CHIN-SHIH

Pinyin Jinshi, market town in northwestern Hunan sheng (province), China. It stands on the north bank of the Li River some distance above its discharge into the Tung-t'ing Lake system, at the head of navigation for medium-sized ships. While Li-hsien, some miles to the west, has become the chief administrative centre of the Li River basin, Chin-shih has developed as its commercial counterpart. An unwalled economic centre with a large settlement of people from Shansi province engaged in its trade, it is the principal collecting centre for grain and cotton from the surrounding plain and for hemp, timber, tung oil, and tea from the upper Li River valley. It has a large oil-extraction plant, rice mills, and some small-scale cotton-textile plants, as well as factories producing farm tools and other products. Pop. (1989 est.) 76,900.