Shaanxi Province (China) – Start of the Silk

Road Shaanxi province, "Shaan" or "Qin" in short, is located at the geometric center of China. It has an area of 205.6 thousand square kilometers and the ancient capital city Xi'an as its capital. Both the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers cross the province, which has a Middle Temperate Zone, Warm Temperate Zone and Subtropical Zone. It is divided into north Shaanxi, Middle Shaanxi and South Shaanxi. Stretching across Middle Shaanxi, the 1600km long Qinling Mountains are the boundary of China's north and south parts.

Shaanxi has a long and splendid history and culture. The Yellow Emperor, China's cultural ancestor, created the Chinese civilization here 5,000 thousand years ago. Zhang Qian went on his diplomatic mission to the Central Asia from the ancient Chang'an here in the Western Han Dynasty and opened the Silk Road which lasted for over 2100 years and connected Asia and Europe. Ancient Chinese empires (in total 13 dynasties) always chose Shaanxi as a capital and the province is left with 79 tombs of emperors; thus Shaanxi has been called an "Oriental Pyramid". Shaanxi is home to nine World Heritage sites of three categories with an abundance of relics. One of them, the Stele Forest, referred to as the "Stone Library", is reputed to be a "natural Chinese History Museum". In recent five years 1.41 billion tourists, one-fifth of the world’s population, have visited Shaanxi.

Shaanxi is home to colorful natural beauty. The Hua Mountain is one of China's five most famous mountains. Taibai Mountain, the highest peak of the Qinling Mountains, offers splendid snowy scenery; the Qinling- Ta-pa Mountains stretch across South Shaanxi with scattered and intertwined lakes and mountain scenery; North Shaanxi is home to stunning views of the Red Stone Gorge, clean and clear Hongjiannao Lake, and the majestic Hukou Waterfalls. Over 70 percent of Shaanxi is covered by forests and grass and nearly 100 endangered species like panda, the golden monkey, the crested ibis and takin have made their homes here. Handan River in South Shaanxi has always maintained high-quality water and provides 70 percent of the water for the mid-route section of China's south-to-north water transfer project.

Shaanxi has abundant reserves of minerals. Gifted with an abundance of resources, Shaanxi is the birthplace of China's land petroleum industry. The first oil well was drilled there in 1907. One hundred and thirty-eight kinds of minerals have been found here with potential economic value of 42 trillion yuan, taking up one-third of the whole country. The proven reserves of coal and oil are 167 billion and 838 million tons respectively; predicted reserves of natural gas are 3.35 trillion cubic meters; the production of coal, oil and gas ranks among the top three in China, making Shaanxi an important energy base for China's west-east gas transmission project, West-East electricity transmission project and west-east coal transfer project. Yulin of Shaanxi province is now building a national high-end energy chemical engineering base and has built 4 pipelines to transmit natural gas to north China.

Shaanxi embraces everlasting innovation and vitality. Shaanxi leads China in scientific areas. It has 96 colleges and universities, over 1,000 scientific research institutes of various disciplines, and 92 national or provincial key labs. Shaanxi has formulated a strong technological innovation system of energy chemical engineering, advanced equipment manufacturing, electronic information, aeronautics and pharmaceutical industries and made major breakthroughs in heavy-duty transport aircraft, 3D printing and unmanned aerial vehicles. Self-developed ultra clean emission technology has improved coal-fired power plant emission standards even beyond those of natural gas. R&D of cutting edge technologies like Graphene, quantum communication, 5G mobile communication and spin magnetic storage have contributed significantly to the world’s development.

Shaanxi people enjoy a harmonious life. Shaanxi has a population of 37.9 million, living in 10 cities, one demonstration zone and 107 counties & districts. With advancing new urban development, Shaanxi is pursuing more modern and smart urban services, and more refined and complete rural facilities. Shaanxi has established high standards and wide-range systems of employment, social insurance, healthcare, education and housing. Shaanxi has over 5,000 km of highways and 4,900 km of railways; high speed trains have established a "one-day circle" around nearby capital cities. Xi'an has 36 international airlines flying to Moscow, Seattle, Tokyo and Helsinki. Its various ethnic groups have maintained a harmonious and respectful environment and forged the Shaanxi spirit of patriotism and trustworthiness, diligence and purity, generosity and tolerance, esteem and virtue. The spirit is mixed with a down-to-earth entrepreneurial attitude.