HUAI-NAN

Pinyin Huainan, industrial city, north-central Anhwei sheng (province), China. Until the 20th century Huai-nan was a minor town called T'ien-chia-an, under the jurisdiction of Shou-hsien, some 18 miles (30 km) to the west. Its development began with the discovery of coal deposits in the locality early in the 20th century, but exploitation of the mines did not begin in earnest until the 1930s. Their development was further advanced under the Japanese occupation (193745). After 1949 new coal deposits were discovered, and by the 1970s Huai-nan was the centre of one of China's most important coalfields, with several mechanized deep pits. The city has a major thermal generating plant, which supplies electricity to part of northern Anhwei. During the 1950s chemical and photochemical industries were established in the city, as well as an iron and steel industry. Huai-nan has an unusually large number of plants and a diverse range of heavy industry, including engineering and machine-building plants. Standing at the centre of a fertile agricultural region, it has benefited from irrigation projects established by the Huai River Conservancy Authority. There are also food- and tobacco-processing plants in Huai-nan. It has railway connections with Ho-fei to the south and with Suchow (in Kiangsu province) to the north. Pop. (1990 est.) 703,934.