HUAI-YIN

formerly Ch'ing-chiang, Pinyin Huaiyin, or Qingjiang, also spelled Hwaiyin, city, northern Kiangsu sheng (province), China. Huai-yin is an important city and canal port on the Grand Canal, located at the point where (until 1853) it crossed the lower course of the Huang Ho. Huai-yin county was founded in the 2nd century BC but was later abolished, not to be reestablished until the 7th century AD. Huai-yin was then the place where the Shan-yang Canal from Yang-chou joined the lower course of the Huai River. It was overshadowed in importance, however, by Ch'u-chou (modern Huai-an) a few miles to the south. After the 1120s it ceased even to be a county seat. At this time, too, the name Ch'ing-chiang, or Ch'ing-chiang Harbour, first appeared. With the construction of the new Grand Canal in 1276, the town again became a centre of transport. Locks were built there at the beginning of the 15th century, and it became the place at which travelers from the south left their boats to travel overland by road to Peking and northern China. It grew in importance between the 15th and the 17th century, and in the latter part of the 18th century the town, which is on both banks of the canal, was provided with a double ring of walls. This growth was to some extent at the expense of the older city of Huai-an, and with the founding of the Chinese republic in 1911, Huai-an was demoted to county status and Ch'ing-chiang was raised to county-seat status under its old name of Huai-yin. Huai-yin is an important centre of water routes in northern Kiangsu. Not only is it on the Grand Canal (which has been extensively repaired) but it is also the southern terminus of the Yn-yen River, an old waterway, also rebuilt, that links it with Lien-yn-kang on the Yellow Sea coast. Huai-yin is the focus of a network of newly canalized rivers that crisscross the coastal area of Kiangsu north of the Su-pei Canal. In addition, Huai-yin is the focus of the road network of northern Kiangsu. The city remains primarily a transportation and marketing centre, with no industry except small-scale textile plants and flour mills. The main products of the surrounding area are cotton, grain, rice, kaoliang (a variety of grain sorghum), and some sweet corn (maize). Pop. (1990 est.) 239,675.