Jinchang () is a

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. During the Republican era, many of China ...

in the centre of Gansu province, People's Republic of China, bordering

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. Its border includes most of the length of China's border with the country of Mongolia. Inner Mongolia also accounts for a ...

to the north.

Geography

Jinchang City is located in central Gansu province, west of the

Yellow River The Yellow River or Huang He (Chinese: , Mandarin: ''Huáng hé'' ) is the second-longest river in China, after the Yangtze River, and the sixth-longest river system in the world at the estimated length of . Originating in the Bayan Ha ...

, north of the

Qilian Mountains The Qilian Mountains (, also romanized as Tsilien; Mongghul: Chileb), together with the Altyn-Tagh (Altun Shan) also known as Nan Shan (, literally "Southern Mountains"), as it is to the south of Hexi Corridor, is a northern outlier of the Kunlu ...

, and south of the Alashan Plateau. The southwest of the city borders Qinghai Province and the northwest borders

. The area is .

Transportation

Jinchang is served by the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway and the Jinchang Jinchuan Airport, opened in August 2011.

History

Jinchang has important archaeological sites from the Stone Age, a Western Han site, and sections of the Great Wall from the Han and Qing dynasties.

Administration

Jinchang has 1 district and 1 county with a total population of 464,050, half of which is urban.

Climate

Jinchang has a continental, semi-arid climate (

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''), with plenty of sunshine and a prevailing northwesterly wind throughout much of the year. Both diurnal and seasonal temperature variations are rather large, and springtime winds are often strong.

Economy

The 2002 GDP was 4.5 billion RMB. The average urban income was 8,233 RMB while rural was 3,051 RMB. Agriculture and natural resource based industries are the key to Jinchang's economy. It is called China's 'Nickel Capital' () and has an abundance of other mineral resources including quartz, iron, manganese, copper, cobalt, zinc, gold, tungsten, limestone, etc. Here placed Jinchuan Group. The installation of a solar farm in the western part of Jinchang with a rated capacity of 1 GW and of a solar production facility with 300 MW capacity has been announced in May 2012. Vegetable oil is its primary agricultural product.

Tourism

Cultural sites such as the Han and Qing dynasty Great Walls are popular tourist sites. The relatively undeveloped natural environment is also a draw for tourists.

External links

*
Official site

References

{{authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Gansu