Shizuishan, formerly Shizuizi, 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 Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is the northernmost prefecture in Ningxia and the second most populous, after the regional capital

Yinchuan Yinchuan is the capital of the Ningxia, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, China, and was the capital of the Tangut people, Tangut-led Western Xia, Western Xia dynasty. It has an area of and a total population of 2,859,074 according to the 2020 C ...

, bordered by

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

to all directions except the south. Shizuishan sits on the western bank 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 ...

on the western side of the

Ordos Loop The Ordos Plateau, also known as the Ordos Basin or simply the Ordos, is a highland sedimentary basin in parts of most Northern China with an elevation of , and consisting mostly of land enclosed by the Ordos Loop, a large northerly rectangular ...

. It was formerly a center for caravans traveling the northern routes to and from

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

across the

Ordos Desert The Ordos Desert () is a desert/ steppe region in Northwest China, administered under the prefecture of Ordos City in the Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region (centered ca. ). It extends over an area of approximately , and comprises two sub-de ...

Name

Shizuishan was formerly

romanized In linguistics, romanization is the conversion of text from a different writing system to the Roman (Latin) script, or a system for doing so. Methods of romanization include transliteration, for representing written text, and transcription, ...

as Shetsuishan. and Shihchu Shan.. It was also formerly known as "Shizuizi", which was romanized Shihtsuitzu and Chetsouidze.

History

Shizuishan used to be a center of local trade and eventually became a mining town. In 1934, Shizuishan was occupied by the army of

warlord Warlords are individuals who exercise military, Economy, economic, and Politics, political control over a region, often one State collapse, without a strong central or national government, typically through informal control over Militia, local ...

Sun Dianying during his attempt to conquer Ningxia from the

Ma clique The Ma clique or Ma family warlords is a collective name for a group of Hui (Muslim Chinese) warlords in Northwestern China who ruled the Chinese provinces of Qinghai, Gansu and Ningxia for 10 years from 1919 until 1928. Following the colla ...

. Sun set up a rival provincial government in the town, but he was eventually defeated by Ningxia's official governor

Ma Hongkui Ma Hongkui ( zh, s=马鸿逵 , t=馬鴻逵 , p=Mǎ Hóngkuí , w=Ma Hung-k'uei , first=t, Xiao'erjing: ; March 14, 1892 – January 14, 1970) was a prominent Hui people, Chinese Muslim warlord during the Republic of China (1912–1949), R ...

. Shizuishan was consequently returned to Ma's control.

Administrative divisions

Geography and climate

Shizuishan is located on the western bank of the

between latitudes 38° 21′ and 39° 25′ N and longitudes 105° 58′ and 106° 39′ E, spanning from east to west and from south to north. Shizuishan experiences a

cool arid climate The desert climate or arid climate (in the Köppen climate classification ''BWh'' and ''BWk'') is a dry climate sub-type in which there is a severe excess of evaporation over precipitation. The typically bald, rocky, or sandy surfaces in desert ...

(

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'') with freezing and very dry winters, alongside very warm to hot and somewhat wetter summers.

Environmental issues

In 2005, the Chinese government blacklisted the city for its pollution problem and told local leaders to shut down the worst polluting industrial plants. Recently, the city has attempted to reinvent itself by initiating eco-friendly programs to reduce pollution, improving medical services, increasing tourism, and improve certain industries but pollution is still taking its toll on the people.

Economy

The economy of Shizuishan is mainly based on coal mining,

coking Coking is the process of heating coal in the absence of oxygen to a temperature above to drive off the volatile components of the raw coal, leaving behind a hard, strong, porous material with a high carbon content called coke. Coke is predomina ...

, and metallurgy. Agriculture, tourism, and

viticulture Viticulture (, "vine-growing"), viniculture (, "wine-growing"), or winegrowing is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine ...

also contribute to Shizuishan's economy.

Education

Ningxia University Ningxia University (NXU; ) is a regional public university in Yinchuan, Ningxia, China. It is affiliated with the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and co-funded by the regional government and the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Pr ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* , reprint. * * . * . * .

External links

- Shizuishan City Government Website
{{Authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Ningxia National forest cities in China Cities in Ningxia National Civilized City National Sanitary City