Why Yan’an
Yan'an is a prefecture-level city situated in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi province, located in northern China. Resting on the hilly Loess Plateau, the city features terrain that slopes downward from the northwest to the southeast, with an average elevation of approximately 1,200 meters above sea level and an urban core sitting at roughly 960 meters. The city shares borders with Yulin to the north, Gansu province across the Ziwu Ridge to the west, and Shanxi province across the middle reaches of the Yellow River to the east. As of 2019, Yan'an was home to approximately 2,255,700 permanent residents.
The region possesses an extensive history, having been populated since the Xia dynasty and subsequently governed under various commanderies and prefectures throughout ancient Chinese dynasties. During the Song dynasty, the area functioned as a key defensive border fortress. In this period, the famous polymath Shen Kuo was deployed to assist in defending against Western Xia forces. While stationed there, Shen examined petrified bamboo revealed by a riverbank landslide. Because bamboo did not grow in the local climate at the time, Shen correctly deduced that the area had experienced a much damper climate in ancient times.
Yan'an is globally recognized for its significance in twentieth-century political history. Located near the endpoint of the Long March, the city served as the central headquarters for the Chinese Communist Revolution from late 1935 until early 1947. During World War II, air raids destroyed nearly every building in the city, with a historic pagoda remaining as one of the few surviving structures. As a result, residents and political figures adapted by living in yaodongs, which are traditional artificial cave dwellings carved into the regional Loess hillsides.
Throughout this period, Yan'an hosted numerous foreign visitors, including prominent Western journalists and the United States Army Observation Group, known as the Dixie Mission, which evaluated political and military operations. Following a brief capture by Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, the city was retaken by communist forces in 1948. Reorganized as a prefecture-level city in 1996, Yan'an underwent rapid urban expansion alongside dedicated beautification projects between 2011 and 2015 focused on facilitating red tourism and showcasing its historical heritage.
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