It borders the provincial capital of Zhengzhou to its southwest, Kaifeng to its southeast, Hebi and Anyang to its north, Jiaozuo to its west, and the provinces of Shanxi and Shandong to its northwest and east respectively.
Xinxiang was site of the Battle of Muye where the Shang Dynasty was overthrown by the Zhou.[citation needed] Xinxiang dates from the Sui dynasty (581-618) and was a small market center before being developed as an industrial center in the 1950s.[citation needed] It also served as the capital of the short-lived Pingyuan Province, which covered neighbouring cities -Anyang, Hebi, Puyang, Jiaozuo and Heze, between 1949 and 1952, for the purpose of pacifying Nationalist guerillas through military action and accepting surrender.[citation needed]
In July 2021, Xinxiang was harshly impacted by the flooding in Henan, which affected about 470,000 people and over 55,000 hectares (140,000 acres) of cropland.[3]
According to a 2015 report by Greenpeace, Henan (Xinxiang's province) has the most severe air pollution of all the provinces in China, with an average PM2.5 concentration of 103.3 μg/m3 (micrograms per cubic meter).[5] The report found that Xinxiang has the 13th most polluted city air in China, with a PM2.5 concentration of 114.6 μg/m3 (over 11 times the safe limit established by the WHO) during the first quarter of 2015.[citation needed] Swiss firm IQAir reported that Xinxiang suffered from an average PM2.5 concentration of 51.5 μg/m3 in 2020, ranking 31st in China,[6] and 89th in the world.[7]
In 2015, environmental non-governmental organization Airman (Chinese: 好空气保卫侠) purchased wheat samples farmed in the town of Wangcun, in Xinxiang, near a battery factory, and found it had cadmium levels up to 17 times the national safe limit.[8] The following year, the group again purchased wheat samples in the towns of Dakuai [zh] and Wangcun,[9] and found cadmium levels up to 34.1 times the national safe limit.[8][10][11] Following this report, the Xinxiang municipal government launched a program to purchase contaminated wheat, and convert the farmland to other purposes.[8] However, again in 2017, the group purchased additional wheat samples, and found them to have cadmium levels up to 18 times the national limit, with all samples purchased exceeding national safety limits.[8] In response, government officials from the town of Dakuai met with the group, and pledged to further investigate the samples and stop growing wheat on contaminated farmland.[citation needed]
It has had the following incumbent Apostolic Prefects of Xinxiang (Roman Rite) :
Father Thomas Megan (米干), Divine Word Missionaries S.V.D.) (born USA) (1936.07.07 – retired 1948), died 1951
Fr. Johannes Schütte (舒德), S.V.D. (born Germany) (1948 – death 1971.11.18), also Superior General of Society of the Divine Word (Divine Word Missionaries) (1958.03.28 – 1967.12.15) and Vice-Secretary of Pontifical Commission of Justice and Peace (1968–1971.11.18)
Joseph Zhang Wei-zhu (張維柱) (first Chinese and secular priest) (1992, with clandestine episcopal consecration)
Frestech, a major home appliance company, was located in Xinxiang prior to its liquidation in 2018.[citation needed] One of the business units spun off in Frestech's dissolution, Xinfei Electric Group, continues to operate in Xinxiang.[12] Xinfei Electric Group, now a wholly-owned subsidy of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, produces refrigerated trucks, military vehicles, RVs, modular building structures, precision equipment, refrigerators, air conditioners, and environmental control equipment.[12]
Other important enterprises located in Xinxiang include Golden Dragon Copper Group, Bailu Chemical Fibre, Henan Kelong Group, and AVIC XINHANG Industry Corporation.[citation needed]
Agriculture and textiles
Textiles and processed food are also major products of Xinxiang.[citation needed] As an old textiles base, the cotton industry is very developed in Xinxiang.[citation needed]
The city is a rail junction and industrial centre at the head of navigation on the Wei River. The river, made navigable for small vessels by river improvements in the 1950s, links the city with Tianjin, the main port for Beijing. Later, due to heavy industrial chemical pollution, the river course had been totally cut off and got filled up. After recent dredges, it is still no more than a man-made lake.
