Yuncheng is the southernmost

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 Chi ...

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-leve ...

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

, People's Republic of China. It borders

Linfen Linfen is a prefecture-level city in the southwest of Shanxi province, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the west. It is situated along the banks of the Fen River. It has an area of and according to the 2020 Census, a population of 3,976, ...

and

Jincheng Jincheng is a prefecture-level city in the southeast of Shanxi province, China, bordering Henan province to the south and southeast. It is an industrial city in an area where coal mining is an important industry. The entire city has a populat ...

municipalities to the north and east, and

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is a ...

(

Luoyang Luoyang is a city located in the confluence area of Luo River and Yellow River in the west of Henan province. Governed as a prefecture-level city, it borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the east, Pingdingshan to the southeast, Nanyan ...

and Jiyuan to the east, Sanmenxia to the south) and

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 ...

(

Weinan Weinan () is a prefecture-level city in the east central Shaanxi province, China. The city lies on the lower section of the Wei River confluence into the Yellow River, about east of the provincial capital Xi'an, and borders the provinces of S ...

) provinces to the east, south and west, respectively. As of the 2020 census, its population was 4,774,508 inhabitants (5,134,779 in 2010), of whom 928,334 (680,036 in 2010) lived in the built-up (''or metro'') area made of Yanhu District. One can note than Pinglu County, 205,080 inhabitants in the south, is now part of Sanmenxia built-up (or metro) area.

History

In early China, it was the location of the state of Kunwu (). Yuncheng was the site of the Yuncheng Campaign (三打运城), battle between the

Kuomintang army The National Revolutionary Army (NRA; ), sometimes shortened to Revolutionary Army () before 1928, and as National Army () after 1928, was the military arm of the Kuomintang (KMT, or the Chinese Nationalist Party) from 1925 until 1947 in Chin ...

and the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the China, People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five Military branch, service branches: the People's ...

during Chinese civil war. The famous general

Guan Yu Guan Yu (; ), courtesy name Yunchang, was a Chinese military general serving under the warlord Liu Bei during the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. Along with Zhang Fei, he shared a brotherly relationship with Liu Bei and accompanied him on ...

from the late

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by th ...

was also born in this region.

Archaeology

In July 2022, archaeologists announced a discovery of a 2.8 cm long 5.200 years old stone carving

chrysalis A pupa ( la, pupa, "doll"; plural: ''pupae'') is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in thei ...

in a semi-crypt house at the Shangguo Site in Wenxi County. Archaeologists made suppositions that this house may have belonged to the

Yangshao Culture The Yangshao culture (仰韶文化, pinyin: Yǎngsháo wénhuà) was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The culture is named after the Yangsh ...

period, based on the unearthed pottery pieces. According to archaeologist Tian Jianwen, discovery of stone carving chrysalises provided significant information for the study of the

silkworm The domestic silk moth (''Bombyx mori''), is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of '' Bombyx mandarina'', the wild silk moth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silk moth. It is an economically ...

culture in China.

Administration

There are 13 county-level administrative divisions under Yuncheng‘s jurisdiction, including 1 district, 10 counties and 2

county-level cities A county-level municipality (), county-level city or county city, formerly known as prefecture-controlled city (1949–1970: ; 1970–1983: ), is a county-level administrative division of the People's Republic of China. County-level ...

. The Municipal executive, legislature and

judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

are in Yanhu District (), together with the CPC and

Public Security Bureau A Public Security Bureau (PSB) () of a city or county, or Public Security Department (PSD) () of a province or autonomous region, in the People's Republic of China refers to a government office essentially acting as a police station or a local ...

Climate

Yuncheng has a continental,

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 oscil ...

-influenced

semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi ...

( Köppen ''BSk''), with four distinct seasons. Due to its southerly location and position to the north of the Zhongtiao Mountains, allowing for downsloping when winds are from the south, it is among the warmest locales in the province. Winters are cold and very dry, while summers are hot and humid. Monthly mean temperatures range from in January to in July, and the annual mean is . Over 60% of the annual rainfall occurs from June to September. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 45% in March to 54% in May and July, the city receives 2,219 hours of bright sunshine annually, low by Shanxi standards and

North China North China, or Huabei () is a geographical region of China, consisting of the provinces of Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shanxi and Inner Mongolia. Part of the larger region of Northern China (''Beifang''), it lies north of the Qinling–Hu ...

Notable people

, general and deified historical figure * Jing Haipeng, PLAAC astronaut * Zhang Ziyi, Chinese zootechnician

Transportation

China National Highway 209 China National Highway 209 (G209) runs from Sonid Left Banner, Inner Mongolia to Beihai, Guangxi province. It is 3,435 kilometres in length and runs south from Huhhot towards Shanxi province, Henan province, Hubei province, Hunan province, and en ...

* G59 Hohhot–Beihai Expressway * Datong–Xi'an Passenger Railway, with frequent service to Beijing, Taiyuan, and Xi'an.Yuncheng North schedule
Besides the Yuncheng North Railway Station (near Yuncheng's central city), the railway also has stations at Yongji and Wenxi. * Yuncheng Zhangxiao Airport

Notes and references

{{Authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Shanxi Cities in Shanxi