Elevation

The province has three distinctive landforms from north to south. The Loess Plateau in the north has an elevation of 800-1,300 meters, and accounts for 45 percent of the total area of the province. The Central Shaanxi Plain in the middle averages an elevation of 520 meters. The Qinling and Daba mountainous areas in the south include the Qinling Mountains, Daba Mountains, and Hanjiang River Valley, accounting for 36 percent of the total area of the province. The Qinling Mountains measures 1,000-3,000 meters in elevation and the Daba Mountains in the southernmost of the province, 1,500-2,000 meters.

Natural Resources

1. Minerals

So far, 91 kinds of minerals have been found in the province, 58 of which have deposits ranking among the top ten in China. The reserves and output of gold rank fifth and fourth respectively. The output of molybdenum amounts to half of the country’s total. The proved deposits of coal, the most abundant mineral in the province, come to 161.8 billion tons. The Shenmu-Fugu Coalfield in northern Shaanxi has reserves of 134 billion tons. It is one of the best fields in the world because of its thick coal layer and easy access and exploitation. In addition, northern Shaanxi has a gas field with proved reserves of 350 billion cubic meters.

2. Hydropower

North of the Qinling Mountains is the Yellow River system, composed of the Weihe, Jinghe, Luohe, and Wuding rivers. South of the mountains is the Yangtze River system consisting of the Hanjiang, Danjiang, and Jialing rivers. The Hanjiang River, the largest river in the province, provides more than half of the province’s total water runoff. Shaanxi has an annual water runoff of 42.6 billion cubic meters, which has a power-generation potential of 14 million kw.

Shaanxi has more than 750 species of wild vertebrates, 79 of them rare. It is home to 12 species of animals and birds under state protection including the giant panda, snub-nosed monkey, and clouded leopard.

The province has 59,300 square kilometers of forest in the Qinling, Daba, Guanshan, Huanglong, and Qiaoshan mountainous areas. It has a 28.8 percent rate of forest coverage. It has 3,300-plus species of wild plants, 37 of them rare. The province has 800 species of medicinal plants of great economic value including sea-buckthorn and gynostemma pentaphylla. It leads the country in the output and quality of raw lacquer. The traditional exports of the province are dates, walnut meat, and tung oil.

Dispersed in Shaanxi are 72 imperial mausoleums, witness to the ancient economy and culture. The province is best known for ten scenic spots including the Mausoleum of Huang Di, the Qin terra-cotta warriors and horses, the Xi’an Forest of Stone Tablets, the Shaanxi Museum of History, and the city gate and wall of Xi’an. The Qin terra-cotta warriors and horses are often called the Eighth Wonder of the World and have been included by UNESCO in the list of World Cultural Heritages.

Environment and current issues

Desertification and soil erosion.

In ancient times, Shaanxi was endowed with lush grass and dense forest and was known as Nature’s Storehouse and Green Sea on Land, but over the course of many dynasties the beautiful land was gradually destroyed and replaced by the Loess Plateau and crisscrossed by gullies because of severe desertification, war and soil erosion. The Yan’an and Yulin areas are the most affected by the erosion on the upper reaches of the Yellow River. This section of the Yellow River brings down more than 100 million tons of silt per year.

The project of Beautifying Mountains and Rivers of Shaanxi has been launched in the northern part of the province. The project focuses on the ecological environment, especially soil erosion, and covers the sandstorm-hit areas along the Great Wall, the Loess Plateau, the gullies in northern Shaanxi and areas north of the Weihe River, the Central Shaanxi Plain, and the Qinling and Daba mountainous areas. It is expected that after several decades of effort, Shaanxi will become a land of green mountains, clean water, blue sky, and wealthy people and thus achieve sustainable economic and social development.

Population growth rate: 0.713%

Life expectancy (average)

Ethnicity: The Han ethnic group accounts for 99.4 percent of the total. Other groups include the Hui, the Manchu,and the Mongolian.

Literacy:

Primary-school graduates: 13.8 million (male: 6.93 million; female: 6.87 million)

Junior-middle-school graduates: 10.06 million (male: 5.68 million; female: 4.38 million)

Senior-middle-school graduates: 3.71 million (male: 2.14 million; female: 1.57 million)

University and college graduates: 854,000 (male: 531,000; female: 323,000)

Total population of age 15 and over who cannot read or write: 4.28 million (male: 1.37 million; female: 2.91 million)

General Domestic Product (GDP): 148.76 billion yuan (1999)

GDP growth rate: 8.4% (1999)

Average GDP per capita: 3,834 yuan

GDP ratio (1^st, 2^nd, and tertiary industries):  20.5: 41.1: 38.4%

Poverty alleviation plan

Inflation rate:

Unemployment rate:

Revenues: 933 billion yuan

Industrial output value: 129.5 billion yuan

Agricultural output value: 34 billion yuan

Foreign trade:

In 1999, the province had an annual import and export volume of US$2.033 billion, its exports hitting US$1.177 billion, and obtained a turnover of US$86.07 million from contracted labor services in foreign countries, which involved 1,883 technicians and specialized personnel.

Foreign investment:

In 1999 the province had 157 projects involving foreign capital and had an actual utilization of US$265 million in foreign funds. It had 2,980 foreign-funded enterprises, and many transnational corporations have settled in the province including the Brother Company of Japan, the MEMC Corp. of the United States, the Philip Corp. of Holland, and the Northern Electric Appliance Corp. of Canada.

Pillar industries:

Electronics, machinery, pharmaceutical industry, chemicals, energy, foodstuff, and tourism.

The province is served by a telephone switching system of 2.532 million computer-controlled telephones and 4 million ordinary telephones and mobile phones. The number of hand-free telephone users exceeds 3 million. The province averages one telephone per person.

Radios and TV stations

Shaanxi has 11 TV stations and 11 radio stations, among which the Shaanxi People's Broadcasting Station is the largest of its kind

Shaanxi has 13 main and feeder railways. The Xi'an Railway Station has 12 marshalling yards. It is a transportation hub in the northwestern region linking with the northwest, southwest, the east, and the north of China. The new Eurasian Continental Bridge from China's Lianyungang to the Netherlands' Rotterdam passes through the province. A new railway running north and south is under construction and will solve the transportation bottleneck in northern and southern Shaanxi.

Highway

The province is constructing a highway transportation network comprised of nine national highways with Xi'an at the core. The province has a total expressway length of 385 kilometers, and the highways now reach 95 percent of the villages.

Airport

The Xianyang Airport is the largest air hub in northwest China, and the expansion of the airport has been started. The province has opened 119 domestic and international air routes and has flights to 51 cities in China.