天水市市情简介(英文)the general information of tian.docVIP

PAGE 9 PAGE 1 General Information about Tianshui City The History of Tianshui is 2695 years in historical records. As early as in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, it belonged to Yongzhou (one of the nine prefectures in ancient China) and was established as a county in 688 B.C under the reign of the Duke Wu of Qin Kingdom. From the 3rd year of Yuanding in the reign of Emperor Hanwu (114 B.C) on, it was administratively set as jun, fu, zhou and daozhisuo through dynasties. In 1985, the prefectural system was abolished and replaced by the system of city-governing-county. Tianshi now consists of two districts, five counties and one developing zone. They are Qinzhou district, Maiji district, Gangu county, Wushan county, Qinan county, Qingshui county and Zhangjiachuan Hui minority auonomous county, and Tianahui Developing Zone of Gansu province. Under the jurisdiction of district and county, there are 113 township, 10 sub-district offices, 2615 villagers committees and 95 urban residents committees. It has a population of more than 3,600,000, and 70 percent of them living in rural area. 37 nationalities live in this place, minority people takes 7.1 percent of the total population. Tianshui lies in the southeast of Gansu, regarded as the east gate of the province. To its east, there is Shanxi; to its west, there is Dingxi city; to its south and north, there are Longnan city and Pingliang city. It is in the combined region of the South Loess Plateau gully region and the West Qingling Mountain. The ground slopes down from west to east with an elevation varying from 2700m to 900m. The total area of Tianshui is 14325 square kilometers, among which cultivated lands is about 5.73 million acreage. Divided by the West Qingling mountain, the northern part of Tianshui belongs to Huanghe river valley and the southern part Changjiang river valley. Besides, Weihe River, a tributary of Huanghe River, flows from east to west across the whole area. The climate of Tianshui is very