K'AI-YAN


Meaning of K'AI-YAN in English

Pinyin Kaiyuan, formerly (until 1931) Amichow, city in southern Yunnan sheng (province), China. K'ai-yan is the natural transport centre for a mining district that has developed rapidly in the 20th century. K'ai-yan was a small village until the completion in 1910 of the railway from the provincial capital of K'un-ming to what is now the Vietnamese port of Haiphong. At that time coal deposits were discovered at several sites along the rail line near K'ai-yan. Until 1932 the nearby Ko-chiu tin mines shipped most of their production to Hong Kong for refining; but in that year a modern smelter was installed, and K'ai-yan became an important supplier of coal to this expanding industry. Continual development of coal mining and thermal-power production has continued since the 1950s. The city, moreover, has become the centre of the local lumber industry and provides timber for construction. Pop. (1990) 124,219.

Britannica English vocabulary.      Английский словарь Британика.