SHENSI, the historic province of Chinese civilization cen tring in the Wei valley, which has afforded a way eastwards from the northern slopes of the mountains of Central Asia via Lan chow-fu and Kungchangfu. Area, 75,270 sq. miles. Pop. esti mates vary between six million and 17 million, nine million being a probable total. It is a valley rich in loess, which lends itself to cultivation, and it is protected on the east by a marked narrowing at Tungkwan (q.v.). Thus it lent itself to the establishment of a Government which spread its authority in directions north and south, as well as east and west, for Sian, the capital, was the chief city of the empire again and again until the 12th century A.D.
South of the Wei valley the province extends over the Tsinling shan (q.v.) to include the upper Han valley, while to the north the province includes the south part of the high plateau of the Ordos, and is here bounded on the east by the Hwang-ho, where it flows deeply entrenched along a fault zone between the blocks of the Ordos and Shensi. The Great Wall of China follows the northern edge of the Lukwanlingshan across the Ordos plateau, and here marks the limit of the province over against the desert. The Ordos, including North Shensi, is a portion, geologically, of the Sinian mole, that is, of an ancient block now broken into sections, enclosed on the north-west, north and east by the Hwang-ho, which, in the north, runs just beneath one of the mountain-arcs bordering the Mongolian plateau, as they border the whole high land of Central Asia.
The climate north of the Tsinlingshan is characterized by long dry cold, with winds blowing out from the interior of Asia, and much dust, while in summer the rain supply may be very small. The climate south of the range, on the other hand, grades towards that of Szechwan, but is colder than the latter. The valleys of the Wei and Han are rich agriculturally, with wheat, cotton, and even rice in the Wei. Wheat is by far the largest crop. Peas, maize, millet, barley and fruits are grown. The cotton grown in many places is a variety of Tarim ancestry, which suits the native looms, and so has not been displaced by the American variety, which, however, grows better in Shensi than elsewhere in China. Cotton is often sown in April, on the opening of the rainy season, and harvesting occurs in later summer ; the crop is 800,000—I,000, 0oo piculs per annum, and while the native cotton is used at home, the crop of the American variety is mostly sent to Tientsin for sale. There are several factories working cotton in Sian and a few with other industries, while some factories occur here and there in other parts of the province. Coal is mined at Hanchenghsien. Oil is mined farther north, near the Yen. Sian is the capital and Hanchungfu the chief city of the south.