K'AI-YAN

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.