Shihezi
People's Republic of China · Asia
About Shihezi
Shihezi is a sub-prefecture-level city in Northern Xinjiang, China. It has a population of 380,130 according to the 2010 census. The city is also home to Shihezi University, the second-largest comprehensive university under the Project 211 in Xinjiang.
Shihezi is the headquarter of the 8th Division of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps and currently administered by the 8th Division. The city implemented the "division and city integration" (师市合一, shī shì héyī) management system, it shares the same leader group with the 8th Division.
In 1951, General Wang Zhen decided to build a new base for the People's Liberation Army and selected the location of current Shihezi. Zhao Xiguang (赵锡光) took charge in the development of the city, and established the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps in 1954.
Quasimilitary-structured farms surrounding Shihezi fueled the development of the city by producing materials for the factories that have been the economic drivers of the city. In 1974, Shihezi became a city.
Shihezi contains 5 subdistricts, 2 towns, and a township-equivalent region:
Shihezi travel guide
Getting there
Take the train west from Urumqi, it runs every 20min from about 8am to 10pm at night, you can pay from ¥30-36, but there is no real speed difference, mostly its just how much leg room you want on the bus. It takes from 2.5 to 3 hours depending on traffic. There is now also a train line, fast train (a little over 2 hours) is ¥24 for a hard seat, slow train (about 3 hours) is ¥12 but they leave far less frequently.
Getting around
Local busses cost ¥1 per ride, taxis start at ¥5 and you should be able to get to most places in town for less than ¥10. It's quite beautiful to walk around any time but the winter, when temperatures stay between -20 and 0C.
See
Peoples square at night, mountains behind the city rise to 16,000 feet. Mushroom lake
Do
Visit the university and the medical college, look for English students to talk to.
Go next
Take a bus to NanShan (南山) - part of the TianShan 天山 that you can see from town and go hiking. It's about 2 hours outside of town. There are quite a few camp sites if you want to stay the night.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia, travel guide fromWikivoyage (CC BY-SA)。Photography via Wikimedia Commons.