HSU-CH'ANG

Pinyin Xuchang city in central Honan sheng (province), China. Hs-ch'ang is situated in the foothills of the Kunlun Mountains northeast of the Fu-niu Range and on the edge of the North China Plain. It has since early times been a natural route centrethe point where the north-south route on the western edge of the North China Plain is crossed by the main route running northeast to Shang-ch'iu and to Shantung province and by the southwesterly route to Nan-yang and the Yangtze River valley. The name Hs goes back to the Western Chou period (1111771 BC), when the site was given as a fief to the descendants of the legendary deity T'ai Yueh Ta Ti, who lived on Mount T'ai in Shantung province. In AD 196, during the Later Han dynasty, when the two capitals, Ch'ang-an (modern Sian) in Shensi and Lo-yang in Honan, were in a state of disorder, the emperor Hsien Ti established his capital at Hs-ch'ang. Under the Han (206 BCAD 220) it was a major centre of commerce, with manufacturing controlled by the government. Hs-ch'ang held the administrative status of either a prefecture or a commandery under succeeding dynasties. After the Juchen conquest in 1127, it was renamed Hs-chou and kept this name until 1913, when it became a county seat named Hs-ch'ang. Its importance was increased by the completion of the PekingHan-k'ou railway in 1905, as a result of which it became the main collecting centre for agricultural produce from the western plain of Honan. By World War II it was a flourishing commercial city. The surrounding region produces cotton, good-quality tobacco, sesame, vegetables, and hides, which are mostly sent to Han-k'ou by rail. By the early 1970s the city had various processing and some handicraft industries, including an industry producing felt hats. There is also a well-established ceramic industry, dating back at least to the 11th century, which now produces mostly coarse domestic ware for the local regional market. The region around Hs-ch'ang is Honan's leading tobacco-growing area. Pop. (1990) 208,815.