LIAO-YANG

Pinyin Liaoyang city in central Liaoning sheng (province), China. Liao-yang is situated on the T'ai-tzu River, some 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Shen-yang (Mukden), and 12 miles (19 km) northeast of the great industrial city of An-shan. Liao-yang is located in the most ancient area of Chinese settlement in Manchuria. The Han dynasty (206 BCAD 220) set up Liao-yang commandery in the 2nd century BC, with its seat at P'ing-hsiang, northwest of the modern city. During the 4th and 5th centuries AD it formed part of the territories of the successive Yen kingdoms, and in the 640s was occupied by the T'ang dynasty (618907) as a base area for their invasions of the Korean area. When the Chinese protectorate over southern Manchuria ended in 756, Liao-yang became a southern frontier district of the P'o-hai (Korean Parhae) state, which flourished in the 8th and 9th centuries. Early in the 10th century it was overrun by the Khitan people and incorporated in their state of Liao-tung. In 919 their king rebuilt the city and forcibly resettled Chinese and P'o-hai captives to populate it. In 928 it was designated the eastern capital of the Liao dynasty; it remained one of the capitals under both the Liao and their successors, the Juchen (Chin) dynasty (12th and early 13th centuries). The area was the seat of a rebellion in the early 13th century, and the rebels submitted to the Mongols in 121516. From 1269 to 1367 Liao-yang served as the capital of the province of Liao-yang Lu, but the area seems to have been extensively depopulated by the Mongols. At the beginning of the Ming dynasty (13681644), the city became a crucial defensive base for the northeastern frontier. Walled in 136872, it was the centre of a network of guard posts and garrisons. With the rise of the Manchus at the end of the 16th century, however, its defenses proved inadequate, and it was overrun by the armies of Nurhachi, a Manchurian tribal chieftain, in 1621. Nurhachi made it his capital, and began the construction of a large new capital city some 3 miles (5 km) to the east. Laid out on a grand scale, this city was never finished. In 1625 Nurhachi moved his court to Mukden; the abandoned new capital fell into ruins. Subsequently, Liao-yang became a superior prefecture and remained an important administrative centre. Owing to its strategic location, Liao-yang was the site of several fierce battles during the Russo-Japanese War (190405). With the foundation of the Chinese republic (1911) it was demoted to the status of a county seat but continued to flourish as the centre of a rich and densely peopled agricultural area producing rice, grain, soybeans, cotton, tussah silk (a tan silk), and a variety of vegetables and foodstuffs. Various industries associated with agriculture, such as brewing, textiles, and oil extraction, also grew up. With the rapid growth from the 1930s onward of nearby An-shan, one of the principal industrial centres of China, Liao-yang's economy has been to a large extent subordinated to An-shan's needs. The city provides much of the foodstuffs consumed by An-shan. It has developed a large cotton mill and engineering and cement manufacturing plants. It is connected by railway to Shen-yang, An-shan, and L-ta. Pop. (1990) 492,559.