Geography
| Xining | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 西宁 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 西寧 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Postal Map | Silung or Ziling | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | western calm or western peace | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tibetan name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tibetan | ཟི་ལིང | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mongolian name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Mongolian | Сэлэнг | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Xining is located in the eastern part of Qinghai Province and lies on the Huangshui River. It has a total area of 350 km².
Xining is located on the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the upper reaches of the Huangshui River. It is the political, economic, and cultural center of Qinghai Province with an average altitude of about 2,200 metres (7,200 ft). Human activity in the region can be traced to 2,100 years ago. During the Western and Eastern Han dynasties, owing to its developing agriculture, Xining was paid noticed due to its economic and military significance. As well as being an important hinge between the Central Plains and the western part of China in ancient times, Xining was an important link in the Silk Road. It continues to be an important rail and road link to the hinterlands of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Xining has also been dubbed the Summer Resort Capital of China owing to its cool summer, with a cold semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk). Conditions are influenced by the aridity and high altitude. Lows are cold or cool throughout the year, and highs are often more than 15 °C (27 °F) warmer than lows. Monthly daily averages range from −7.4 °C (18.7 °F) in January to 17.3 °C (63.1 °F) in July; the year averages at 6.1 °C (43.0 °F). Rainfall falls mainly from May to September, and the area is often dry and sunny, with nearly 2680 hours of bright sunshine per year.
| Climate data for Xining (1971−2000) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 1.4 (34.5) |
4.3 (39.7) |
9.5 (49.1) |
15.9 (60.6) |
19.8 (67.6) |
22.6 (72.7) |
24.6 (76.3) |
23.9 (75.0) |
19.0 (66.2) |
13.9 (57.0) |
7.8 (46.0) |
2.8 (37.0) |
13.79 (56.83) |
| Average low °C (°F) | −13.6 (7.5) |
−10 (14) |
−3.7 (25.3) |
1.9 (35.4) |
6.3 (43.3) |
9.5 (49.1) |
11.5 (52.7) |
11.1 (52.0) |
7.5 (45.5) |
1.5 (34.7) |
−5.6 (21.9) |
−11.6 (11.1) |
0.40 (32.72) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 1.2 (0.047) |
2.2 (0.087) |
7.0 (0.276) |
19.0 (0.748) |
43.0 (1.693) |
59.2 (2.331) |
88.2 (3.472) |
74.0 (2.913) |
54.4 (2.142) |
20.5 (0.807) |
3.9 (0.154) |
1.2 (0.047) |
373.8 (14.717) |
| % humidity | 45 | 44 | 47 | 48 | 53 | 60 | 65 | 66 | 68 | 63 | 54 | 49 | 55.2 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 2.7 | 3.4 | 5.2 | 6.5 | 10.7 | 14.6 | 15.0 | 13.8 | 13.1 | 7.3 | 2.4 | 2.2 | 96.9 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 209.8 | 204.9 | 222.5 | 241.0 | 253.9 | 236.5 | 243.8 | 244.4 | 196.9 | 208.1 | 212.7 | 201.2 | 2,675.7 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Xining
Famous quotes containing the word geography:
“Where the heart is, there the muses, there the gods sojourn, and not in any geography of fame. Massachusetts, Connecticut River, and Boston Bay, you think paltry places, and the ear loves names of foreign and classic topography. But here we are; and, if we tarry a little, we may come to learn that here is best. See to it, only, that thyself is here;—and art and nature, hope and fate, friends, angels, and the Supreme Being, shall not absent from the chamber where thou sittest.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“At present cats have more purchasing power and influence than the poor of this planet. Accidents of geography and colonial history should no longer determine who gets the fish.”
—Derek Wall (b. 1965)
“The totality of our so-called knowledge or beliefs, from the most casual matters of geography and history to the profoundest laws of atomic physics or even of pure mathematics and logic, is a man-made fabric which impinges on experience only along the edges. Or, to change the figure, total science is like a field of force whose boundary conditions are experience.”
—Willard Van Orman Quine (b. 1908)