Xingtai

Xingtai

Xingtai

Prefecture-level city in Hebei, People's Republic of China

For other uses, see Xingtai County.

Xingtai (simplified Chinese: 邢台; traditional Chinese: 邢臺; pinyin: Xíngtái; Wade–Giles: Hsing2-tʻai2), formerly known as Xingzhou and Shunde, is a prefecture-level city in southern Hebei province, People's Republic of China. It has a total area of 12,486 km2 (4,821 sq mi) and administers 4 districts, 2 county-level cities and 12 counties. At the 2020 census, its population was 7,111,106 inhabitants. It borders Shijiazhuang and Hengshui in the north, Handan in the south, and the provinces of Shandong and Shanxi in the east and west respectively.

Quick Facts 邢台市Hsingtai, Shunteh, Country ...
Quick Facts Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese ...

History

Xingtai is the oldest city in North China.[citation needed] The history of Xingtai can be traced back 3500 years ago. During the Shang dynasty, Xingtai functioned as a capital city. During the Zhou dynasty, the State of Xing – from which the present name derives – was founded in the city. During the Warring States period, the state of Zhao made Xingtai its provisional capital. The city was known as Xindu for most of the Qin dynasty, but after the 207 BC Battle of Julu (within present-day Pingxiang County, not today's Julu County), it became known as Xiangguo. During the Sixteen Kingdoms Period, when the Later Zhao was founded by Shi Le of the Jie, the capital was again at Xiangguo. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the city was known as Xingzhou.

Sui, Tang and Song times saw the zenith of ceramics production in what was the most prolific ceramics center of northern China (rivaling the Yue ware from the South). The white ware and new technologies developed in the Xing kiln mark the transition from proto-porcelain to proper porcelain.[3] More than thirty kiln site have been excavated in different subdivisions of today's Xingtai City and a large high-tech museum have been established in Neiqiu County in 2017.[4][5][6]

During the Yuan dynasty, Ming, and Qing dynasties, Xingtai was called Shunde (Shundefu) and functioned as a prefecture in China.

Geography and climate

Xingtai has a continental, monsoon-influenced semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk).[7] It has hot, humid summers due to the East Asian monsoon, and generally cold, windy, very dry winters that reflect the influence of the vast Siberian anticyclone; fall is similar to spring both in temperature and lack of rainfall. In the spring, there are large sandstorms blowing in from the Mongolian steppe, accompanied by rapidly warming, but generally dry, conditions. The annual rainfall, more than half of which falls in July and August alone, is highly variable and not reliable. In the city itself, this amount has averaged to a mere 496.5 mm (19.5 in) per annum.

More information Climate data for Xingtai (1991–2014 normals, extremes 1971–2010), Month ...

Air quality

According to a survey made by "Global voices China" in February 2013, 7 cities in Hebei including Xingtai, Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Handan, Langfang, Hengshui and Tangshan, were among China's 10 most polluted cities; Xingtai ranked 1st in the list and had the worst air quality.[11] In 2020, the improvement rates of Xingtai's comprehensive air quality index and PM2.5 average concentration ranked first in Hebei Province. The average annual concentration of PM2.5 has successfully withdrawn from the "top ten" in China.

Xingtai earthquake

A major earthquake, known as the Xingtai earthquake, with magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale and epicenter in Longyao County occurred in the early morning of March 8, 1966. It was followed by 5 earthquakes above magnitude 6 on the Richter scale that lasted until March 29, 1966. The strongest of these quakes had a magnitude of 7.2 and took place in the southeastern part of Ningjin County on March 22. The earthquake damage included 8,064 dead, 38,000 injured and more than 5 million destroyed houses.[12]

Administrative divisions

Map including Xingtai (labeled as HSING-T'AI (SHUNTEH) 邢台) (AMS, 1954)
More information Map, Name ...

Xingtai Economic Development Area and Xingdong New Area belong to Xiangdu District.

Economy

Xingtai is the most important base for natural resources in North China, producing 20 million metric tonnes of coal annually. It also features the largest power plant in the southern part of this region of China, with an output of 2.06 GW.[13]

Transport

Located on the Beijing−Guangzhou, the Beijing−Kowloon, the Xingtai-Huanghua and Xingtai-Heshun Railways, as well as the Beijing−Shenzhen, Daqing-Guangzhou, Taihangshan, Xingtai-Hengshui, Qingdao−Yinchuan, and Dongying-Lvliang Expressways and Xingtai Dalian Airport. Xingtai is a transport hub connecting the Eastern, Northern, and Central China.

Notable persons

See also

References

  1. [1]
    Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, ed. (2019). China Urban Construction Statistical Yearbook 2017. Beijing: China Statistics Press. p. 46. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  2. [2]
    河北省统计局、国家统计局河北调查总队. 《河北经济年鉴－2018》. 中国统计出版社. ISBN 978-7-5356-7824-9. Archived from the original on 2020-03-26. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  3. [3]
    Song, Xiaoyan (October 11, 2018). "The Most Ancient White Porcelain in China". China Today. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  4. [4]
    Song, Xiaoyan (April 12, 2013). "Significant Results from the Excavation of Xing Kiln Site in 2012". Chinese Archaeology. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  5. [5]
    "Chinese Xingyao Museum". Shijiazhuang Municipality Official Website. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  6. [6]
    "Xing Kiln Museum / YCA". ArchDaily. May 29, 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  7. [7]
    Peel, M. C. and Finlayson, B. L. and McMahon, T. A. (2007). "Updated world map of the Köppen-Geiger climate classification". Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci. 11: 1633-1644. ISSN 1027-5606.
  8. [8]
    中国气象数据网 – WeatherBk Data (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  9. [9]
    "Experience Template" 中国气象数据网 (in Simplified Chinese). China Meteorological Administration. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
  10. [10]
    邢台 - 气象数据 -中国天气网 (in Chinese). Weather China. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  11. [11]
    Bildner, Eli (27 February 2013). "Interactive Maps of China's Most–and Least–Polluted Places". Global Voices China. newsmotion.org. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  12. [12]
    "Major earthquakes on Chinese mainland since 1966" by the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in Houston
  13. [13]
    邢台市情介绍 (in Simplified Chinese). Xingtai People's Government. Retrieved 2011-05-20.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Xingtai.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Xingtai, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.