Kaiyuan (simplified Chinese: 开原; traditional Chinese: 開原; pinyin: Kāiyuán; lit. 'Open Plains') is a county-level city in the northeast of Liaoning, People's Republic of China, bordering Jilin for a small section to the north. It is under the administration of Tieling City, the centre of which lies 33 kilometres (21 mi) to the southwest.
Administrative divisions
Map including Kaiyuan (labeled as 開原 K'AI-YÜAN (walled)) (AMS, 1956)
Kaiyuan is situated in northeastern Liaoning in the southeastern part of Tieling City on the eastern bank of the middle reaches of the Liao River. It borders Dongfeng County and Qingyuan Manchu Autonomous County to the east, Tieling County to the south, Faku and Changtu counties to the west, and Lishu County (Jilin) to the north. Its administrative area reaches a maximal north–south extent of 86 km (53 mi) and east–west width of 89.4 km (55.6 mi). In the east, the land begins to transition to the foothills of the Changbai Mountains, while the west is marked by the Songliao Plain.
Kaiyuan has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate (KöppenDwa), characterised by hot, humid summers and long, cold and windy, but dry winters. The four seasons here are distinctive. A majority of the annual rainfall of 673 mm (26.5 in) occurs in July and August alone. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −13.4 °C (7.9 °F) in January to 23.9 °C (75.0 °F) in July, and the annual mean is 7.3 °C (45.1 °F).
Kaiyun was directly hit by tornadoes in 2019 and 2023.
Climate data for Kaiyuan (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2010)
