CHIU-CH'AN

also spelled Kiuchan, Pinyin Jiuquan, city in western Kansu sheng (province), China. An important staging post on the ancient Silk Road to Central Asia, Chiu-ch'an was founded in 111 BC as a military outpost. From AD 581 onward it was the seat of Su-chou prefecture, and under the T'ang dynasty (618-907) it was given its present name. From the 5th century onward, it became the seat of a cult centred on two sets of cave temples in Wen-shu Mountain (Majsri's Mountain) about 9 miles (14 km) to the southwest. Subsequently, however, because of the decay of the Old Silk Road, the city became comparatively insignificant until modern times. Its modern development began in the late 1950s with the discovery of very large iron-ore deposits at Mount Ching-tieh to the south and the development of coal mines at Shan-tan to the southeast, both served by the new Lan-chou-Sinkiang railway. A large integrated iron and steel plant has been built at Chiu-ch'an. Pop. (mid-1980s est.) 10,000-50,000.