I-CH'ANG

Pinyin Yichang, city in western Hupeh sheng (province), China. I-ch'ang stands on the left bank of the middle Yangtze River, immediately below the entrance to the magnificent gorges of the Ta-pa Mountains to the west, and has a harbour formed by the small island of Hsia-pa. The level of the river, which has a violent current, varies enormouslysometimes by as much as 50 feet (15 m) between high and low water. Despite these drawbacks I-ch'ang has always been an important river port, much of the traffic from Szechwan province being transshipped onto larger vessels there. I-ch'ang is an ancient city, which underwent many changes of name, and was constantly disputed during periods when China was politically divided, being the key gateway to the rich province of Szechwan. Until the 17th century it was usually known either as I-ling Chn or as Shan Chou. It received the name I-ch'ang only under the Ch'ing dynasty (16441911). It was opened to foreign trade as a treaty port in 1877. A Western quarter then grew up alongside the ancient walled city, and its trade grew rapidly; many Western commercial firms established branches there. In 1914 the first section of a railway from I-ch'ang to Chungking (Ch'ung-ch'ing) was laid as part of a projected line from Han-k'ou to Chungking, but the project was abandoned in the political chaos of the day, and the track was torn up in 1915. I-ch'ang is connected by a spur to a line that runs from Hsiang-fan to I-tu, about 15 miles (25 km) to the southeast on the Yangtze. In the 1930s, I-ch'ang also became an air service stop on the route from the coast to Szechwan, and roads were built to provide good local communications. After 1938, during the Sino-Japanese War (193745), when the Japanese began to drive up the Yangtze from Han-k'ou, I-ch'ang was badly damaged by repeated bombing and eventually fell to the Japanese army in 1940. I-ch'ang was as far as the Japanese got, and until 1945 its commerce virtually was at a standstill. Not until the 1950s did shipping begin to recover. Although it is the collecting and distribution centre for the commerce of the surrounding counties, and although it is on a highway running from Han-k'ou into Szechwan, most of its trade still consists of the transshipment of rice, oils, timber, and natural products from Szechwan and the transshipment of manufactured goods from the north and from the coastal provinces destined for Szechwan. Before World War II it had only a few small rice mills and some engineering facilities connected with shipping. After 1949, however, it was fairly extensively industrialized. The city now has flour, textile, and paper mills, oil-extraction plants, and a chemical industry producing industrial chemicals, fertilizers, and pharmaceuticals. The shipyards have also been rebuilt. Pop. (1988 est.) 353,000.