CHI-NING

Pinyin Jining, conventional Tsining city in southwestern Shantung sheng (province), China. In early times the seat of the state of Jen, it later became a part of the state of Ch'i, which flourished in the Chou period (c. 1122-221 BC). It underwent many changes of name and administrative status. The present name, Chi-ning, first appeared under Mongol rule in AD 1271. In early times the city was usually subordinated to Yen-chou, about 20 miles (30 km) to the northeast, which was on the main road skirting the foothills of the T'ai Mountains. Although Chi-ning may have been the terminus of a canal to K'ai-feng in Honan province during the 6th and 7th centuries, its historical importance began with the opening of China's Grand Canal under Mongol rule in the 13th century. Chi-ning is situated on the canal northeast of the long string of lakes (Chao-yang, Wei-shan, and Tu-shan) that made it a key crossing place linked to the road system of the plain to the west. It also developed into a major canal port, the immense commerce of which was mentioned by the 13th-century Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who knew it as Singui Matu. Its importance grew still further when, in the 15th century, sea transport from southern China was abandoned, after which all grain supplies to Peking were taken up the canal. Chi-ning was a major staging point on the canal and served as a revenue-collecting centre for taxes on the grain from eastern Honan and southwestern Shantung. The city, which had huge granaries, was walled in the early 16th century and grew into a thriving commercial centre. In the late 19th century, however, various factors combined to reduce its importance. The change of course of the Huang Ho (river) in the early 1850s created havoc on the canal, and the northern section beyond Chi-ning fell into disrepair. The Ch'ing dynasty (1644-1911) gradually abandoned its massive grain transport system and began importing grain for Peking through Tientsin. A further blow came with the construction in 1912 of the railway from Tientsin to P'u-k'ou, opposite Nanking (Nan-ching), on a line following higher ground to the east. Chi-ning was connected to Yen-chou by a spur line, but some of its wider commercial functions passed to Chi-nan in the north or to Suchow farther south. Chi-ning, nevertheless, has remained a flourishing commercial and collecting centre for the region. Since 1949 the city's importance has revived as a result of the reconstruction of the Grand Canal, which has once more become a major traffic artery. It is also a road junction as well as a centre of traditional handicraft industries, producing farm implements, irrigation machinery, wooden and bamboo utensils, and other products for sale in the rural districts. The city also has a food-processing industry. Pop. (1990) 265,248. Pinyin Jining, Pinyin (Mongolian) Ulan Qab town, Inner Mongolia autonomous ch' (region), China. Before the Communist Revolution of 1949, the town was a minor station named P'ing-ti-ch'an and was a collecting point on the east-west Peking-Pao-t'ou railway. It experienced phenomenal growth after the completion in 1955 of a trunk railway northward to Erh-lien-hao-t'e on the Mongolian border, linking it with Ulaanbaatar (capital of the Mongolian People's Republic) and with the Trans-Siberian Railroad at Ulan-Ude in the Soviet Union (now in Russia). At Chi-ning this line also connects with the east-west route from Peking to Pao-t'ou and Lan-chou (Kansu province), and with the line via Ta-t'ung and T'ai-yan to central China. Chi-ning thus became a key rail junction during the period when collaboration with the Soviet Union and overland trade with eastern Europe was at its peak. Additionally, it was a rail-gauge junction, where trains were transferred from the Chinese gauge to the wider Mongolian and Russian gauge. Since the Chinese gauge was extended to Erh-lien-hao-t'e in the early 1960s, Chi-ning's importance has decreased. Industries, mostly based on agriculture, have developed, including the processing of crops and meats, oil pressing, and wool production. Chi-ning is also linked by highway to Kalgan (Hopeh province) and Hohhot. Pop. (1990) 163,552.