FU-CHOU

Pinyin Fuzhou, conventional Foochow city near the east-central coast of Fukien sheng (province), China. It is the capital of the province. Fu-chou is situated on the north bank of the estuary of Fukien's largest river, the Min River, which gives access to the interior and to the neighbouring provinces of Kiangsi and Chekiang. Fu-chou was one of the first places in Fukien to be settled. At the beginning of the 2nd century BC it was called Tung-ye and was the capital of the non-Chinese kingdom of Yeh. After Han Wu Ti subjugated the area, it became the seat of Yeh county. In the 1st century AD its name was changed to Hou-kuan, and it became the military seat for the eastern coastal area. With the Sui conquest of southern China in 581, it was renamed Min county, and under the T'ang dynasty (618907) it became the seat of Fu-chou prefecture. After the An Lu-shan rebellion of 755 it became the seat of the civil governor of Fukien; and in 789 the prefectural city was divided into two counties, Min and Hou-kuan. In the 9th and 10th centuries the population of Fukien as a whole rapidly increased. Briefly the capital of the independent kingdom of Min from 909 to 944, Fu-chou has remained the capital of Fukien ever since. In Sung times (9601279) much overseas trade was concentrated at Fu-chou, which also became an important cultural centre for the empire as a whole. Fu-chou prospered from the 16th to the 19th century, and its prosperity reached its height when it was opened as a treaty port after the Anglo-Chinese Opium War of 183942. It subsequently became the chief port for the tea trade, being much nearer to the producing districts than Canton, to which tea had to be shipped overland. The eclipse of the Canton tea trade was completed when the Taiping Rebellion (185064) disrupted the overland route. With the decline of the tea trade, however, Fu-chou's export trade fell by half between 1874 and 1884; tea was gradually rivaled by exports of timber, paper, and foodstuffs. In 1867 the port was the site of one of China's first major experiments with Western technology, when the Fu-chou Navy Yard was established; a shipyard and an arsenal were built under French guidance, and a naval school was opened. A naval academy was also established at the shipyard, and it became a centre for the study of Western languages and technical sciences. The academy, which offered courses in English, French, engineering, and navigation, produced a generation of Western-trained officers, including the famous scholar-reformer Yen Fu (18541921). The yard was established as part of a program to strengthen China in the wake of the country's disastrous defeat in the trading conflict known as the second Opium War (185660). But most talented students continued to pursue a traditional Confucian education, and by the mid-1870s the government began to lose interest in the shipyard; it had trouble securing funds and declined in importance. Fu-chou remained essentially a commercial centre and a port until World War II; it had relatively little industry. The port was occupied by the Japanese during 194045. Since 1949, Fu-chou has grown considerably; its communications have been improved by the clearing of the Min River for navigation by medium-sized craft upstream to Nan-p'ing. In 1956 the railway linking Fu-chou with the interior of the province and with the main Chinese railway system was opened. The port, too, has been improved; Fu-chou itself is no longer accessible to seagoing ships, but Lo-hsing-t'a anchorage and another outer harbour at Kuan-t'ou on the coast of the East China Sea have been modernized and improved. The chief exports are timber, fruits, paper, and foodstuffs. Industry is supplied with power by a grid running from the Ku-t'ien hydroelectric scheme in the mountains to the northwest. The city is a centre for industrial chemicals and has food-processing, timber-working, engineering, papermaking, printing, and textile industries. A small iron and steel plant was built in 1958. In 1984 Fu-chou was designated one of China's open cities in the new open-door policy inviting foreign investments. Handicrafts remain important, and the city is famous for its lacquer and wood products. Among Fu-chou's institutions of higher learning are Fukien Medical College, Fu-chou University, Fukien Normal University, Fukien Agricultural College, and a research institute of the Chinese Academy of Science. Pop. (1990) 874,809.