Chongqing Intercity Railway. As of 2016, the Chengdu Tianfu International Airport, intended to be a new hub servicing southwestern China, is under construction in the Jianyang area, the local economy is mainly dependent on agriculture and the production of machinery. There are factories in the region producing metal tools, tractors, ruonan Foods headquarters is located in Jianyang. As of 2013 recorded a GDP of 34.48 billion yuan, the Sichuan Provincial Womens Prison is located in the town of Yangma, in Jianyang city limits
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Zigong
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Zigong, formed by the merger of the two former towns of Ziliujing and Gongjing, is a prefecture-level city and the third largest city in Sichuan province, Peoples Republic of China. Zigong is located in the Sichuan Basin, and has an extension of 4,372.6 km2. Granted the recognition as one of the Historical and Cultural Cities of China by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China, Zigong has long been renowned as Salt City for its brine extraction techniques and the attendant salt-related culture. In ancient China, Salt was regarded as the energy for body, therefore, salt trading was always the most profitable business and salt merchants were the wealthiest people. Hence, Zigong had always been one of the richest cities in China until the founding of China with the introduction of new producing methods. It has had the Zigong Salt Museum since 1736, the Fuxi River, a tributary to the Yangtze River, snakes through the citys core. The area is humid and the visibility can be reduced dramatically in the area due to ground fog. The humidity and fog of Zigong can be attributed to that it sits on what was once a vast inland sea, changes in the environment caused the water levels to subside leaving salt, brine, and natural gas. During the summer months, the temperatures can reach as high as 40 °C, the humidity hovers between 80% and 90% year round. Using the coordinates link, one can find aerial photographic views, satellite imagery, night views, to the east of Zigong is Luzhou and to the west of Zigong is Leshan. To Zigongs south is Yibin and to the north-east is the city of Neijiang, according to the 2010 Census, the prefecture-level city of Zigong has a population of 2,678,899 inhabitants less than in 2000. Nevertheless, the area made of 4 urban districts is still growing with 1,262,064 inhabitants. Although the region has rich history into antiquity, the city called Zigong is a modern name. In 1939, two cities were combined to make Zigong - Ziliujing and Gongjing to be named Zigong. The Zigong name is a combination of both cities names. Today there are four districts and two counties of the Zigong Prefecture. The information here presented uses the system and data from 2010 Census. Both previous cities - Gongjing and Ziliujing made up what had become one of the busiest saltworks in China - the Furong Saltyard
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Ziliujing District
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Ziliujing District, formerly romanized as Tzuliutsing, is a district of Zigong in Sichuan Province, China. The district covers 153 square kilometers and had a population of 330,000 people in 2005, according to Fang, China has always managed salt and iron, with Sichuan containing many salt deposits together with natural gas, especially in Ziliujing. Invisible gas fire was mentioned as early as the Han dynasty, gas wells were taxed by 1662, gas was used in one tenth of the salt evaporating plants by 1821, and by 1857 gas was the more common fuel. The wells used stone casing for the first hundred feet or so followed by wood for another 300 feet. An iron drill weighing up to 267 pounds is attached to a rope and when brine is reached. Some gas wells serviced up to 700 boilers, Zigong Salt in Chinese history Ziliujing District Government website
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Panzhihua
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Panzhihua is a prefecture-level city located in the far south of Sichuan province, Peoples Republic of China, at the confluence of the Jinsha and Yalong Rivers. It has an area of 74,423.42 square kilometres. 662,814 lived in the area made of 3 urban districts. It is the city in China named for a flower. Its economy relies almost entirely on its giant mine, one of the countrys largest, the economy in Panzhihua is mainly centered on natural resource development, exploitation and industry. In 2005 Panzhihua won the China Excellent Tourist City title, in 2008 it won the National Health City, ancient cycad forests that were once home to the giant panda are in the area. The area has a humid subtropical climate, with short, mild, dry winters and long, hot. Highs drop to 21 °C in December and January, quickly rebounding during the dry springs, much of the annual rainfall occurs from June to September. Panzhihua lies in the Yangtze River basin, holding more than 95 waterways and they feed the Jinsha and Yandalong Rivers, which in turn feed the Yangtze. Annual runoff volume is 110.2 billion cubic meters, the potential hydropower capacity is 700 million kilowatts. The installed capacity is 3.474 million kilowatts, Panzhihua is close to the Xigeda-Yuanmou fracture in the Sichuan-Yunnan border. Its Renhe District was the epicenter of the 2008 Panzhihua earthquake, Bronze Age Bronze Age cultural remains are representative of various types of bronze. Under the jurisdiction of Panzhihua City in Yanbian, Miyi and Renhe District, has collected nearly 20 bronzes, most of them were tomb sites excavated specifically for funerary objects. They were practical objects that can be divided into three categories, weapons such as bronze swords, bronze spears, bronze Ge, tools, copper axes, copper knives and copper hoes. The objects were similar to those of western Yunnan province, reflecting ethnic group similarities, the relics date from the Warring States ~ Western Han period. The landscape is dominated by natural areas, attractions include a red cell spa, the Cave Stone Forest, the Jinsha River and Hai lake. Cycas first appeared some 280 million years ago in the Permian period and they consist of some 110 species. In 1971, Sichuan Agricultural Science and the original forest vegetation Panzhihua aerial survey and it is the highest altitude cycas forest, hosting the largest number and size of specimens
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Luzhou
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Luzhou, formerly transliterated as Lu-chou or Luchow, is a prefecture-level city located in the southeast of Sichuan Province, China. The city, named Jiangyang until the Southern and Northern Dynasties, is known as the wine city. At the 2010 census its population was 4,218,427 inhabitants whom 919,832 lived in the area made of Jiangyang and Longmatan districts. Luzhou, which borders Yunnan, Guizhou and Chongqing, is the only junction of the four provinces. After the PRC was founded in 1949, Luzhou became the capital of southern Sichuan province, in 1983, Luzhou was approved as a prefecture-level city administratively. Luzhou is best known for its alcoholic beverages, Luzhou was incorporated into the Ba state early in the Shang and Zhou period, in the 11th century BC. In 316 BC, during the Warring States period, King Huiwen of Qin established Ba prefecture, the local economy and culture expanded as a result of the advanced production technique and culture introduced by immigrants from the rest of China. During the Western Han Dynasty, Jiangyang county was set up in what is the current Jiangyang district, at the confluence of the Tuo River, the county was further expanded during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. As a result, Luzhou became the portal of the Tuojing River leading to western Sichuan, the Song Dynasty was an important period in Luzhou’s history. It was known as the granary of southern Sichuan as the wine-making and salt-refining industries expanded. The method to decoct salt with natural gas was discovered at that time, in addition, trade and business between Luzhou residents and ethnic groups was brisk and a protective wall as well as forts were constructed by the local government. In the Yuan Dynasty, Luzhou remained an important place for the wine-making, salt-refinery and tea-making industry, a large number of wooden ships were made to further the shipping industry. During the Qing Dynasty, waves of immigrants from other parts of China brought rapid growth in economy, Luzhou served as a political, economic, military and cultural center for the provinces of Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan. The Peoples Liberation Army took control of Luzhou on December 6,1949 from the Kuomintang government, in 1960, Luzhou prefecture was created with five counties that had been part of Yibin prefecture. The prefecture was upgraded to the city of Luzhou in 1983. Nowadays, Luzhou is considered a center of the chemical, machinery, located in downtown Luzhou, the Bao’en pagoda was built in 1148 at the request of southern Song Dynasty, and was restored in 1983 and 1985, Qing Dynasty. It is an octagon 33.3 m high, built of brick and it has a bronze top and there are 107 steps in its spiral staircase. The base is an octagon of 4.1 m per side,4.5 m high, the Bao’en pagoda was listed by the People’s Government of Sichuan Province as a historical and culture relic under provincial protection in April 1991
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