# Shimian County

Shimian County (Chinese: 石棉县; pinyin: Shímián Xiàn; lit. 'Asbestos county'; Yi: ꏂꂴꑤ shy miep xiep; Tibetan: ཧྲི་མན་རྫོང, Wylie: hri man rdzong) is both the southernmost and westernmost county in the prefecture-level city of Ya'an, Sichuan Province, China. The county seat, Miancheng Subdistrict (棉城街道), and the neighboring town, Xinmian (新棉镇), are often together referred to as Shimian. As of the 2010 census, Shimian County has a population of 123,600. The G5 Beijing–Kunming Expressway now passes through Shimian along the route between Kunming and Chengdu.
The county is located at the eastern edge of the Hengduan Mountains and surrounds the Dadu River. The mountain ranges in Shimian County consist of the Daxue Mountains in the west, the Xiaoxiang Range to the southeast, and the Daxiang Range to the northeast.

## Administrative divisions

Shimian County administers 1 subdistrict, 3 towns, 3 townships and 5 ethnic townships:
* Xinmian Subdistrict (新棉街道)
* Huilong Town (回隆镇; ꉼꇊꍔ)
* Meiluo Town (美罗镇)
* Anshunchang Town (安顺场镇)
* Yonghe Township (永和乡)
* Yingzheng Township (迎政乡)
* Fengle Township (丰乐乡)
* Xieluo Tibetan Ethnic Township (蟹螺藏族乡; ཞའེ་ལུའོ་བོད་རིགས་ཞང)
* Liziping Yi Ethnic Township (栗子坪彝族乡; ꆹꊪꀻꆈꌠꑣ)
* Xinmin Tibetan and Yi Ethnic Township (新民藏族彝族乡)
* Caoke Tibetan Ethnic Township (草科藏族乡; ཚ་ཁོ་བོད་རིགས་ཞང)
* Wanggangping Yi and Tibetan Ethnic Township (王岗坪彝族藏族乡)

## Climate

Climate data for Shimian, elevation 891 m (2,923 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1991–present) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 22.3 (72.1) | 32.6 (90.7) | 35.6 (96.1) | 37.9 (100.2) | 37.9 (100.2) | 39.1 (102.4) | 38.9 (102.0) | 39.0 (102.2) | 38.5 (101.3) | 32.7 (90.9) | 29.6 (85.3) | 20.5 (68.9) | 39.1 (102.4) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 12.6 (54.7) | 16.1 (61.0) | 20.5 (68.9) | 25.6 (78.1) | 27.5 (81.5) | 28.3 (82.9) | 30.7 (87.3) | 30.6 (87.1) | 26.3 (79.3) | 21.7 (71.1) | 18.3 (64.9) | 13.5 (56.3) | 22.6 (72.8) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 8.4 (47.1) | 11.0 (51.8) | 14.7 (58.5) | 18.9 (66.0) | 21.3 (70.3) | 22.8 (73.0) | 24.7 (76.5) | 24.6 (76.3) | 21.5 (70.7) | 17.7 (63.9) | 13.9 (57.0) | 9.5 (49.1) | 17.4 (63.4) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 5.2 (41.4) | 7.1 (44.8) | 10.4 (50.7) | 14.3 (57.7) | 17.2 (63.0) | 19.3 (66.7) | 21.0 (69.8) | 21.0 (69.8) | 18.6 (65.5) | 15.2 (59.4) | 11.1 (52.0) | 6.6 (43.9) | 13.9 (57.1) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −2.6 (27.3) | −2.2 (28.0) | 1.8 (35.2) | 5.6 (42.1) | 8.8 (47.8) | 12.0 (53.6) | 15.7 (60.3) | 15.3 (59.5) | 11.0 (51.8) | 8.1 (46.6) | 2.4 (36.3) | −0.5 (31.1) | −2.6 (27.3) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 1.8 (0.07) | 4.9 (0.19) | 22.3 (0.88) | 53.8 (2.12) | 80.3 (3.16) | 136.4 (5.37) | 185.9 (7.32) | 173.3 (6.82) | 96.5 (3.80) | 34.8 (1.37) | 10.9 (0.43) | 1.6 (0.06) | 802.5 (31.59) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 1.6 | 3.5 | 9.3 | 13.5 | 15.6 | 20.4 | 18.9 | 17.3 | 16.6 | 11.0 | 4.5 | 1.5 | 133.7 |
| Average snowy days | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 0.5 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 55 | 53 | 55 | 60 | 66 | 76 | 77 | 76 | 79 | 76 | 69 | 62 | 67 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 88.4 | 102.3 | 122.3 | 138.1 | 113.6 | 84.2 | 122.7 | 134.7 | 76.8 | 59.9 | 80.9 | 76.0 | 1,199.9 |
| Percentage possible sunshine | 27 | 32 | 33 | 36 | 27 | 20 | 29 | 33 | 21 | 17 | 25 | 24 | 27 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||

## Notable people

* Lai Ning, a teenager celebrated as a martyr after his death fighting a wildfire.