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Nanning
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Nanning (Zhuang: Namzningz, meaning 'South Prosperity') is the capital of Guangxi autonomous region in southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush tropical foliage.
History
A county seat was first established at the site in AD 318; called Jinxing, it also became the administrative seat of a commandery. Nanning was once the territory of the Baiyue people and became the capital of Jinxing Prefecture separated from Yulin Prefecture of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
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Encyclopedia
Nanning (Zhuang: Namzningz, meaning 'South Prosperity') is the capital of Guangxi autonomous region in southern China. It is known as the "Green City" because of its abundance of lush tropical foliage.
History
A county seat was first established at the site in AD 318; called Jinxing, it also became the administrative seat of a commandery. Nanning was once the territory of the Baiyue people and became the capital of Jinxing Prefecture separated from Yulin Prefecture of the Eastern Jin Dynasty. It was the first time for Nanning to be the seat of a county and a prefecture, which marked the beginning of the founding of its administrative division.
In 589 the commandery was suppressed, and the county was renamed Xuanhua. Under the Tang dynasty (618–907) the prefecture of Yong (Yongzhou) was established there; it was garrisoned to control the non-Chinese districts in Guangxi and on the Yunnan–Guizhou provincial border. In the mid-9th century the Tang and the Yunnan state of Nanzhao fought over it, and after 861 it was briefly occupied by Nanzhao. It remained a frontier prefecture throughout the Song dynasty (960–1279), being the scene of a rebellion led by Nong Zhigao in 1052 and thereafter a garrison town.
In the Yuan Dynasty in 1324, it was renamed as Nanning Lu (an administrative division) from Yongzhou Lu meaning "May peace maintain in the southern frontier", hence the name Nanning. In its history, Nanning was famous for business trade, which had had permanent business offices from other areas in China since the Song Dynasty.
Under the Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911) dynasties, it was a superior prefecture, Nanning. In the Ming Dynasty Nanning developed into the commodity distributing center of the Zuojiang River and the Youjiang River with the reputation of "Little Nanjing".
Opened to foreign trade by the Chinese in 1907, it grew rapidly. From 1912 to 1936 it was the provincial capital of Guangxi, replacing Guilin in 1914.
Early in the 20th century the city spilled over from the old walled city into a southern suburban area. In the 1930s Nanning became the centre of a "model provincial government" under the warlord Li Zongren, and a spacious modern city was laid out. During the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–45), Nanning was temporarily occupied in 1940 by the Japanese. It subsequently became an important U.S. air base supporting the Chinese armies in Guangxi, but during 1944–45 it was again under Japanese occupation.
In 1949 Nanning again became the provincial capital, first of Guangxi province and then (1958) of the Zhuang autonomous region of Guangxi, which replaced it. Until then Nanning had essentially been a commercial center dependent on Guangzhou and on the Xi River system. In the late 1930s a railway was begun, joining Hengyang in southern Hunan province with Guilin, Liuzhou, Nanning, and the Vietnam border, while another was begun from Liuzhou to Guiyang in Guizhou. The construction of the Nanning section of this line was halted in 1940 by the Japanese advances, however, and was not completed until 1951, after which Nanning was directly linked with central China; completion of a branch line to the port of Zhanjiang (in Guangdong) in 1957 gave it a direct outlet to the sea. During the French war in Indochina (1946–54), Nanning was the chief support base in China for the Vietnamese forces, and during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and early 1970s it again became a staging post for the sending of supplies southward to North Vietnam. It was also an important military supply center during the Sino-Vietnam confrontation in 1979.
Formerly an essentially commercial and administrative center, Nanning from 1949 experienced industrial growth. The city is surrounded by a fertile agricultural region producing subtropical fruits and sugarcane; food processing, flour milling, sugar refining, meatpacking, and leather manufacture are important in the city. Nanning has been a center for printing and paper manufacture, and it is also important in heavy industry.
After the recognition of the Zhuang ethnic minority in 1958, Nanning became the chief center for the training of Zhuang leaders. Guangxi University, a large medical school, and a school of agriculture all date from the 1920s.
A cavern at Yiling, 19 km to the northwest, has a 1,100 m passage through picturesque stalactites. In the 1970s colored lights were installed and the cavern was developed as a tourist attraction.
Nanning served as host for annual China-ASEAN EXPO (CASEAN EXPO) in 2005 and as the venue for the 2006 "World Robotics Olympiad".
Geography
Nanning is located in the southern part of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, 160 km from the border with Vietnam. It has an area of 22,293 square kilometers.
The city is located on the north bank of the Yong River, the chief southern tributary of the Xi River, and lies some 30 km below the confluence of the Yu and the Zuo rivers. The Yong River (which later becomes the Yu River) affords a good route to Guangzhou and is navigable by shallow-draft junks and motor launches, even though it is obstructed by rapids and sandbanks.
Nanning is situated in a hilly basin with elevations between 70 and 500 m above sea-level. Qingxiu Mountain dominates the southern part of town.
Nanning's climate is sub-tropical and monsoonal and it is sometimes warm in winters as well as summers. Average temperature is 21.7°C. It is often windy or breezy and very rainy, with more than 1300 mm of precipitation annually. It is also frost-free for all but 3 or 4 days a year and never snows.
Climate
Nanning has a humid subtropical climate according to the Köppen climate classification. Summers are hot and humid with 33°C average highs in July and August. Winters are humid and chilly with 10°C average lows in January. The annual precipitation averages 1372mm (Source: ).
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
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| Avg high °C | 17 | 18 | 21 | 26 | 30 | 32 | 33 | 32 | 31 | 28 | 24 | 20 |
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| Avg low temperature °C | 10 | 11 | 15 | 19 | 23 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 20 | 15 | 11 |
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| Source: |
Flora and fauna
Nanning's tropical climate gives it an amazing amount of biodiversity. There are many species of animals and more than 3,000 species of plants. Its city flower is the Jaba flower, an evergreen shrub, and its city tree is almond tree which is regarded as the backbone tree used for greening and landscaping throughout the city.
Administrative divisions
Nanning has jurisdiction over 6 districts, 6 counties, and 6 development zones.
Districts:
- Xingning District
- Qingxiu District
- Jiangnan District
- Xixiangtang District
- Liangqing District
- Yongning District
Counties:
Development Zones:
- Nanning High-Tech Business DZ (???????????)
- Nanning Economic and technology DZ (?????????)
- Nanning Overseas Chinese Investment Zone (???????)
- Nanning Qingxiu Mountain Resort/ Tourism Area (????????????)
- Nanning Xiangsi Lake New Area (???????)
- Nanning Liujing Industrial Park (????????)
Cityscape
Economy
2004 GDP was 58.8 billion RMB, which was a 13% growth over the previous year. The GDP per capita was ¥16,121 (ca. US$1,950) in 2003, ranked no. 116 among 659 Chinese cities. Foreign exports in 2004 were 5 billion USD. Foreign fixed asset investment was 26 billion RMB. Nanning has 6 development zones and industrial parks, 3 of which accounted for 6 billion RMB of Nanning's GDP, more than 8% of Nanning's total.
Mineral resources include gold, iron, manganese, aluminum, quartz, silver, indium, coal, marble, and granite. One third of China's different types of mineral resources are found in Nanning.
Industrial zones
- Guilin High-tech Industrial Development Zone
- Nanning Economic & Technological Development Area
Transportation
Air
Rail
In November 2008, construction began for a high-speed rail line to link Nanning with Guangzhou City that will cut travel time between the two cities from 13 hrs to 3 hrs. The line is set to be 577 km long, of which 61% will be in Guangxi, and allow trains to run up to 200 km/hr. It will be completed in an estimated 54 months and cost about 41 billion yuan(about 6 billion U.S. dollars), according to the Ministry of Railways. The goal is to better integrate Pan-Pearl River Delta and southeast China to members of the ASEAN .
Demographics
As of 2006 , the total population of Nanning was 6.48 million, among which 2.45 million were urban residents after the adjustment of administrative divisions.
Nanning is a city where Zhuang ethnic group live in compact communities, and also the only city in all the autonomous regions in China features a southern flavor, together with open coastal areas. Thirty-five ethnic groups live in compact communities in Nanning, including people of Zhuang, Han, Yao, Hui, Miao, Dong, and Man minorities, among these groups the Zhuang people make up 56.3% of the total population. There is little serious ethnic tension because most of these urbanised ethnic minorities are indistinguishable from China's majority Han ethnic group.
Culture
Nanning is the center of science and technology, education, culture and sanitation in Guangxi Province. There are altogether 54 scientific research institutes subordinate to districts. 10 colleges and 50 trade schools are training specialty personnel of all kinds for society. Now there are 62 mass cultural organizations, 13 performing groups, 8 cinemas, 285 projecting units, over 70 karaoke halls and over 1000 newsstands. Bookshops and cultural markets can be found everywhere.
Tourism
Nanning is the jumping off point for scenic Guilin, with its world famous hill-scape, northern and western Guangxi and its minority villages, and the border with Vietnam in the south.
In 1998 alone, the city received 26,260 overseas tourists, earning foreign exchange totaling US$7.0663 million, some 5.01 percent of the city's total income. An addition of 6.89 million domestic visitors brought RMB 3.23 billion yuan into the city, some 19.95 percent of the total. Such achievements made Nanning the second place in the whole region in that year.
The major tourist attractions in Nanning are as following:
- Qingxiu Mountains Landscape (a park at provincial level)
- Guangxi Museum
- Guangxi Medicinal Botanical Garden
- Liangfengjiang River Scenic Spot (a state forest reserve)
- Phoenix Lake Holiday Site
- Minorities Cultural Relics Center
- Western Suburbs Zoo (including the country's largest Crocodile, Elephant,and Hippopotamus Enclosure)
- Golden Scented-Tea Park (the country's largest base for golden scented tea seeds)
- The Ruins of the Battlefield of Kunlunguan
- Yangmei Ancient Town
- Lingshui Hot Spring (a large constant hot spring)
- Mingxiu Park
- Daming Muntain
- The Beiqiu ruins of Dingshishan Mountain (one of 1997's 10 Greatest Archaeological Discoveries in China.)
Colleges and universities
- Guangxi University (founded 1928)
- Guangxi University for Nationalities
- Guangxi Medical University
- Guangxi Traditional Chinese Medical University
- Guangxi Teachers education university (founded 1953)
- Guangxi Arts College
- Guangxi College of Finance and Economics
- Guangxi Educational College
Note: Institutions without full-time bachelor programs are not listed.
Sister cities
External links
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