Baiyin ( zh, s=白银 , t=白銀 , p=Báiyín , l=White-Silver) is a

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

in northeastern

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

province, People's Republic of China. Established in the 1950s as a base for mining

non-ferrous metal In metallurgy, non-ferrous metals are metals or alloys that do not contain iron ( allotropes of iron, ferrite, and so on) in appreciable amounts. Generally more costly than ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals are used because of desirable pro ...

s, its mines are becoming exhausted in recent decades, requiring the city to reinvent its economy. Located around from Gansu's capital

Lanzhou Lanzhou is the capital and largest city of Gansu province in northwestern China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. His ...

, it is part of the Lanzhou-Baiyin Economic Belt.

Geography and climate

Baiyin is part ''

loess A loess (, ; from ) is a clastic rock, clastic, predominantly silt-sized sediment that is formed by the accumulation of wind-blown dust. Ten percent of Earth's land area is covered by loesses or similar deposition (geology), deposits. A loess ...

'' plateau, part desert. Elevation ranges from above sea-level. The prefecture-level city has either a cool arid climate (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''BWk'') or a cool semi-arid climate (''BSk'') is very arid with only of annual precipitation. Annual evaporation is resulting in a net loss of approximately . The

Yellow River The Yellow River, also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the List of rivers by length, sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of and a Drainage basin, watershed of . Beginning in the Bayan H ...

flows from south to north for through Baiyin. The area is , of that urban.

Administration

Baiyin has 2 urban districts, 3 counties, 64 townships, 18 towns, and 7 sub-districts with a total population of 1,512,110 as of the

2020 Chinese census The Seventh National Population Census of the People's Republic of China (), also referred to as the 2020 Chinese Census, was the seventh National Population Census of the People's Republic of China, national census conducted by the National Bure ...

, of which 538,514 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of the 2 urban districts of Baiyin and Pingchuan.

Economy

The Baiyin Nonferrous operates

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

zinc Zinc is a chemical element; it has symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodic tabl ...

and

selenium Selenium is a chemical element; it has symbol (chemistry), symbol Se and atomic number 34. It has various physical appearances, including a brick-red powder, a vitreous black solid, and a grey metallic-looking form. It seldom occurs in this elem ...

mines around Baiyin, although these mines are getting exhausted of ore. Financed by development funds, a high-tech park is being built, which is home to a

contact lens Contact lenses, or simply contacts, are thin lenses placed directly on the surface of the eyes. Contact lenses are ocular prosthetic devices used by over 150 million people worldwide, and they can be worn to correct vision or for cosmetic ...

factory. Pingchuan District and Huining County are the largest coal production bases in Gansu province. The Yinguang Group, a subsidiary of

Norinco China North Industries Group Corporation Limited, doing business internationally as Norinco Group (an abbreviation of "North Industries Corporation"), and known within China as China Ordnance Industries Group Corporation Limited (), is a Chinese ...

, operates a major factory making chemicals for defense and civilian use, the factory was a key project of the first five-year plan.

Transportation

Baiyin is directly served by the Baotou–Lanzhou railway, Honghui railway, China National Highway 109, China National Highway 341 and G6 Beijing–Lhasa Expressway. Baiyinnan(白银南站) Railway Station will be put into operation on December 29, 2022.

Notable people

* Chen Hualan – veterinary virologist

Demographics

According to the Seventh National Census in 2020, the city’s Permanent Population (

hukou ''Hukou'' ( zh, c=户口, l=household individual) is a system of household registration used in the People's Republic of China. The system itself is more properly called ''huji'' ( zh, c=户籍, l=household origin), and has origins in Histo ...

) was 1,512,110. In the population, 50.98% were males and 49.02% were females. In the age structure, 18.9% were from 0 to 14 years old, 62.07% were from 15 to 59 years old, 19.03% were over 60 years old, and 13.96% were over 65 years old.

References

External links

Official Website (Chinese)
{{authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Gansu