LIAO-YAN

also called Tung-liao, Pinyin Liaoyuan, or Dongliao, city, southwestern Kirin sheng (province), China. Liao-yan is on the north bank of the upper Tung-liao River, about 60 miles (100 km) south of Ch'ang-ch'un. Standing on the border between the plains and the hills, it was originally a Manchu hunting preserve, which was first opened to legal colonization by Chinese farmers in the late 19th century. Liao-yan then became a rural market and collecting centre for soybeans, grain, and other agricultural products. In 1911 coal was discovered in the area, and Liao-yan became the centre of a major coalfield, with pits located at such neighbouring centres as Hsi-an (Ch'ang-an) and P'ing-kang. The field has enormous reserves of good quality coal, mostly bituminous. The mines, badly damaged at the end of World War II, were extensively reequipped in the early 1950s, those at Hsi-an with Soviet aid. By 1960 Liao-yan had become the chief coal-producing district in Kirin province. Besides providing fuel for industrial use in the province, Liao-yan has a large thermal generating plant, which is connected with the power grid linking the major industrial centres of Northeast China. The city's other industries include engineering, chemical and fertilizer plants, paper mills, and factories for cotton weaving, silk reeling, and oil pressing. It is connected by rail via Ssu-p'ing to Ch'ang-ch'un and to T'ung-hua. Pop. (1990) 354,141.