Jiuquan

**Jiuquan** () is a "prefectur-level ceety" in the wastmaist pairt o the Gansu province in Cheenae.  It is ane o the lairgest ceeties in the warld bi aurie.

## History
The entire "prefectur-level ceety" (that is, a multi-coonty admeenistrative unit - an equivalent tae the traditional Cheenese prefectur) stretches for mair nor 500&nbsp;km frae east tae wast, occupyin 191,342&nbsp;km²; its population as o 2002 wis 962,000.

The ceety's name came frae legendary tale o the young Han general Huo Qubing, who poured a jar o precious wine intae a local creek in order tae share the taste wi his troops, in celebration o thair crushin victory against Xiongnu forces. The creek wis later named Jiu Quan ("Wine Spring"), which became the name o the Han prefecture established thare. It wis an active military garrison durin the Later Han Dynasty.

It is kent in popular legend as the place whaur rhubarb wis first grown an is an aa the ceety whaur the Portuguese Jesuit missionary an splorer Bento de Góis (1562–1607) wis robbed an dee'd destitute.

## Admeenistrative diveesions

## Geography
Jiuquan haes a cauld desert climate (Koppen *BWk*), wi lang, cauld winters, an het, somewha dry simmers. Monthly average temperatures range frae −9&nbsp;°C (15.8&nbsp;°F) in Januar tae 21.7&nbsp;°C (71.1&nbsp;°F) in Julie, wi an annual mean o 7.5&nbsp;°C (45.5&nbsp;°F). The range atween daytime an nichttime temperatures is heich throughoot hintle o the year. Wi sunny wather an law humidity dominatin year-roond, the aurie hosts ane o the launch steids for the PRC's space programme.

## Suzhou toun
The admeenistrative centre o the "prefectur-level ceety" o Jiuquan is the "Destrict" o Suzhou (肃州区, Suzhou Qu), which occupees 3,386 square km in the eastren pairt o Jiuquan "prefecture-level ceety", an haed a population o 340,000 as o 2002.
It is whaur modren mapmakers wad uisually place the "Jiuquan" label.

Thare is (or wis) a lairge billbuird at the entrance tae the ceety that read: "Without Haste, Without Fear, We Conquer the World".

The Destrict o Suzhou corresponds tae the historic toun o Suzhou (no tae be ramfeeselt wi Suzhou in Jiangsu province).
It wis foondit in 111 BC as a military ootpost on the Silk Road tae Central Asie (the Hexi Corridor). It is approximately 1500 m abuin sea level.

Bein an important key pynt in the Hexi Corridor, Suzhou aften foond itsel tae be a defendit fortress, taken wi a hivy loss o life,
as wis the case when Meng Qiaofang teuk it frae Ding Guodong in 1649, or when the Qing general Zuo Zongtang teuk it in 1873 frae its Hui defenders commandit bi Ma Wenlu durin the Muslim Rebellion.

## Transport
Jiuquan is served bi Cheenae Naitional Heich-gate 312 an the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway.

It is an aa served bi Jiuquan Airport

## Space launch center

Jiuquan ceety (i.e. Suzhou) is the closest major ceety tae the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Still, the space launch centre is mair nor 100&nbsp;km away frae the ceety, an is actually locatit no in Gansu province, but in the neighborin Inner Mongolie Autonomous Region. It wis biggit in 1958; the first Cheenese human spaceflicht, *[[Shenzhou 5]]* wis launched thare on 15 October 2003, makin Yang Liwei Cheenae's first cosmonaut an a naitional hero. The seicont wis in 2005.

## See an aa

* Silk Route Museum

## Footnotes

## Freemit airtins

*Offeecial Wab Steid 
*Rocket launch steid—Astronautix