Dingxi (simplified Chinese: 定西; pinyin: Dìng xī) is a prefecture-level city in China's Gansu province. Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiǎntǐzì; also called 简化字/簡化字, jiǎnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Hanyu pinyin (Simplified Chinese: 汉语拼音; Traditional Chinese: 漢語拼音; Hanyu Pinyin: , lit. ... A prefecture-level city (地级市 Pinyin: dìjí shì, literally region-level city) or prefecture-level municipality is an administrative division of the Peoples Republic of China, ranking below a province and above a county in Chinas administrative structure. ... Gansu (Simplified Chinese: 甘肃; Traditional Chinese: 甘肅; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kan-su, Kansu, or Kan-suh) is a province located in the northwest of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Geography and Climate

Dingxi City is located in central Gansu province, 98 km east of Lanzhou, giving it the nickname the "eastern gateway". The Wei River, a tributary of the Yellow River flows through the district and provides it with the majority of its water. Dingxi is semi-arid, with little precipitation. Even though sunlight here can be intense, temperatures are generally cool. The surrounding terrain is mostly loess hills and ravines in the north and highlands in the south. The area is 20,300 km². 　 Lanzhou (Simplified Chinese: 兰州; Traditional Chinese: 蘭州; pinyin: Lánzhōu; Wade-Giles: Lan-chou; sometimes seen transliterated as Lanchow) is the capital of the Gansu province in China. ... The Wei River (渭河, pinyin: Wei He; Wade-Giles: Wei Ho) is a river in central China. ... For other Yellow Rivers, see Yellow River (disambiguation). ... Among the classifications of soil types, loess (pronounced lös, from the German Löß, and ultimately from Swiss German lösch, loose) is a fine, silty, windblown (eolian) type of unconsolidated deposit, or, sometimes the term refers to the soil derived from it. ...

History

Dingxi was important in the development of some of China's earliest cultures, specifically along the Wei River, one of the Yellow River's biggest tributaries. Numerous stone age sites from various cultures are found throughout the area.

Administration

Dingxi has 1 urban district, 6 counties, and 119 towns with a total population of 2,960,000.

City District:

• Anding (安定)

Counties:

• Tongwei (通渭县)
• Longxi (陇西县)
• Lintao (临逃县)
• Weiyuan (渭源县)
• Zhang County (漳县)
• Min County (岷县)

Economy

Agriculture and natural resource based industries are the key to Dingxi's economy. There are more than 300 different kinds of Chinese medicinal plants and herbs found in the area. Dingxi's Anding County is China's number one grower of yams. Zanthoxylum or pricklyash fruit, walnuts, wild apricots, and other fruit are some of Dingxi's famous dried exports. Prickly ash refers to two different species: Aralia spinosa and Zanthoxylum americanum. ...

External links

• Official Website(Chinese)