Shanxi

See also: Shānxi, Shānxī, and Shaanxi

English

Etymology 1

c. late 20th c., from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 山西 (Shānxī, “[Land] West of the [Taihang] Mountains”), in reference to the location of the province's central Fen River valley.

Alternative forms

• Shānxi (also from Hanyu Pinyin)
• Shan-hsi, Shanhsi (Wade–Giles)
• Shansi (Postal Romanization)
• Xansi (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʃɑnˈʃi/
• enPR: shänʹshēʹ
• Homophone: Shaanxi

Proper noun

Shanxi

2. A province in the northern part of China. Capital: Taiyuan.
   • [1738, A Description of the Empire of China and Chinese-Tartary, Together with the Kingdoms of Korea, and Tibet‎^[7], volume I, London, translation of original by J. B. Du Halde, →OCLC, page 172:

     Shi-whang-ti having obſerv’d in viſiting his Empire that the Northern Provinces, eſpecially Pe-che-li, Shan-ſi, and Shen-ſi, were much expoſed to the ſudden Incurſions of the Tartars ; he fent a formidable Army, which having driven them back a great way beyond the Frontiers of the Empire, he immediately put in Execution the Scheme he had form'd to ſecure his Country againſt ſuch dangerous Neighbours, by building a Wall from the Sea to the Extremities of the Province of Shen-ſi.]

   • 1975, Janet Goldwasser, Stuart Dowty, “Agriculture: The Foundation”, in Huan-Ying: Worker's China‎^[8], Monthly Review Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 101:

     The Tachai Production Brigade is part of the Tachai Commune in Xiyang County, Shanxi Province, in Northern China. It’s tucked away in the Taihang Mountains, a bit over two hundred miles southwest of Peking, in an area with poor soil, serious erosion, and rock-strewn, mountainous terrain.

   • 2008 April 21, Eric Ng, “China Leason budgets 200m yuan to expand gas liquefaction”, in South China Morning Post‎^[9], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 August 2023‎^[10]:

     First-phase liquefaction and storage facilities are in Qinshui county, Shanxi province while the second phase is in nearby Yangcheng county. Shanxi is the nation's largest coal-producing region accounting for about 25 per cent of the nation's output.

   • 2017 October 21, Chris Buckley, “In China’s Coal Capital, Xi Jinping’s Dream Remains Elusive”, in The New York Times‎^[11], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 October 2017, Asia Pacific‎^[12]:

     Mr. Xi began proclaiming his dream since taking power five years ago, though he focused much of his early efforts on battling corruption. In Shanxi, the province that includes Datong, investigators have arrested so many corrupt cadres that the national government has declared the region to be in a state of “implosive corruption.”

   • 2023 November 16, “China: Fire at coal mine company kills dozens”, in Deutsche Welle‎^[13], archived from the original on 16 November 2023, China:

     A fire at a coal company's office in China's northern Shanxi province on Thursday killed at least 25 people and injured dozens more, according to Chinese state media.
     Shanxi is a major coal-producing hub in China.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Shanxi.

Translations

province of China

• Arabic: شَانْشِي m (šānšī)
• Armenian: Շանսի (Šansi)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 山西 (saan¹ sai¹)

  Mandarin: 山西 (zh) (Shānxī)

• Czech: Šan-si
• Georgian: შანსი (ka) (šansi)
• Greek: Σανσί (Sansí)
• Hungarian: Sanhszi (hu)
• Japanese: 山西 (さんせい, Sansei)
• Korean: 산시 (Sansi), 산서 (sanseo)
• Latvian: Šaņsji
• Lithuanian: Šansi
• Macedonian: Шансји (Šansji)
• Manchu: ᠰᠠᠨᠰᡳ (sansi), ᠰᠠᠨ
  ᠰᡳ (san si)
• Marathi: शान्शी (śānśī)
• Mongolian:

  Mongolian script: ᠱᠠᠨ
  ᠰᠢ (šan si)

  Cyrillic: Шаньси (Šanʹsi)

• Russian: Шаньси́ f (Šanʹsí)
• Urdu: شنسی (śansī)
• Vietnamese: Sơn Tây
• Zhuang: Sanhsih

See also

• Not to be confused with Shaanxi.

Further reading

• Saul B. Cohen, editor (1998), “Shanxi”, in The Columbia Gazetteer of the World‎^[14], volume 3, New York: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 2886, column 1: “Sometimes spelled as Shansi.”
• “Shanxi”, in Collins English Dictionary.
• Shanxi, Shansi, Shan-hsi, Xansi at the Google Books Ngram Viewer.
• “Shanxi, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Shanxi”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• “Shanxi”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Shanxi” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2025.

Etymology 2

c. late 20th c., from the Hanyu Pinyin romanization of Mandarin 陝西 / 陕西 (Shǎnxī).

Proper noun

Shanxi

1. (proscribed) Alternative form of Shaanxi, a province in northwestern China. Capital: Xi'an.
   • 1975, Janet Goldwasser, Stuart Dowty, “Principles of Chinese Socialism”, in Huan-Ying: Worker's China‎^[15], Monthly Review Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 298:

     The "Yenan Period," 1935-1947, was the decisive decade of the Chinese Revolution.* […]
     Liu Bao-zhei had helped create the Yenan spirit; he had joined the Eighth Route Army in 1937, leaving his home in Henan Province to fight the Japanese in the North. We met Liu on a state farm nestled in the Nanniwan Valley, near Yenan. His face, rough and creased, reflected many years of labor in the harsh climate of northern Shanxi Province. Liu wore a towel tied about his head in the traditional peasant fashion of the area.

     * During this period the headquarters of the Communist Party and the revolutionary government were in Yenan, in northern Shanxi Province.

   • 1984 [1983 September 2], Peter Thiele, “The Ancient Silk Road in Northwestern China Today”, in Yamamoto Tatsuro, editor, Proceedings of the Thirty-First International Congress of Human Sciences in Asia and North Africa, volume I, Tokyo: The Tōhō Gakkai (The Institute of Eastern Culture), →OCLC, page 376:

     My survey deals with the ancient silk road between the former Changan, now Xian in Shanxi (Shanhsi) Province, proceeds to the Gansu Province and finally to the Uighur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang. It is primarily the Northern route which led through the land of the Mongols, Tibetans and Uighurs.

   • 1997, Donald J. Marion, The Chinese Filmography: The 2444 Feature Films Produced by Studios in the People's Republic of China from 1949 through 1995‎^[16], McFarland & Company, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 212:

     After the Red Army sets up headquarters at Yanan in north Shanxi province, he accepts a frontline post in repelling the Japanese invasion, and becomes commander of the New Fourth Army.

   • 2000 December 6, Mark Landler, “Could Terra-Cotta Warriors Be a Trojan Horse?”, in The New York Times‎^[17], →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 19 March 2023, World, page 2‎^[18]:

     A fervent believer in an afterlife, Qin Shihuang ordered his tomb to be guarded by 8,000 terra-cotta statues. This grandiose resting place was accidentally disinterred in 1976 by farmers digging a well in the ancient capital, Xian, during a drought.
     Dr. Huang broached the idea of a terra-cotta exhibit on a trip to Shanxi Province, where Xian is located, three years ago.

   • 2002, “Cleaning the Yellow River”, in 修月祯 [Xiu Yuezhen], editor, 旅游英语教程 [Lü you ying yu jiao cheng]‎^[19], Beijing: Renmin University of China, →ISBN, →OCLC, pages 256–257:

     Owing to soil erosion, some farmland has become totally barren. In Chenjiagedu Village, Fugu county, Shanxi Province, since all farmland was lost, the local people were obliged to travel several kilometers for fertile soil.

   • 2003, Guangqiu Xu, Imperial China, 617-1644 (World Eras)‎^[20], volume 7, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 98:

     634 ·The Palace of Great Clarity, an imperial resort including residential and official buildings, is constructed northwest of Chang’an in Shanxi Province.
     636 ·The Zhaoling (Clarity Tomb) of Emperor Taizong is built in Liquan County, Shanxi Province. The tomb includes the well-known stone sculpture Six Horses of the Clarity Tomb.

   • 2005, Fiona Fordyce, “Selenium Deficiency and Toxicity in the Environment”, in Essentials of Medical Geology: Impacts of the Natural Environment on Public Health‎^[21], →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 400:

     In China, an outbreak of endemic human selenosis was reported in Enshi District, Hubei Province, and in Ziyang County, Shanxi Province, during the 1960s.

   • 2008, James MacManus, Ocean Devil‎^[22], Harper Perennial, →ISBN, →OCLC, →OL, page 148:

     Production around the town of Ankang, a hundred miles south of Xian in Shanxi province, dropped by 25 per cent.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:Shanxi.

Usage notes

Because of homography with Shanxi (山西 (Shānxī), another province of China, this spelling is not the official spelling.
The official English language names for the two provinces are:
(1) Shanxi Province (山西 (Shānxī)) with only one 'a' (capital: Taiyuan) and
(2) Shaanxi Province (陝西／陕西 (Shǎnxī)) with two a's (capital: Xi'an).
The Chinese characters used in the names of the two provinces are different (the character 山 (shān) in Shanxi versus the character 陝／陕 (shǎn) in Shaanxi).