CH'ANG-SHU

Pinyin Changshu, city in southern Kiangsu sheng (province), China. Situated in the coastal plain some 22 miles (35 km) north of Su-chou, it first became an independent county in AD 540 under the Liang dynasty (502557). From Sui times (581618) it was a subordinate county under Su-chou, to which it has always been intimately linked. Its seat was moved to the present site under the Sung dynasty (9601279). Under Yan occupation (12791368) it was made the seat of a full prefecture, Ch'ang-shu, in 1295 and in the early 14th century was rebuilt and fortified. In 1370 the Ming dynasty (13681644) reduced it once again to a county. During the later Ming period in the 15th and 16th centuries it was several times attacked by Japanese pirates. A centre for the production and collection of tax grain from early times, after the introduction of cotton to the area in the 13th century, it became a major cotton-producing district, supplying the textile industry of such towns as Sung-chiang (now in the Shanghai municipality) and Ch'ang-chou on the Grand Canal. Its role as a collecting centre was based on the dense network of canals and waterways that covers the whole plain between the Grand Canal and the sea coast. Although the city itself has been extremely prosperous, it has remained relatively small. Pop. (1990 est.) 181,805.