Xingping


Xingping is a city located in the center part of Shaanxi province, China. It has been a city since 1993, with a total area of 496 square kilometers and a population of 620,000. The annual average temperature is 13.1 ℃ and its annual precipitation of 585 mm. At present, Xingping has developed more than 50 industries including maritime, aviation, electronics, medicine, and light industry.
The historic sites of the city can be found in Xingping Old Street and Fishing Village about from the town. The old banyan tree, which needs as many as eight people's outstretched arms to encircle it, and Guandi Temple which was built in the Qing Dynasty both tell the long history of the town.
Other places of interest in the city includes the tomb of Han Maoling, Huo Yang's tomb and Xingping's North Tower.
Liu Jin, born circa 1451 or 1452, is from the area of Xingping. A son of T’an lineage, when he was made a eunuch under the aegis of a eunuch official named Liu, he appropriated that surname. Infamous for being an extremely corrupt official who abused his office to amass a great fortune, he was executed in Beijing in 1510 for treason by a "thousand cuts" over a three-day period. He died on the 2nd day after 300 to 400 cuts. Witnesses at the time said that angry onlookers bought a piece of his flesh for one qian and consumed it with rice wine.