Xuchang

Administration

The prefecture-level city of Xuchang administers two districts, two county-level cities and two counties.

• Weidu District (魏都区)
• Jian'an District (建安区)
• Yuzhou City (禹州市)
• Changge City (长葛市)
• Yanling County (鄢陵县)
• Xiangcheng County (襄城县)

History

During the early Zhou dynasty, the Xuchang region was granted to the Xu family (Xǔ (許/许)) of the Jiang surname and became the State of Xu, ruled by Xu Wenshu. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period, Xuchang was successively occupied by the states of Zheng and Chu, and the Xu family was later relocated to Ye County by the Chu state.

Xuchang served as the warlord Cao Cao's de facto capital during the late Eastern Han dynasty. After finding the old capital Luoyang ravaged by war, Cao moved the imperial court and Emperor Xian to what is now Xuchang in 196.

In 220, Cao Cao's son and successor Cao Pi officially declared the city as the capital of the newly established state of Cao Wei. The city was renamed "Xuchang" taken to mean "Xu Rising". The Wei emperors held court at Xuchang until the capital was moved to Luoyang in the 220s.

Geography and climate

Xuchang ranges in latitude from 33° 16' to 34° 24' N and in longitude from 113° 03' to 114° 190' E.

Xuchang has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa), with four distinct seasons. Winters are cool and dry, summers hot and humid, spring begins early and is warm, and autumn is mild and provides a reasonable transition. Rain mainly falls from May to September, as more than 70% of the annual precipitation occurs then. The city has an annual mean temperature of at 14.6 °C, and its highest average monthly temperature is 27.0 °C in July and the lowest is 0.7 °C in January. Just over 700 mm of precipitation falls each year, the growing season averages 217 days and there is 2280 hours of sunshine per year.

|Jan record high C = 20.2 |Jan record low C = -16.4 |Feb record high C = 23.5 |Feb record low C = -19.6 |Mar record high C = 28.3 |Mar record low C = -11.5 |Apr record high C = 34.2 |Apr record low C = -2.9 |May record high C = 39.3 |May record low C = 3.2 |Jun record high C = 41.9 |Jun record low C = 11.6 |Jul record high C = 40.4 |Jul record low C = 16.4 |Aug record high C = 38.9 |Aug record low C = 11.7 |Sep record high C = 37.2 |Sep record low C = 6.3 |Oct record high C = 35.1 |Oct record low C = -0.9 |Nov record high C = 27.7 |Nov record low C = -13.1 |Dec record high C = 21.4 |Dec record low C = -14.0 | script-title=zh:许昌 - 气象数据 -中国天气网 | access-date = 29 November 2022}}

Economy

Xuchang is an important center of the Chinese tobacco industry.

The manufacturing industry the city is best known for is wigs and hair extensions with exports worth about $1 billion in 2016. The industry started around 1900 when German merchants purchased hair from the local area. It was revived in the 1980s and in 1990 a local entrepreneur Zheng Youquan merged a number of smaller hair manufacturing workshops into Rebecca Hair Products, a larger entity that quickly expanded to international markets and became the largest wig maker in the world.

Education

Xuchang University is in the city.

Tourism

Famous tourist attractions include Baling Bridge and Chunqiu Tower.

Sister city

On 18 December 2006, the Oromia Region government in Ethiopia signed an agreement with Henan Province to establish a sister city program with Ambo. Bolingbrook, Illinois is also a sister city of Xuchang.

Notes

References

2. "China: Hénán (Prefectures, Cities, Districts and Counties) - Population Statistics, Charts and Map".
3. 河南省统计局、国家统计局河南调查总队. (November 2017). "《河南统计年鉴－2017》". [[China Statistics Press]].
4. "河南统计年鉴—2017". www.ha.stats.gov.cn.
5. "China: Hénán (Prefectures, Cities, Districts and Counties) - Population Statistics, Charts and Map".
6. link. [[China Meteorological Administration]]
7. (May 10, 2017). "China Focus: Century-old wig industry reviving under B&R initiative".
8. [http://oromiagov.org/newsdetail.asp?NewsID=286 "Oromia State Regional Government and the delegation of Henan Province sign an agreement on the Establishment of Friendship City Relationship"] (Oromia State government website)