Shensi

See also: shēnsī

English

Map including part of 陝西省 SHENSI PROVINCE (AMS, 1955)

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• enPR: shěnʹsēʹ

Proper noun

Shensi

1. Synonym of Shaanxi: the Chinese province.
   • 1878, Thomas Rawson Birks translating Franz Delitzsch's citation of Neumann in his Commentary on the Book of Isaiah, p. 247:

     The name Θῖναι, Strabo, Σῖναι, Ptol., Τζίνιτζα, Kosmas, did not obtain currency first from the founder of the dynasty Tsin; but, long before this, Tsin was the name of a feudal kingdom in Shensi, one of the western provinces of the Sinese land, and Feitsa, the first feudal King of Tsin, began to reign as early as b.c. 897.

   • 1938, Berthold Laufer, The American Plant Migration Part I: The Potato‎^[1], page 72:

     In the subprefecture Ting-yüan *[定遠] in the prefecture of Han-chung *[漢中], Shensi Province, according to the local chronicle, "there are four varieties of potato- red, white, yellow, and black. It thrives in the high mountains; it is fond of dry places, but dreads water. It may be taken with rice or used as a vegetable."

   • 1948, Bernward H. Willeke, Imperial Government and Catholic Missions in China During the Years 1784-1785‎^[2], St. Bonaventure, New York: Franciscan Institute, page 50:

     About the middle of September 1784 ³ T'ê-ch'êng-o received the report from Hsiang-yang of the capture of the four missionaries, which charged them with going to Shensi to help the rebellious Mohammedans.

   • 1951, Herbert Hoover, The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, Years of Adventure 1874-1920‎^[3], New York: Macmillan Company, →OCLC, →OL, page 42:

     On one occasion on a return journey from Shensi I came into Kalgan, a gate to the Great Wall of China, on Christmas Eve, with snow and temperatures below zero. The caravan was tired out from my days of pushing to arrive home for Christmas with Mrs. Hoover, and that proved impossible, for our retinue had to rest.

   • 1965 [1950 October], Shih Hu, “China in World Politics: International Communism: Stalin's Grand Strategy”, in The Kuomintang Debacle of 1949: Conquest of Collapse?‎^[4], D. C. Heath and Company, published 1966, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 55, column 1:

     The encirclement and the economic blockade proved so effective that the Red Army and Government were forced to adopt the bold strategy of retreat - to escape annihilation by retreating westward, then southward, the northward, and then northeastward, finally reaching their destination in northern Shensi. This retreat has been called "the Long March," which lasted for a whole year and covered about 6,000 miles.

   • 1974, Chu Li (朱力, Tien Chieh-yun (田洁云), 在七里营人民公社里 [Inside A People's Commune: Report from Chiliying]‎^[5], Foreign Languages Press, →OCLC, page 120:

     In the six years after its founding, the school made some achievements, and gradually acquired quite a name. In 1972, two students came all the way from Shensi Province to study there. In 1973, three enrolled from Fangcheng County.

   • 1981 August 30, “Floods in Shensi”, in Free China Weekly‎^[6], volume XXII, number 34, Taipei, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3:

     Heavy floods in southwestern Shensi Province between Aug. 14 and 18 surrounded at least 40,000 residents and killed 13, according to reports from the Chinese mainland.

   • 2006, Hywel Williams, Days that Changed the World‎^[7], New York: Metro Books, published 2013, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 135:

     By May 1900 the imperial government had effectively embraced the Boxer cause but central authority had collapsed and power was increasingly in the hands of regional governors who had different strategies for dealing with the Boxers. In the province of Shensi, for example, the governors incorporated them into the local militia, but those of the south-eastern provinces and of Canton disobeyed Beijing's anti-foreign decrees and agreed with the foreign consuls at Shanghai that they would protect the foreigners under their jurisdiction.

Further reading

• Shaanxi, conventional Shensi, in Encyclopædia Britannica
• “Shensi, pn.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “Shensi”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “Shensi” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.

Anagrams

• shines, hsiens, Shines, sinseh, hissen