Overview

Weinan City covers one district of Linwei, two county-leveled cities of Hancheng and Huayin and eight counties of Hua Xian, Tongguan, Dali, Pucheng, Dengcheng, Baishui, Heyang and Fuping. Weinan has a total population of 5,310,000 and covers an area of 13,000 sq km. Post code: 714000. Area code: 0913.

Weinan is a destination that tourists dream of and it set off the attraction of the ancient capital of Xi’an. There are many outstanding scenic spots in Weinan, such as Mt. Huashan, a mountain known for the sheer cliffs and as one of the five most famous mountains in China. The Yellow River flows by Weinan with the ferryboats moving back and forth like a shuttle, the pearl-like geysers dotting in the green water lilies and the rare waterfowls like red-crowned cranes, black storks and white swans living in the bulrushes. Other famous scenic spots include Liugu springs that are 2.5 km south the city, the bamboo and pine forests in Qinling Mountains, the jade green cypress forest in Qiaoshan Mountain in Fuping County, Lianshan Hot spring in Dali County and the orchards along Weihe River, and so on.

Weinan has colorful local culture. It is the birthplace of the clapper operas in northern China (clapper opera is also called Bangzi or Bangzi qiang. It is a general term of some local operas, accompanied by wooden clappers and other instruments, popular in Shanxi, Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei provinces, etc). Several local operas are popular here, such as Shaanxi opera (also called Qin Qiang, and it is very popular in northwestern provinces of China) and Tongzhou Bangzi (Tongzhou is the name for the present Dali County). Other local operas are Bowls Tune Wanwan Qiang, wan means bowls. It is called Wanwan Qiang because the band hit a bronze bowl to accompany the opera singers) and so on. The folk arts of stone carving, woodcarving and shadow play are very popular in Weinan. Weinan has been the hometown of several famous people in the Chinese History, for example, Cangxie, a historiographer in early ancient times who invented Chinese characters and was called the character-sage, Dukang, the wine-sage and the first person to brew wine, Sima Qian, 145 or 135BC---87BC, a historian in Western Han Dynasty (206BC-8AD), Guo Ziyi , a general in Tang Dynasty (618-907), Bai Juyi, 772-846, one of the most prolific of all Chinese poets, best known for his short occasional verses written in simple language and Yang Hucheng, a Kuomintang (KMT) general who detained Chiang Kai-shek, former leader of Chinese KMT, in Xi’an to force Chiang to end civil war and coordinate with the forces of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to resist the Japanese aggressors.

There are also many culture relics in Weinan. Dali Man and Shayuan Culture excavated in Dali County date back 200,000 years. Other culture relics include Cangxie’s hometown in Baishui County, the ancestral temple and the tomb of Sima Qian in Zhichuan Township in Hancheng City (With complete sleeping halls and delicate constructions, the temple halls represent the typical Han construction culture) and the Confucian Temple in Hancheng City. In Weinan, there are 20 mausoleums of the emperors of Tang Dynasty (618-907). The most majestic one is Qiao Mausoleum of Emperor Ruizong (reign year: 684) in Pucheng County.