Pingliang () 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 eastern Gansu province, China, bordering

Shaanxi Shaanxi (alternatively Shensi, see § Name) is a landlocked province of China. Officially part of Northwest China, it borders the province-level divisions of Shanxi (NE, E), Henan (E), Hubei (SE), Chongqing (S), Sichuan (SW), Gansu (W), N ...

province to the south and east and the

Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1 ...

to the north. The city was established in 376 AD. It has a residential population of 2,125,300 in 2019. The urban population is almost 900,000. Pingliang is well known for the nearby Kongtong Mountains, which are sacred to

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Ta ...

and location of the mythical meeting place of the

Yellow Emperor The Yellow Emperor, also known as the Yellow Thearch or by his Chinese name Huangdi (), is a deity ('' shen'') in Chinese religion, one of the legendary Chinese sovereigns and culture heroes included among the mytho-historical Three Soverei ...

and

Guangchengzi Guang Chengzi ({{zh, s=广成子, t=廣成子, p=Guǎngchéngzǐ, w=Kuang ch'eng-tzu) (Literarily "Person Who Knows All" ) is a Taoist deity and a character in the classic Chinese novel '' Fengshen Yanyi''. Taoist mythology From the idea of ...

, an immortal.

List of divisions

Geography

Pingliang ranges in latitude from 34° 54' to 35° 46' N and in longitude from 105° 20' to 107° 51' E. Bordering prefecture-level cities are

Xianyang Xianyang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shaanxi province, situated on the Wei River a few kilometers upstream (west) from the provincial capital of Xi'an. Once the capital of the Qin dynasty, it is now integrated into the Xi'an metrop ...

(

) to the east,

Baoji () is a prefecture-level city in western Shaanxi province, People's Republic of China. Since the early 1990s, Baoji has been the second largest city in Shaanxi. Geography The prefecture-level city of Baoji had a population of 3,321,853 accord ...

(Shaanxi) and

Tianshui Tianshui is the second-largest city in Gansu Province, China. The city is located in the southeast of the province, along the upper reaches of the Wei River and at the boundary of the Loess Plateau and the Qinling Mountains. As of the 2020 ce ...

to the south, Dingxi and

Baiyin Baiyin () is a prefecture-level city in northeastern Gansu province, People's Republic of China. Established in the 1950s as a base for mining non-ferrous metals, its mines are becoming exhausted in recent decades, requiring the city to reinvent ...

to the west, and

Guyuan (), formerly known as Xihaigu (, Xiao'erjing: قُ‌يُوًا شِ), is a prefecture-level city in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. It occupies the southernmost section of the region, bordering Gansu provinc ...

(

Ningxia Ningxia (,; , ; alternately romanized as Ninghsia), officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (NHAR), is an autonomous region in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1 ...

) and Qingyang to the north. It is located on the

Loess Plateau The Chinese Loess Plateau, or simply the Loess Plateau, is a plateau in north-central China formed of loess, a clastic silt-like sediment formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. It is located southeast of the Gobi Desert and is surrounde ...

with elevations ranging from ; the city proper itself is at an elevation of around . Due to its elevation of around , Pingliang has a

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

-influenced, four-season,

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(

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 ...

''Dwb''), with cold but dry winters, and warm and humid summers. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July. Much of the annual rainfall occurs from June to September, and the annual mean temperature is . With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 46% in September to 65% in December, the city receives 2,381 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Transport

G22 Qingdao–Lanzhou Expressway The Qingdao–Lanzhou Expressway (), designated as G22 and commonly referred to as the Qinglan Expressway () is an expressway that connects the cities of Qingdao, Shandong, China, and Lanzhou, Gansu. It is in length. This expressway is sometimes ...

, which motorists can take to reach the south of neighbouring Ningxia and eventually Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu *

China National Highway 312 China National Highway 312 (312国道), also referred to as Route 312 or The Mother Road, is a key east-west route beginning in Shanghai and ending at Khorgas, Xinjiang in the Ili River valley, on the border with Kazakhstan. In total it spans ...

, which motorists can take to reach

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by other names, is the capital of Shaanxi Province. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong Plain, the city is the third most populous city in Western China, after Chongqi ...

Notable residents

Zhao Jiping Zhao Jiping () (b. Pingliang, Gansu, China, August 1945) is a Chinese composer from Shaanxi. He is best known for his film scores for the Fifth Generation Chinese director Zhang Yimou. He is the current Honorary Chairman of the Chinese Musician ...

, film composer (b. 1945)

Notable births

Pingliang is the birthplace of

Huangfu Mi Huangfu Mi (215–282), courtesy name Shi'an (), was a Chinese physician, essayist, historian, poet, and writer who lived through the late Eastern Han dynasty, Three Kingdoms period and early Western Jin dynasty. He was born in a poor farming fam ...

, who wrote the first book on

acupuncture Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientif ...

, of Niu Sengru, and of Southern Song dynasty generals Wu Jie (吴玠) and Wu Lin.

References

External links

Official Site
{{authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Gansu