HAN-YANG

also called Ts'ai-tien, Pinyin Hanyang, or Caidian urban area and industrial city in Hupeh Province (sheng), central China. Located on the right bank of the Han Shui (river) at its confluence with the Yangtze, opposite Han-k'ou, it is the westernmost of the three cities of the Wu-han (q.v.) conurbation (Han-k'ou, Han-yang, Wu-ch'ang). Han-yang was founded under the Sui dynasty (AD 581618) but was of little importance until modern times. In the early 1900s it became the site of China's first modern iron- and steelworks and was, in addition, a key arsenal city. Han-yang was occupied by the Japanese in 193845 and passed to Communist control in 1949.