Tianshui 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 ...

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

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 ...

, and is the province's second-largest city (behind the provincial 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 ...

). Located in the southeast of the province, the city strides along the upper reaches of 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 ...

and at the boundary of the

Loess Plateau The Loess Plateau is a plateau in north-central China formed of loess, a clastic rock, clastic silt-like sediment formed by the accumulation of Dust#Atmospheric, wind-blown dust. It is located southeast of the Gobi Desert and is surrounded by t ...

and the Qinling Mountains. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,984,659 inhabitants, of which 1,212,791 lived in the built-up (or metro) area made of the 2 urban districts of Qinzhou and Maiji. The city and its surroundings have played an important role in the early history of China, as still visible in the form of historic sites such as the Maijishan Grottoes.

History

Qin, whose House of Ying were the ruling family of the founding dynasty of Imperial China, developed from

Quanqiu Li County or Lixian is an county-level divisions of Gansu, administrative division of the List of prefecture-level divisions of China, prefecture-level city of Longnan in southeastern Gansu, a northwestern Chinese province, province of China. The ...

(present-day Lixian) to the south. After the invasions of the Rong which unseated the

Western Zhou The Western Zhou ( zh, c=西周, p=Xīzhōu; 771 BC) was a period of Chinese history corresponding roughly to the first half of the Zhou dynasty. It began when King Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang dynasty at the Battle of Muye and ended in 77 ...

, Qin recovered the territory of Tianshui from the nomads. It became an important region of their duchy and, later, kingdom. Characteristically Qin tombs have been excavated at

Fangmatan Fangmatan () is an archeological site located near Tianshui in China's Gansu province. The site was located within the Qin state, and includes several burials dating from the Warring States period through to the early Western Han. Tomb 1 The ...

nearby, including one 2200-year-old map of Qin's Gui County. Under the Qin Empire, the area was part of Longxi Commandery but the Emperor Wu of the Han separated the region as the Tianshui Commandery in 114 BC as part of his expansion towards the

Tarim Basin The Tarim Basin is an endorheic basin in Xinjiang, Northwestern China occupying an area of about and one of the largest basins in Northwest China.Chen, Yaning, et al. "Regional climate change and its effects on river runoff in the Tarim Basin, Ch ...

. The general Li Guang came from the city. The Han conquests and explorations eventually resulted in the development of the Northern Silk Road: Tianshui formed its junction with the

, after which it followed the road past Mount Long to

Chang'an Chang'an (; zh, t=長安, s=长安, p=Cháng'ān, first=t) is the traditional name of the city now named Xi'an and was the capital of several Chinese dynasties, ranging from 202 BCE to 907 CE. The site has been inhabited since Neolithic time ...

(present-day

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

). Nearby are the Maijishan Grottoes, filled with thousands of

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

sculptures representing figures such as

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

and the original male form of

Guanyin Guanyin () is a common Chinese name of the bodhisattva associated with Karuṇā, compassion known as Avalokiteśvara (). Guanyin is short for Guanshiyin, which means " he One WhoPerceives the Sounds of the World". Originally regarded as m ...

, produced between the Wei and

Song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

dynasties A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. Historians ...

by monks travelling along the road and by local Buddhists. During the

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei ( zh, c=北魏, p=Běi Wèi), Tuoba Wei ( zh, c=拓跋魏, p=Tuòbá Wèi), Yuan Wei ( zh, c=元魏, p=Yuán Wèi) and Later Wei ( zh, t=後魏, p=Hòu Wèi), was an Dynasties of China, impe ...

, the city was known as Hanyang and was the center of the Hanyang Commandery. During the

Western Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Western Wei (), was an imperial dynasty of China that followed the disintegration of the Northern Wei. One of the Northern dynasties during the era of the Northern and Southern dynasties, it ruled the weste ...

, this name was changed to Hanyang County. During the Tang and Five Dynasties, the city of Tianshui was known as Shanggui (). It alternated with Chengji (present-day Qin'an) as the capital of the

of Qinzhou ().Dudbridge, Glen. ''A Portrait of Five Dynasties China: From the Memoirs of Wang Renyu (880–956)''
pp. 8 ff.
Oxford University Press (Oxford), 2013. Accessed 14 Dec 2013. Li County was separated from Tianshui's jurisdiction during the ninth year of Chenghua (AD 1473) during the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

. According to a legend, the name Tianshui ( 天水) originates from a lake formed from heaven, which would remain the same size year round.

Subdivisions

Geography and climate

Tianshui is located in the valley of the Jie River, a major tributary of the

, and on the boundary between the

and Qinling Mountains. The city 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 (

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'')/ humid continental (''Dwa'') climate, with four distinct seasons of comparatively equal length. Winters are cold but dry, with January 24-hour average temperature of , while summers are warm and somewhat humid, with July 24-hour average temperature of . Much of the annual rainfall occurs from June to September, and the annual mean temperature is . With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 34% in September to 50% in December, the city receives 1,911 hours of bright sunshine annually.

Economy

Due to the mild climate, Tianshui is a large producer of fruits, in particular

apples An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

. It is also a major industrial centre in Gansu province, especially regarding electronics. Some major industries include: * AVIC Tianshui Aviation Industry * Tianshui Pneumatic Machinery Corporation * Tianshui Tractor Factory * Spark Machine Tools

Transportation

Airlines

Tianshui Maijishan Airport is located near the built up area.

Railway

Tianshui is currently serviced by Tianshui railway station on the Longhai Railway. The railway station is connected to downtown by the Tianshui Tram. A new high-speed railway station, Tianshui South railway station, opened in 2017. The Tianshui–Longnan railway is currently under construction and will add a north–south link to the county.

Highways

The Lianyungang–Khorgas Expressway connects Tianshui to Baoji/Xi'an in the east and Dingxi, Lanzhou towards the northwest and supersedes highway G310. G310 runs as a motorway within the urban centre. * G7011 Shiyan–Tianshui Expressway * G8513 Pingliang–Mianyang Expressway (section from Tianshui north to

Pingliang Pingliang ( zh, s=平凉 , t=平涼 , p=Píngliàng , l="Pacify Liang") is a inner land prefecture-level city in eastern Gansu province, China, bordering Shaanxi province to the south and east and the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region to the north. T ...

is under construction) * China National Highway 310

Culture

Tianshui's signature dish is Guagua (呱呱), a sticky boiled

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'') or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what ...

flour meal, seasoned with chili oil, sesame paste, mustard, oil, salt, vinegar and garlic paste. The dish is normally eaten as a breakfast. According to legends it was the imperial food during Han dynasty general Wei Xiao's rule. In early 2024 Tianshui malatang hot pot went viral online in China, attracting many tourists from all over the country to go and taste the dish. The numbing sensation of spiciness forms the "soul flavor" of Tianshui spicy hot pot. This "soul" comes from local specialty ingredients in Tianshui – Maiji peppercorns and Gangu chili peppers. The viral phenomenon has been compared to the 2023 spring festival Zibo BBQ craze.

Tourism

* Maijishan Grottoes * Fuxi Temple * Yuquan Temple * Dadiwan Site

Education

* Tianshui Normal University * Gansu Electric Science Research Institute

References

External links

Official website of Tianshui Government
{{authority control Prefecture-level divisions of Gansu Cities in Gansu National Famous Historical and Cultural City