Xichang
Encyclopedia
Xichang is a city in and the seat of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture
Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture
Liangshan , officially the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture in Sichuan, south central China whose capital is Xichang. Liangshan has an area of 60,423 km² and over 4.5 million inhabitants...

, in the south of Sichuan
Sichuan
' , known formerly in the West by its postal map spellings of Szechwan or Szechuan is a province in Southwest China with its capital in Chengdu...

 province, People's Republic of China. In 2004 it had a population of 126,700.

Geography

Xichang lies in near the border of southern Sichuan and is in a rather mountainous region of the province. The city is just northeast of the prefecture-level city
Prefecture-level city
A prefectural level city , prefectural city or prefectural level municipality is an administrative division of the People's Republic of China, ranking below a province and above a county in China's administrative structure. Prefectural level cities form the second level of the administrative...

 of Panzhihua
Panzhihua
Panzhihua is a prefecture-level city located in the far south of Sichuan province of Southwest China, on the confluence of the Jinsha and Yalong Rivers. It has an administrative area of , and a total population of 1,100,800 as of 2007. It is the only city in China having a name of a flower, and...

. The Anling River, which runs into the Jinsha River
Jinsha River
Jinsha River is the westernmost of the major headwater streams of the Yangtze River, southwestern China.Its headwaters rise in the Wulan and Kekexili ranges in western Qinghai province, to the south of the Kunlun Mountains, and on the northern slope of the Tanggula Mountains on the border of the...

 (Yangtze River headwaters), is the main river in the area.

Owing to its low latitude and high elevation, Xichang has a mild climate. Under the Köppen system
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...

, the city belongs to the humid subtropical zone (Köppen
Köppen climate classification
The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...

 Cwa). Winters feature mild days and cool nights, while summers are very warm and humid. Monthly daily mean temperatures range from 9.6 °C (49.3 °F) in January to 22.3 °C (72.1 °F) in July. Unlike much of the province, which lies in the Sichuan Basin
Sichuan basin
The Sichuan Basin is a lowland region in southwestern China. Despite its historical name, it is not only synonymous to Sichuan province, comprising its central and eastern portions as well as part of Chongqing Municipality...

, humidity levels in winter are rather low, but like the rest of the province, rainfall is concentrated in the months of June through September, and the city is virtually rainless in winter.

Transportation

Xichang Railway Station (西昌站) is a main station on the railway line Kunming - Chengdu. A fast express train line is under construction which should shorten travelling times. There are also some other stations in the city, including the Xichang north railway station and Xichang south railway station.

The city possesses its own airport, Xichang Qingshan Airport
Xichang Qingshan Airport
Xichang Qingshan Airport is an airport serving Xichang, the capital city of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, China. The airport started an expansion project in February 2010.-Airlines and destinations:...

, which is attached to the spaceport by a railroad line and a motorway directly.

Xichang lies on the Motorway Kunming - Chengdu. The section to the south is open for traffic, the mountainous section to Chengdu in the north is still under construction.

Spaceport

Xichang's spaceport
Spaceport
A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching spacecraft, by analogy with seaport for ships or airport for aircraft. The word spaceport, and even more so cosmodrome, has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories...

 is located about 64 km northwest of the city and went into operation in 1984. Communications satellites are the most common payload to be inserted into orbit from here. A number of Long March 3
Long March 3
The Long March 3 , also known as the Chang Zheng 3, CZ-3 and LM-3, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket. It was launched from Launch Complex 1 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre. It was a 3-stage rocket, and was mostly used to place DFH-2-class communications satellites into geosynchronous...

 rockets have been launched from the spaceport.

On January 26, 1995, a Long March 2E rocket veered off course two seconds after take-off from the spaceport and exploded, killing at least six on the ground. On February 14, 1996, a similar failure during the launch of Intelsat 708
Intelsat 708
Intelsat 708 was a telecommunications satellite built by the American company Space Systems/Loral intended to be launched into a geostationary orbit and operated by Intelsat...

. The rocket veered severely off course right after clearing the launch tower and landed in a rural village. Xinhua News Agency
Xinhua News Agency
The Xinhua News Agency is the official press agency of the government of the People's Republic of China and the biggest center for collecting information and press conferences in the PRC. It is the largest news agency in the PRC, ahead of the China News Service...

initially reported 6 deaths and 57 injuries.

External links

  • http://www.astronautix.com/sites/xichang.htm
  • http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/world/china/xichang.htm
  • A World Away From Beijing, By ROSS TERRILL. The New York Times, December 20, 1987.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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