Sanming

Sanming (Chinese: 三明; pinyin: Sānmíng; Foochow Romanized: Săng-mìng)) is a prefecture-level city in western Fujian province, China. It borders Nanping City to the north, Fuzhou City to the east, Quanzhou City to the southeast, Longyan City to the south, and the province of Jiangxi to the west. Sanming lies between Wuyi and Daiyun mountains.

Geography and demographics

The prefecture level city of Sanming has a total area of 22,928.8 square kilometres (8,852.9 sq mi), and 82% of this extension is composed of mountainous areas, 8.3% of arable land and 9.7% of water or other type of terrain.

Sanming is well known by its beautiful nature landscape with different landforms, including unique Danxia Landform and abundant Karst topography. The most famous spots include global geopark Taining Golden Lake in Taining County, Yuhua Cave in Jiangle County and Goose Cave in Ninghua County.

According to the 2010 Census, Sanming has a population of 2,503,338, 70,687 inhabitants less than in 2000 Census (the average annual population growth for the period 2000-2010 was of -0.28%). The emigration of population from Sanming to other areas of Fujian is a constant process, even encouraged by government politics since the 1960s.