HAN-TAN

Pinyin Handan city in southern Hopeh Province (sheng), China. Han-tan is situated on the higher ground on the west of the North China Plain, on the great northsouth route from Peking to Cheng-chou and Lo-yang (both in Honan Province), where it is crossed by a long-established route from Chi-nan (Tsinan) in Shantung Province into the mountains of Shansi Province. The area was already settled in Shang times (c. 17661122 BC). Han-tan is first mentioned in about 500 BC, but it achieved its greatest fame when, from 386 to 228 BC, it was the capital of the state of Chao. It was a centre of trade and was famed for luxury and elegance. In 228 it was attacked and taken by the armies of the Ch'in dynasty (221206 BC) and became a commandery (district ruled by a commander). Reduced to ruins in the civil wars accompanying the fall of the Ch'in, under the Han (206 BCAD 220) it became the seat of an important feudal kingdom, Chao-kuo, the city being rebuilt on a site slightly to the north. The remains of the walls and foundations of buildings of both the Chao capital and the Han city still remain to the southwest of the modern city; the walls are almost 4 miles (6.5 km) in circumference. After the Han period its importance declined somewhat. From T'ang times (618907) it became a county town subordinate to Tz'u-chou, while in Ming (13681644) and Ch'ing (16441911) times it was subordinate to Kuang-p'ing Prefecture (fu) in the former province of Chihli. After 1949 it developed into an important industrial centre. Recent growth has depended partly on its importance as a communication centre. It is on the main railway from Peking to Cheng-chou and Wu-han (Hupeh), with branch lines running to the nearby iron- and coal-producing areas of Wu-an a few miles to the west and Feng-feng to the southwest. It is also the centre of a network of major roads. Industrial development has taken place in the cotton industry, based on the long-established cotton cultivation of the area, but the city has also developed into a centre for iron and steel and other heavy industries. The area has produced iron from an early date. Modern development, however, has been based on the newly exploited field of coking coal at Feng-feng, which is also used in a major power-generating plant. Pop. (1989 est.) 805,300.