CHIA-HSING

Pinyin Jiaxing, city, northern Chekiang sheng (province), eastern China. Chia-hsing is a communications centre in the southern Yangtze River delta, situated to the southeast of T'ai Lake on the Grand Canal, north of the port of Hang-chou and on the railway between Hang-chou and Shanghai. It is joined to the dense waterway network that serves the northern Chekiang plain. The city was founded in the 3rd century BC when the Ch'in dynasty (221-206 BC) established Yu-ch'an county. In AD 231 the city's name was changed to Ho-hsing (meaning "flourishing grain"), after the rich rice of the area, and shortly afterward to Chia-hsing. From the late 3rd century AD until 589 it was the seat of the commandery of Wu; it was then reduced to the status of a county seat and placed under the jurisdiction of Su-chou in Kiangsu province. In 608, when the Grand Canal was constructed, it joined Chia-hsing to the Yangtze at Chen-chiang (northwest) and to Hang-chou (south). In 938 Chia-hsing became the seat of a prefecture and was called Hsiu-chou. In 1195 it was made a superior prefecture because it had been the birthplace of the Sung emperor Hsiao Tsung (reigned 1163-89). The Yan (Mongol) dynasty (1279-1368) renamed it Chia-hsing, and from 1368 to 1911 it was the superior prefecture of Chia-hsing. The city suffered considerable damage during the latter stages of the Taiping Rebellion, when for a time it was occupied by the rebels (1862-63). Chia-hsing has been a commercial centre of modest importance from the 11th century onward. From the 15th century it has been, with Wu-hsing, a major silk industry centre. Silk reeling and weaving remains a major handicraft industry in the rural villages of the surrounding area. Although the city produces silk textiles, it does not rival Wu-hsing or Hang-chou. Chia-hsing also has a woolen industry (producing textiles and knitted goods) and rice-polishing and oil-extracting plants. Another old, established industry is papermaking-the city produces most of China's cigarette paper. Chia-hsing's prime importance, however, is as a collecting centre for the agricultural products of the surrounding area-including the quality rice produced in the fertile plain south of T'ai Lake-most of which are shipped to Shanghai by rail or water. Pop. (1985 est.) 168,300.