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History of Jinchang
As early as 4,000 years ago, ancestors of Gansu People entered the primitive clan society. Before the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD) established shires and counties to administrate this area, it was successively dominated by several ethnic regimes.

Physical Features
Jinchang city is located in northwestern Gansu province at the north foot of the Qilian Mountains. It neighbors Wuwei city in the southeast within the province, and shares boundaries with Qinghai province in the southwest and Inner Mongolia in the northwest. The terrain of the city basically declines from south to north, and its land interleaves mountains and plains. Southern Jinchang is comprised of vast mountainous area. In the central, there are basins, oasis plains and mountain valleys dotted peaks. Desert plain is mainly distributed in northern Jinchang.

Climate & Weather
The city bears a dry continental climate in temperate zone. It is rich in sunshine. Spring is windy and the temperature is unstable. Summer is the rainy season, and the cold air usually attacks the city in mid-September. In the dry and chilly winter, its average temperature will drops between -14.6C and -9.5C (14.9F -5.7F). On the whole, the temperature of Jinchang varies greatly both during a day and the whole year.When to Go: summer and autumn

Resources of Jinchang
A total of 101 mining sites have been discovered in Jinchang, including 15 black metal mines, 21 nonferrous and precious metal mines, and 11 energy mineral sources. They cover iron, chromium, nickel, copper, cobalt, gold, silver, platinum, phosphorus, silica, fluorite, bentonite, granite building materials, coal and petroleum. Particularly, the city has abundant nickel ore reserves, ranking third in the world. Its copper reserves rank second in China. Output of nickel and platinum group metals accounts for more than 90 percent of the country, and the city is China’s largest center for nickel and cobalt production and platinum group metals refining.

Tourism in Jinchang
Jinchang also has rich tourist resources, including cultural relics and historic sites, such as Yuanyang Pond in the Neolithic Age, the Great Wall of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), numerous tombs in the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), temples in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-907), bell towers in the Ming Dynasty, and ancient architectural complexes.

Economy of Jinchang
In 2011, Jinchang's GDP totaled 23.28 billion yuan ($3.82 billion), up 15.7 percent over the previous year. The primary industry's added value was 1.2 billion yuan, up 5.5 percent year-on-year. The secondary industry's added value was 18.24 billion yuan, up 17.1 percent year-on-year. The tertiary industry's added value was 3.84 billion yuan, up 12 percent year-on-year. Fixed assets investment stood at 13.07 billion yuan, up 23.66 percent year-on-year. Total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 4.33 billion yuan, up 17.1 percent year-on-year. Fiscal revenue totaled 2.8 billion yuan, up 19.32 percent year-on-year. Local fiscal revenue reached 1.14 billion yuan, up 11.37 percent year-on-year. Urban per capita disposable income was 20,074 yuan, up 13.55 percent year-on-year. Per capita net income of farmers was 6,709 yuan, up 12.7 percent year-on-year.

Projects of Jinchang
In 2011, Jinchang's fixed assets investment reached 13.07 billion yuan, up 23.66 percent year-on-year. This number includes 6.15 billion yuan in central government and provincial investment, down 5.15 percent from the previous year, and 6.93 billion yuan in local investment, up 69.27 percent year-on-year. Real estate investment stood at 644 million yuan, up 33.47 percent year-on-year.

Competitive industries
In 2011, Jinchang realized industrial added value of 16.39 billion yuan, up 17.62 percent over the previous year. Leading industrial products saw production capacity increase significantly, with nickel reaching 150,000 tons, copper 600,000 tons, cobalt 10,000 tons, and chemicals 4 million tons. The circular economy also exhibited strong growth. Nonferrous metal and chemical industrial chains continued to extend, becoming a feature of the local circular economy. The city was named a circular economic demonstration zone in Gansu province, and Jinchang Group was named a model company of the circular economy. The Jinchang Economic Development Zone has been upgraded into a national zone. Industrial parks, such as Jinchang New Material, Hexibao Chemical Circular Economy and Yongchang, have been taking shape. The city was named a national new material high-tech base and a national new industrialization demonstration base. Specialty plantation areas accounted for more than 90 percent of all the areas. Quality mutton, malt barley, pollution-free vegetables, edible fungus and other high-quality and high-efficiency water conserving agriculture industries have witnessed rapid development. Now, there are 30 leading industrialized agricultural companies, 17 provincial ones and one national one. More than 70 percent of agricultural products realized added value through processing, and agricultural standardization coverage reached 80 percent, higher than the national average.

Agriculture in Jinchang
The agricultural economy has been developing smoothly. In 2011, Jinchang’s agricultural industry realized added value of 1.2 billion yuan, an increase of 5.5 percent over the previous year. Annual crop planting area reached 1.07 million mu (71,633 hectares), up 17,400 mu from the previous year. Crop planting area reached 743,500 mu, up 20,500 mu year-on-year. Grain output reached 330,200 tons, up 6.93 percent year-on-year; and vegetable output hit 575,400 tons, up 15.09 percent year-on-year.

People's livelihood in Jinchang
 Labor exports and unemployment alleviation pushed ahead steadily. The income of urban and rural residents grew rapidly and quality of life improved. In 2011, urban per capita disposable income reached 20,074 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2,395 yuan or 13.55 percent. Consumer spending per capita was 16,698 yuan, up 17.7 percent year-on-year. Per capita urban housing area was 31.41 square meters. Rural resident per capita net income reached 6,709 yuan, up 756 yuan or 12.7 percent from 2010. Farmer per capita nonproductive spending hit 7,430 yuan, up 106.6 percent year-on-year. Rural resident per capita housing area was 38 square meters. There were 70,500 employees at the end of 2011, down by 0.7 percent from 2010. Average salary was 46,730 yuan, up 10.99 percent year-on-year.

Environment protection in Jinchang
 Jinchang completed 27 environmental treatment projects involving an investment of 318 million yuan. Its COD emissions stood at 14,200 tons, up 1.88 percent year-on-year; ammonia nitrogen emissions were 5,500 tons, up 3.34 percent year-on-year; sulfur dioxide was 116,400 tons, down 1.56 percent year-on-year; and nitric oxide was 30,300 tons, up 3.44 percent over the previous year. The city recorded 344 days with good ambient air quality. Its energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP decreased by 3.81 percent in 2011. The urban wastewater treatment rate was 98.85 percent. The urban solid waste harmless treatment rate reached 100 percent. The ratio of green space totaled 28.28 percent. The green coverage ratio totaled 30.49 percent. The urban per capita green area reached 14.28 square meters. The urban per capita road area was 22.72 square meters.

Employment and social security
The city created 8,655 job opportunities in 2011 and hired 1,458 recent college graduates. The number of registered urban unemployed personnel totaled 3,786, with a registered urban unemployment rate of 3.72 percent. Labor income amounted to 840 million yuan. A total of 55,456 residents opted into basic endowment insurance; 78,600 people opted into urban unemployment insurance; 116,100 people into basic medical insurance; 70,300 people into work-related injury insurance; 14,900 people into birth insurance; and 147,100 people into rural endowment insurance. A total of 19,100 people in the city received basic living allowances totaling 48.83 million yuan. Another 12,187 people in rural areas received allowances totaling 10.98 million yuan.

Social undertakings in Jinchang
Jinchang carried out 69 scientific and technological projects, offering 2.4 million yuan in funding. It applied for 24 national and provincial S&T projects and received approval for 10 of them, including five national and five provincial projects. It handled 250 patent applications and approved 150.
The city has 91 middle and primary schools with 65,847 students. It was home to 67 kindergartens, 11 public and 56 private. Sixty-five percent of children from three to six years old were enrolled in school. A total of 90 percent of rural children were able to access education. A total of 93.9 percent of students passed university entrance examinations for junior college. A total of 91.04 percent of disabled children were admitted to schools. The overall rate of adult education was 99.13 percent.
The city has an art performance troupe, two cultural museums and two libraries housing 245,000 books. A total of 138 rural bookstores, 12 cultural stations and 34 community culture centers have been built in the city. Cable TV subscribers numbered 67,000, including 65,000 digital TV users. Radio coverage reached 85.77 percent. TV coverage reached 91.43 percent. Jinchang screens 1,889 films for the public for free every year.
There were 534 health institutions in the city, including nine hospitals, 12 town health clinics and 138 village clinics. The facilities have a total of 1,910 beds and 3,578 medical staff. Urban community health service institutions covered all residents. The mortality rate of pregnant women was zero, infants 0.012 percent, children under five 0.012 percent, and newborns 0.0094 percent. The vaccination rate averaged 98.37 percent, and the premarital medical check rate reached 78.93 percent.