It is located at the junction of Gansu, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia.[4] Historically, it was a military hub, a vital communication center on the Silk Road, an important ferry, and also a major transit route to Hexi, Xinjiang, Ningxia, and Inner Mongolia.[citation needed] Since 1933, the name of the county has been Jingtai (Chinese: 景泰; pinyin: Jǐngtài), which means "prosperity of the scene, peace of the country and the people".[2]
The county is largely hilly and mountainous, with an elevation ranging from 1,276 metres (4,186 ft) to 3,321 metres (10,896 ft) above sea level.[2] The county is home to a number of prominent tourist sites, such as the Yellow River Stone Forest, Yongtai Fortress, and other locations.[4]
In 1955, the county was put under the jurisdiction of Dingxi Prefecture [zh].[3]
On April 4, 1958, Jingtai County was abolished and merged into Gaolan County.[3] Shortly after, on December 20, 1958, Gaolan County was abolished and merged into the city of Baiyin.[3] On November 15, 1961, Jingtai County was re-established under the jurisdiction of Baiyin.[3]
From October 1963 to August 1985, Jingtai County was placed under the city of Wuwei, but was subsequently restored to Baiyin, which it remains part of today.[3]
As of 2019, Jingtai County had a gross domestic product totaling ¥5.587 billion, and consumer retail sales totaling ¥2.02 billion.[2] That year, the annual per capitadisposable income of the county's urban residents totaled ¥28,264, and reached ¥11,719 for the county's rural residents.[2] The county's primary sector comprises about 29% of Jingtai's gross domestic product, the secondary sector comprises about 25%, and the tertiary sector comprises about 46%.[1]
Jingtai has 385 million tons in gypsum reserves, the second-largest amount in China.[2] The county also has over 800 million tons of limestone, 380 million tons of coal, over 20 million tons of quartz, over 2 million tons of copper, and in addition some reserves of gold, silver, manganese, Moyu (black) jade, clay, and serpentine.
Geographical location and special irrigation system provide Jingtai County with unique conditions for agricultural development. The Yellow River flows through Jingtai County for 112 kilometres (70 mi).[2] The county is home to the Jingtaichuan Electric Power Lifting Irrigation Project (Chinese: 景泰川电力提灌工程),[2] which is the largest in all of China,[2] and in Asia.[8][better source needed] There are two large-scale, nationwide noted, irrigation projects with a total capacity of 245,600 kW and a water lifting capacity of 28.6 m³ per second.
The whole county has arable land of over 680 square kilometers and irrigated lands of nearly 400 square kilometers. Located at 37 degrees north latitude, Jingtai County experiences long hours of light and a large temperature difference between day and night.[8][better source needed] Crops grown in Jingtai include wheat, corn, pears, melons and apricot.[9]
The special agricultural products mainly include desert wolfberry, pear, red date, Dajie apricot, apple, small grains, desert melon, Gobi fish, shrimp, crab, licorice, sheep.[citation needed] Among these products, "Jingtai wolfberry", "Tiaoshan pear", "Longwan apple", and "Cuiliu mutton" have obtained the certification for national agricultural product geographical indication.[citation needed]
A total of 62 products meets the "san pin yi biao" (Chinese: 三品一标; three types of products and the agricultural product geographical indication) and 47 products are considered as ‘green’, pollution-free, non-toxic, safe, and high-quality food.[8][better source needed]
Jingtai county is home to the following touristic sites:
Yellow River Stone Forest
Yellow River Stone Forest
Yellow River Stone Forest is located in the southeast of Jingtai County, 70 kilometres (43 mi) from the county's urban center.[4] It gained international prominence after the Gansu ultramarathon disaster, in which 21 runners died from hypothermia, happened there in May 2021.[10]
Its landform is termed an "alluvialsandstonefenglin" (砂砾岩峰林).[11][12]Fenglin, short for fenglin karst, is "a karst with isolated hills rising from a plain".[13] Stone forest (石林) in Chinese refers to pinnacle-shaped karst,[13] such as the ones in the Yellow River Stone Forest.
The park has a total area of 50 square kilometres (19 sq mi), and the ancient stone forest group covers 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi), which is formed in the lower Pleistocene Wuquanshan proluvial gravel layer 2.1 million years ago.[4] The action of neotectonic movements, rain and flood erosions and gravitational collapse forms this peak cluster landscape with vertical and sharply contoured rock strata.[4] It is a popular tourist attraction.[4][14]
Yongtai Fortress
Yongtai Fortress is located in the north foot of Tiger Mountain (Chinese: 老虎山; pinyin: Lǎohǔ Shān), in Sitan Township [zh], 25 kilometres (16 mi) west of the county's urban center.[4] It is also called Yongtai tortoise city because of its tortoise-like castle.[4] It a representative and well preserved military castle of Ming Dynasty along the Silk Road.[4] Historically, the castle is an important part of the Ming Great Wall, which is built as a border defense system.[4] Yongtai Fortress now serves as a national cultural relic, a historical village representing the culture of Gansu Province, and site for the shooting of various movies and television shows.[4]
Shoulushan National Forest Park
Shoulushan National Forest Park is located at the junction of Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia.[4] It is 39 kilometres (24 mi) away from the urban center Jingtai County, and covers an area of 10.86 square kilometres (4.19 sq mi).[4] With an average altitude of 2,800 metres (9,200 ft), the park's monthly temperature from May to October averages between 2.2 °C (36.0 °F) and 15.2 °C (59.4 °F).[4]
Great Dunhuang Film and Television City
The Great Dunhuang Film and Television City (Chinese: 大敦煌影视城) is a large filmmaking complex located along Gansu Provincial Road 201, located in Dashuizha Village (Chinese: 大水䃎村), in the town of Xiquan [zh].[4] The complex includes many ancient buildings, caves, archways, city gate towers, a street imitating Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty, artificial lakes, and other natural scenes.[4] Within the film-making studio murals, sculptures, and giant Buddhas are created in the style of Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang.[4]
Over 20 kilometers away from the Jingtai County, the Great Dunhuang Film-making Base is on the road that connects Yellow River Stone Forest, Yongtai Fortress and Shoulushan National Forest Park. Convenient transportation and location advantages of natural scenes provide this place with unique conditions for creating films and art work represent Western China.[15][better source needed]
In 2004, Chen Jialin, a famous Chinese director, happened to find this red stone mountain on the way to Jingtai County. The strange trend of this mountain with uneven pits and densely distributed caves is similar to Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang. He decided to copy the Mogao Grottoes here as the location for his TV series The Great Dunhuang.[15][better source needed]
In 2005, Jingtai County invested 6 million yuan to build this film-making base.[15][better source needed]
In 2006, the Great Dunhuang Film-making Base was listed as a provincial film-making base. More than 60 movies and TV series have been filmed here by 2019.[15][better source needed]
Jingtai County has held the Yellow River Stone Forest international hiking race with over tens of thousands of people, the Yellow River Stone Forest culture and tourism festival, Wufo red date festival, and other major events representing unique scenes and agricultural products of Jingtai.[16]
^ abc景泰年鉴2020全本 [Jingtai Yearbook 2020 Complete Edition]. www.jingtai.gov.cn (in Chinese). 景泰县人民政府网 [Jingtai County People's Government website]. 2021-03-25. Archived from the original on 2021-05-27. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
^ abcdefghijklmn"景泰概况" [Overview of Jingtai]. www.jingtai.gov.cn (in Chinese). 景泰县人民政府网 [Jingtai County People's Government]. Archived from the original on 2021-05-27. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
^ abcdefghijklmnop"历史沿革" [Historical development]. www.jingtai.gov.cn (in Chinese). 景泰县人民政府网 [Jingtai County People's Government website]. Archived from the original on 2021-05-26. Retrieved 2021-05-26.
^ abcdefghijklmnopq"风景名胜" [Scenic Spots]. www.jingtai.gov.cn (in Chinese). 景泰县人民政府网 [Jingtai County People's Government]. Archived from the original on 2021-05-27. Retrieved 2021-05-27.
^ abc"甘肃景泰在天津推介旅游资源和农特产品-甘肃旅游网" [Gansu Jingtai promotes tourism resources and special agricultural products in Tianjin-Gansu region]. www.tourgansu.com (in Chinese). Retrieved 2020-04-27.
^ ab"自然地理" [Physical Geography]. www.jingtai.gov.cn (in Chinese). 景泰县人民政府网 [Jingtai County People's Government].
