Description : Yan'an (Chinese: 延安) is a prefecture-level city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several counties, including Zhidan (formerly Bao'an), which served as the headquarters of the Chinese Communists before the city of Yan'an proper took that role. Yan'an was near the endpoint of the Long March, and became the center of the Chinese Communist revolution from late 1935 to early 1947. Chinese communists celebrate Yan'an as the birthplace of the revolution. Yan'an was populated at least as early as the Xia Dynasty. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the area was inhabited by the Beidi people. During the Western Wei the area was organized under the name Yanzhou (Chinese: 延州). The Sui Dynasty established a military base in Yan'an. The area became an important defensive outpost for the subsequent Tang dynasty. Yanzhou was a location of strategic military importance for the Chinese empire and Tanguts of the Western Xia Dynasty. It was once successfully defended by the Song Dynasty era Chinese scientist, statesman, and general Shen Kuo. However, it was eventually taken over by the Tanguts in 1082 once Shen's defensive victories were marginalized and sacrificed by the new Chancellor Cai Que (who handed the city over to the Tanguts as terms of a peace treaty). In 1089, under the Song Dynasty, Yanzhou was renamed to Yan'an, and was promoted to a fu (Chinese: 府). Yan'an and the whole of Shaanxi were taken over by the Mongols in the late 1220s, only after their leader Genghis Khan had died during the siege of the Western Xia capital in 1227. The city was maintained by the successive Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), as well as the Manchu Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, the city became part of the newly created Republic of China.
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