- Shaanxi Province

Population: 30.4 million

Urban population: 12 million

Nationalities: Han, Hui, Manchu, and Mongolian.

Area: 190,000 square kilometers

Climatic features: Temperate, semi-arid, monsoonal climate in the north changes to subtropical, humid, monsoonal climate in the south.

Average temperature: -11 C to 3.5 C in January, 21 C to 28 C in July.

Annual Average Rainfall: 400 - 1,000 mm; precipitation highest in the southern mountain areas, lowest along the northern border; most of the rain falls from July to September.

Physical features: Plateaus in the north, plains in the central area, and mountains in the south.

Mountains: The Qinling Range is an important geographical divide between northern and southern China and the major watershed o fthe Yellow and Yangtze River.

Rivers: Yellow River along the northeastern border; Luohe, Jinghe, and Weihe rivers, which are tributaries of the Yellow River.

Products: Wheat, corn, millet, rice, potatoes, sorghum, soybeans, rapeseed, peanuts, sesame, tea, sugar cane, peas; cotton, ambary hemp, silk cocoons; walnuts, peaches, grapes, dates, chestnuts,; palm, raw lacquer, bamboo, medicinal herbs; coal, iron, graphite, salt, molybdenum, copper.

Administrative divisions: 8 cities and 89 counties.

Capital: Xi'an

Neighboring Areas: Shanxi, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia.

Major Cities: Xi'an, Xianyang, Baoji, Hanzhoug, Tongchuan, Yan'an

Tourist Attractions: Terracotta army excavated near Xi'an, Mount Huashan, one of the Five Sacred Mountains, east of Xian.

Source: Atlas of the Peoples Republic of China, Beijing, 1989.

Last modified: Tuesday, December 16, 2003