Xuchang

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For the county of the same name administered under Xuchang City, see Xuchang County.

许昌市
Xǔchāng Shì

Administration Type	Prefecture-level city
Area	4,996 km²
Population	4.45 million
GDP	¥8,153 per capita (2002)
Major Nationalities	Han
County-level divisions	6
Township-level divisions	Unknown
Area Code	374

Xuchang (Simplified Chinese: 许昌; Traditional Chinese: 許昌; pinyin: Xǔchāng) is a prefecture-level city in central Henan province, People's Republic of China. It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to the northwest, Kaifeng to the northeast, Zhoukou to the east, Luohe to the southeast, and Pingdingshan to the southwest.

1 Administration
2 History
3 Agriculture and industry
4 Tourism
5 Sister city
6 Notes
7 External links

[edit] Administration

The prefecture-level city of Xuchang administers 1 district, 2 county-level cities and 3 counties.

Weidu District (魏都区)
Yuzhou City (禹州市)
Chang'ge City (长葛市)
Xuchang County (许昌县)
Yanling County (鄢陵县)
Xiangcheng County (襄城县)

[edit] History

According to tradition, the city was named after Xu, an ancient state led by tribal leader Xuyou during the Spring and Autumn Period of the Zhou Dynasty. In ancient times, the city occupied a strategic location in central China.

Xuchang served as the warlord Cao Cao's de facto capital during the Three Kingdoms Period. After finding the Han Dynasty capital Luoyang ravaged by war, Cao moved the imperial court and the emperor 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 Wei. The city was renamed "Xuchang", meaning "Xu Rising". The Wei emperors held court at Xuchang until the capital was moved to Luoyang in the 220s.

[edit] Agriculture and industry

Xuchang is an important center of the Chinese tobacco industry. However, due to economic reasons many farmers have chosen not to plant tobacco anymore.

[edit] Tourism

Famous tourist attractions include Baling Bridge and Chunqiu Tower.

[edit] 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.^[1]

[edit] Notes

^ "Oromia State Regional Government and the delegation of Henan Province sign an agreement on the Establishment of Friendship City Relationship" (Oromia State government website)

[edit] External links

Government website of Xuchang (in Simplified Chinese)

Prefecture-level divisions of Henan

Prefecture-level cities:	Anyang \| Hebi \| Jiaozuo \| Kaifeng \| Luohe \| Luoyang \| Nanyang \| Pingdingshan Puyang \| Sanmenxia \| Shangqiu \| Xinxiang \| Xinyang \| Xuchang \| Zhengzhou \| Zhoukou \| Zhumadian
Sub-prefecture-level cities:	Jiyuan