Qian County () or Qianxian is a county under the administration of the

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 ...

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 ...

, in the central part of

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, China.

Administrative divisions

Qian County is divided into 1 subdistrict and 15 towns, which are further divided into 173 administrative villages. The county's administrative officers are located in Chengguan Subdistrict.

Geography

The county is bordered by Liquan County to the east, Xingping City and

Wugong County Wugong County is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Xianyang, in the central part of Shaanxi province, China. Tai was also one of the ancestral homes of the royal Ji clan of the Zhou dynasty The Zhou dynasty ( ...

to the south,

Fufeng County Fufeng County () is a county under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Baoji, in the west-central part of Shaanxi Province, China. The county lies in the fertile Guanzhong Plain on the north bank of the Wei River between Xi'an, t ...

to the west, Yongshou County to the north and west, and Linyou County to the west. The northern portion of Qian County is higher in altitude than the southern portion.

Climate

Qian County has an average annual precipitation of 539 mm, and an average annual temperature of 12.6 °C.

History

Neolithic Age

Qianling County's history can be traced as far back as the

Neolithic Age The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several pa ...

, due to two archaeological studies which uncovered the ruins of Neolithic settlements. These digs uncovered a variety of human tools, such as stone axes and

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

. The uncovered village ruins sat at the confluence of two rivers, and exhibited evidence which suggests that these villagers were well-versed in both

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

and animal husbandry.

Tang Dynasty

The county's name derives from the Tang settlement of Qianzhou zh.html" ;"title=":zh:乾州.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:zh:乾州">zh">:zh:乾州.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:zh:乾州">zh which was established in present-day Qian County in 895 CE.

People's Republic of China

The county came under control of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and was incorporated as part of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region until its dissolution one year later. The area's jurisdiction would be further altered in 1956, 1959, 1961, 1968, and 1984. During Mao Zedong's Down to the Countryside Movement, famous director

Zhang Yimou Zhang Yimou (; born 2 April 1950) is a Chinese film director, producer, writer, actor and former cinematographer.Tasker, Yvonne (2002). "Zhang Yimou" i''Fifty Contemporary Filmmakers'' Routledge Publishing, p. 412. . Google Book Search. Retriev ...

was sent to Qian County, where he worked as a farmer and painter.

Historical monuments

Tang Dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdom ...

imperial tomb complex,

Qianling Mausoleum The Qianling Mausoleum () is a Tang dynasty (618–907) tomb site located in Qian County, Shaanxi province, China, and is northwest from Xi'an.Valder (2002), 80. Built in 684 (with additional construction until 706), the tombs of the mausoleum ...

is located on Liang Mountain () in Qian County, away from the county's urban center and from

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 ...

Economy

The county recorded a

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is ofte ...

of 17.16 billion Renminbi, a 0.9% increase from the previous year. The average annual disposable income for urban residents was 35,485 Renminbi in 2019, and was 12,114 Renminbi for rural residents, an annual growth of 8.5% and 9.4%, respectively.

Agriculture

Key crops for the county include

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

, corn,

rapeseed Rapeseed (''Brassica napus ''subsp.'' napus''), also known as rape, or oilseed rape, is a bright-yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae (mustard or cabbage family), cultivated mainly for its oil-rich seed, which naturally contains a ...

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, ' ...

pear Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-f ...

es,

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

s, and

persimmon The persimmon is the edible fruit of a number of species of trees in the genus '' Diospyros''. The most widely cultivated of these is the Oriental persimmon, ''Diospyros kaki'' ''Diospyros'' is in the family Ebenaceae, and a number of non-per ...

s. Common livestock include

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus ...

cows Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

, and

goat The goat or domestic goat (''Capra hircus'') is a domesticated species of goat-antelope typically kept as livestock. It was domesticated from the wild goat (''C. aegagrus'') of Southwest Asia and Eastern Europe. The goat is a member of the a ...

Industry

The county has three major

industrial park An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park ...

s, one producing

auto parts This is a list of auto parts, mostly for vehicles using internal combustion engines which are manufactured components of automobiles: Car body and main parts Body components, including trim Doors Windows Low voltage/auxiliary e ...

, another producing

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

s, and the other producing food and drug products.

Culture

Qian County's local cuisine has a number of distinct local dishes, such as a unique type of tofu soup, and a type of fried cake.

Transport

A number of highways pass through the county, including

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 ...

, the G70 Expressway, Shaanxi Provincial Road 107, and Shaanxi Provincial Road 108. A number of railways, such as the Yinchuan-Xi'an High Speed Railway, the Xi'an-Pingliang Railway zh.html" ;"title=":zh:西平铁路.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:zh:西平铁路">zh">:zh:西平铁路.html" ;"title="nowiki/>:zh:西平铁路">zh and the Xi'an-Famen Railway pass through the city.

References

External links

Qian County Official Government Website
{{authority control County-level divisions of Shaanxi Xianyang