# Shanshan County

Shanshan County (Chinese: 鄯善县) as the official romanized name, also transliterated from Uyghur as Piqan County (Uyghur: پىچان ناھىيىسى; Chinese: 皮羌县), is a county within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and is under the administrative jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Turpan. It contains an area of 39,548 km$^2$ (15,270 sq mi), occupying the eastern majority of Turpan. According to the 2002 census, it has a population of 210,000.
The county seat is in Shanshan Town.

## Name

The county is named after the ancient Shanshan Kingdom, although the kingdom was actually located mostly outside of the borders of the modern county, in the Lop Nur area. The place was originally named Piqian, and the Grand coordinator and provincial governor of Xinjiang proposed the name of Shanshan when Guangxu Emperor decided to set up a county in 1902.

## History

The local geology and the desert climate made it possible to discover a number of important fossil sites in the area, including China's largest cluster of fossilized dinosaur tracks and China's largest dinosaur. Important dinosaur sites are associated with the Lianmuqin Formation (named after Lianmuqin Town) and the Subashi Formation (named after Subashi Village (42°55′16″N 89°44′39″E﻿ / ﻿42.9212°N 89.7441°E﻿ / 42.9212; 89.7441) in Tuyugou Township (吐峪沟乡). The Shanshanosaurus is named after Shanshan.
In 2008–2011, a team of German and Chinese paleontologists discovered and studied an "enormous" accumulation of Jurassic turtle fossils at a site they nicknamed "Mesa Chelonia", approximately 25 km (16 mi) NNE of Shanshan Town. It is estimated that at least 1,800 skeletons of freshwater turtles, preliminary identified as belonging to the Annemys species were buried in this bone bed, in a stratigraphic layer probably belonging to the Qigu Formation. The researchers suggest that during a drought the turtles congregating at one of the few remaining water sources, and died there once that last water hole dried out. Then the skeletons were transported to the present location by a debris flow during a catastrophic rainfall event, forming a Konzentrat-Lagerstätte.
According to the paleontologist Walter Joyce, the Shanshan find has more than doubled the total number of Jurassic turtle specimens known to science. The excavated fossils have been transported to Shanshan Town, where they will be housed in the county museum (currently under construction).
On January 6, 2009, five well-preserved mummies of ethnic Han men who lived during the Qing dynasty were excavated at a construction site near the Flaming Mountains in the county.
In June 2013, an incident in Lukchun lead to the deaths of dozens.

## Subdivisions

Shanshan County is divided into 7 towns, 2 townships, 1 ethnic township and 2 other township-level divisions.
| Name | Simplified Chinese | Hanyu Pinyin | Uyghur (UEY) | Uyghur Latin (ULY) | Administrative division code |
| Towns ||||||
| Shanshan Town | 鄯善镇 | Shànshàn Zhèn | پىچان شەھەر بازىرى‎ | Pichan sheher baziri | 650421100 |
| Chiqtim Town (Qiketai Town) | 七克台镇 | Qīkètái Zhèn | چىقتىم بازىرى‎ | Chiqtim baziri | 650421101 |
| Railway Station Town | 火车站镇 | Huǒchēzhàn Zhèn | پويىز ئىستانسىسى بازىرى‎ | Poyiz Istansisi baziri | 650421102 |
| Lemjin Town (Lianmuqin Town) | 连木沁镇 | Liánmùqìn Zhèn | لەمجىن بازىرى‎ | Lemjin baziri | 650421103 |
| Lükchün Town (Lukeqin Town) | 鲁克沁镇 | Lǔkèqìn Zhèn | لۈكچۈن بازىرى‎ | Lükchün baziri | 650421104 |
| Pichan Town | 辟展镇 | Pìzhǎn Zhèn | پىچان ئەتراپى بازىرى‎ | Pichan etrapi baziri | 650421105 |
| Dighar Town | 迪坎镇 | Díkǎn Zhèn | دىغار بازىرى‎ | Dighar baziri | 650421106 |
| Ethnic township ||||||
| Dungbazar Hui Ethnic Township | 东巴扎回族乡 | Dōngbāzhā Huízú Xiāng | دۇڭبازار خۇيزۇ يېزىسى‎ | Dungbazar xuyzu yëzisi | 650421201 |
| Townships ||||||
| Tuyuq Township (Tuyugou Township) | 吐峪沟乡 | Tǔyùgōu Xiāng | تۇيۇق يېزىسى‎ | Tuyuq yëzisi | 650421202 |
| Dalankariz Township (Dalangkan Township) | 达朗坎乡 | Dálǎngkǎn Xiāng | دالانكارىز يېزىسى‎ | Dalankariz yëzisi | 650421203 |
| Township-level divisions ||||||
| Nanshan Mining District | 南山矿区 | Nánshān Kuàngqū | نەنسەن كانچىلىق رايونى‎ | Nensen kanchiliq rayoni | 650421400 |
| Shanshan Horticultural Ground | 园艺场 | Yuányìchǎng | باغۋەنچىلىك مەيدانى‎ | Baghwenchilik meydani | 650421401 |

## Geography

Biratar Bulak is a spring in the southern part of the county.

## Climate

Climate data for Shanshan, elevation 399 m (1,309 ft), (1991–2020 normals) :
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −2.8 (27.0) | 5.8 (42.4) | 16.0 (60.8) | 25.3 (77.5) | 31.4 (88.5) | 36.3 (97.3) | 38.0 (100.4) | 36.7 (98.1) | 30.8 (87.4) | 21.1 (70.0) | 9.4 (48.9) | −0.8 (30.6) | 20.6 (69.1) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −9.4 (15.1) | −1.7 (28.9) | 8.2 (46.8) | 17.3 (63.1) | 23.2 (73.8) | 28.3 (82.9) | 29.7 (85.5) | 27.9 (82.2) | 21.1 (70.0) | 11.5 (52.7) | 1.9 (35.4) | −7.0 (19.4) | 12.6 (54.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −14.4 (6.1) | −7.7 (18.1) | 1.2 (34.2) | 9.7 (49.5) | 15.2 (59.4) | 20.5 (68.9) | 22.2 (72.0) | 20.3 (68.5) | 13.8 (56.8) | 5.1 (41.2) | −3.3 (26.1) | −11.4 (11.5) | 5.9 (42.7) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 1.4 (0.06) | 0.8 (0.03) | 1.2 (0.05) | 2.1 (0.08) | 2.3 (0.09) | 4.7 (0.19) | 5.1 (0.20) | 3.5 (0.14) | 1.9 (0.07) | 1.9 (0.07) | 0.7 (0.03) | 1.1 (0.04) | 26.7 (1.05) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.3 | 4.1 | 2.6 | 1.4 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.1 | 17.4 |
| Average snowy days | 3.5 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 2.7 | 8 |
| Average relative humidity (%) | 61 | 45 | 29 | 27 | 29 | 33 | 37 | 38 | 41 | 50 | 52 | 59 | 42 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 182.8 | 208.4 | 260.0 | 281.5 | 321.3 | 319.8 | 315.0 | 316.1 | 294.3 | 267.3 | 199.5 | 166.9 | 3,132.9 |
| Percentage possible sunshine | 62 | 69 | 69 | 69 | 70 | 70 | 69 | 75 | 80 | 80 | 70 | 60 | 70 |
| Source: China Meteorological Administration ||||||||||||||

## Demographics

The proportion of nationalities in Shanshan (Pichan) County
Nationality
Percentage
Uyghurs
75.0%
Han
19.9%
Hui
4.8%
Others
0.3%
Source of the population statistics : :

## Transportation

Shanshan is served by China National Highway 312, the Lanzhou–Xinjiang Railway and Shanshan Airport.