An Introduction to Heilongjiang Province 黑 龙 江 省 简 介

Abbreviation: Hei 黑
Capital: Harbin
Area: More than 460,000 square kilometers
Population: 37.32 million
Location: In northeast China
China shares a 4,300-kilometer-long boundary with Russia, but Heilongjiang alone takes up a 3,038-kilometer-long along the borderline.

Known as Zhongyuan—Central Land in ancient China, Henan Province has a population of 92.65 million. Of its total land area of 160,000 square kilometers, 55.7 per cent or 93,000 square kilometers is plain and suitable for growing crops. With its advantageous geographical location, Henan used to be a business center of China in ancient times. Its geographical advantages make the province a great base for the surrounding provinces. Henan is also an important province due to its abundant resources, vast market and convenient transportation facilities. Since opening-up to the outside world, Henan has gone through many changes but shown great vitality. Henan’s economy has witnessed sustained rapid and healthy development. Based on the construction of Zhengzhou as a commercial and trading city, the whole province is now setting up a number of national and regional commodity-distribution centers and specialized wholesale market.

The annual average temperature ranges from 13℃ to 16.7℃. Every year, between 190 and 230 days are frost-free. The annual average rainfall varies between 580 to 1,340 millimeters. The arable land of the province is 6.8 million hectares (17 million acres) and ranks No 2 in China. Temperate climate conditions in the province result in diversified biological resources. The production of wheat, cotton, tobacco, sesame, peanut, corn, domestic animals and fowl leads the rest of China. It is also an important producer of fish and fruits. Henan Province is rich in mineral resources. The bounteous reserves of coal, oil, natural gas and aluminum constitute a solid foundation for the development of its industry.

Henan is the cradle of Chinese culture. It is home to capitals of more than 20 dynasties and kingdoms in China’s history. Xia, the first dynasty of China, established its realm in the Luoyang basin and the second dynasty, the Shang, made Luoyang its capital. Later, other 12 dynasties, such as the Eastern Zhou, Eastern Han, Wei, Western Jin, Northern Wei, Sui, Tang, Later Liang, Later Tang and Later Jin made Luoyang their capital, totaling 1,529 years as a capital. Hence the capital of thirteen dynasties, and Anyang, the capital during the Shang Dynasty, are among the seven most famous capitals in China (the other six ancient capitals being Luoyang, Kaifeng, Xi’an, Beijing, Nanjing and Hangzhou). In terms of culture and historical relics, Henan ranks No 1 in China for its underground relics and No 2 for its relics above ground. Among the spots of historical and cultural interests, the most famous is the Shaolin Temple, renowned for its consummate martial art (Wushu); the White Horse Temple, the earliest Buddhist temple in China; Yinxu, the ruins of the capital of Shang Dynasty; Longmen Grottoes and Longting Pavilion.

Henan Province is also known for its famous rivers and mountains. The Yellow River runs across the northern part of the province and the Songshan Mountain, which is one of the China’s Five Sacred Mountains ever enshrined by ancient emperors, stands in the central part of the province.

Relying on its rich coal reserves, Henan Province has developed into China’s leading province in thermal power generation. In addition, the Xiaolangdi Hydropower Station on the Yellow River, a key project in China during the turn of the century added another 1.8 million kilowatts to the province’s total power generating capacity.

By the end of 2002, the province had a total of nearly 70,000 kilometers of highways open for traffic, including 1,000 kilometers expressways. A freeway has been formed with Zhengzhou as the center. The province is China’s railway transportation hub with such major national railways as Beijing Guangzhou, Lianyuangang-Lanzhou, Jiaozuo-Zhicheng and Beijing-Kowloon railways converging there. The Lianyuangang-Lanzhou railway is a part of the Eurasian Continental Bridge connecting Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Lianyuangang, China. Speaking of civil aviation, the new Zhengzhou Airport can handle 3.8 million passengers per year.

In terms of telecommunications industry, the province has also improved substantially. At present, all the townships in the province have installed domestic and international direct dialing telephone systems.

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