Shaanxi

Shaanxi (Chinese:陕西, also sometimes called Shenshi) is a province in east China. The word "Shaan" (viz Shanzhou) is a place in Henan Province. "Xi" means "west". So "Shaanxi" means "the place to the west of Shaan".

Although in pinyin, "Shaanxi" is spelled exactly the same as "Shanxi", the only difference in how the two words are pronounced is that the first syllable in "Shanxi" is said using the first tone in Mandarin, while the first syllable in "Shaanxi" is said with the third tone. Since tone markers are not usually used to show how to pronounce the two different names, the first word in "Shaanxi" is spelled using the Gwoyeu Romatzyh method instead, which indicates tones by adding extra letters to a syllable.

The river Wei He runs across it. It has a large population of more than 30 million people. The capital of Shaanxi is Xi'an. It abbreviates as Shan (陕) or Qin (秦), also known as SanQin (三秦, meaning Three Qins).

History

January 23, 1556 – A massive earthquake, measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, strikes Shaanxi, killing over 850,000 people. This is the most devastating earthquake in recorded history.

Political divisions

Shaanxi Province is divided into ten municipalities:

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v t e Provincial-level divisions of the People's Republic of China
Provinces	Anhui Fujian Gansu Guangdong Guizhou Hainan Hebei Heilongjiang Henan Hubei Hunan Jiangsu Jiangxi Jilin Liaoning Qinghai Shaanxi Shandong Shanxi Sichuan Yunnan Zhejiang
Autonomous regions	Guangxi Inner Mongolia Ningxia Tibet Xinjiang
Municipalities	Beijing Chongqing Shanghai Tianjin
Special administrative regions	Hong Kong¹ Macau¹
Other	Taiwan¹
Note: Taiwan is claimed by the People's Republic of China but administered by the Republic of China (see Political status of Taiwan).