Dingxi ( zh, c=定西 , p=Dìngxī), also known as Longyou ( zh, c=陇右, p=Lǒngyòu) 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 the southeast of

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. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,524,097 inhabitants, of which 422,383 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of Anding urban district.

History

Dingxi was important in the development of some of China's earliest cultures, specifically along the Wei River, one of the Yellow River's biggest tributaries. Numerous

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

sites from various cultures are found throughout the area. A series of earthquakes in July 2013 killed at least 95 people and destroyed 120,000 homes.

Geography

Dingxi City is located in central Gansu province, east of

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 ...

, giving it the nickname the "eastern gateway". The

Wei River The Wei River () is a major river in west-central China's Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. It is the largest tributary of the Yellow River and very important in the early development of Chinese civilization. In ancient times, such as in the Records ...

, a tributary of 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 through the district and provides it with the majority of its water. Dingxi is semi-arid, with little precipitation. Even though sunlight here can be intense, temperatures are generally cool. The surrounding terrain is mostly

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 ...

hills and ravines in the north and highlands in the south. The area is . After the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, personal name Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of China, emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China pr ...

period (18th century), the land of Dingxi went from lush grasslands and forests to being severely deforested as a result of war, famines and overpopulation.

Climate

Dingxi 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 Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

- influenced cool semi-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 ...

''BSk'') characterised like most of eastern Gansu by warm to very warm, humid summers and freezing, virtually snowless winters.

Administration

Dingxi has 1 urban district, 6 counties, and 119 towns with a total population of 2,698,622.

Economy

Dingxi has been one of the most poverty-stricken regions in Gansu province and China as a whole. Up to 1999, some citizens still lacked food and clothing. Although most of Gansu is arid, in other regions of the province a large portion of farmland is irrigated, whereas in Dingxi this was not the case. Especially after the 1960s, the agricultural output of Dingxi plummeted due to

land degradation Land degradation is a process where land becomes less healthy and productive due to a combination of Human impact on the environment, human activities or natural conditions. The causes for land degradation are numerous and complex. Human activitie ...

. Agriculture and natural resource based industries are the key to Dingxi's economy. There are more than 300 different kinds of Chinese medicinal plants and herbs found in the area. Dingxi's Anding County is China's number one grower of yams. ''

Zanthoxylum ''Zanthoxylum'' is a genus of about 250 species of deciduous and evergreen trees, shrubs and climbers in the Family (biology), family Rutaceae that are native to warm temperate and Subtropics, subtropical areas worldwide. It is the type gen ...

'' (also called

Sichuan Pepper Sichuan pepper (, also known as Sichuanese pepper, Szechuan pepper, Chinese prickly ash, Chinese pepper, Mountain pepper, and ''mala'' pepper, is a spice commonly used in Sichuan cuisine in China, Bhutan and in northeast India. It is called mej ...

or prickly ash fruit), walnuts, wild apricots, and other fruit are some of Dingxi's famous dried exports. Potato is an important crop, and Dingxi has been described as the 'Potato Capital of China'.

Culture

The local Dingxi dialect of

Central Plains Mandarin Central Plains Mandarin, or ''Zhongyuan'' Mandarin (), is a variety of Mandarin Chinese spoken in the central and southern parts of Shaanxi, Henan, southwestern part of Shanxi, southern part of Gansu, far southern part of Hebei, northern Anhui, n ...

has only three tones instead of the normal four.

Food

* Shouzhuarou, cooked mutton on the bone * Dingxi Niangpi, a type of noodle similar to Liangpi * Longxi Qianrou, a dish made from donkey tail * Minxian Fenyu, a type of noodle that looks like a small fish or tadpole

Transportation

* G22 Qingdao–Lanzhou Expressway * G30 Lianyungang–Khorgas Expressway * China National Highway 312 * Longhai railway * Xuzhou-Lanzhou High-Speed Railway

References

External links

Dingxi Official Website
{{authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Gansu