LIU-CHOU

formerly Ma-p'ing, Pinyin Liuzhou, or Maping, city in central Kwangsi Chuang autonomous ch' (region), southern China. Liu-chou, the second largest city in Kwangsi, is a natural communication centre, being situated at the confluence of several tributaries that form the Liu River, which flows southward into a tributary of the Hsi River. In recent times Liu-chou has become the focus of a highway system and is linked by rail northeastward to Kuei-lin and Heng-yang (in Hunan), southwestward to Nan-ning and the Vietnamese border at P'ing-hsiang, northwestward to Kuei-yang (in Kweichow province) and Szechwan province, and southeastward to the port of Chan-chiang (in Kwangtung province). Until comparatively recent centuries, the area was occupied by non-Chinese peoples. The county of T'an-chung was founded there in the 1st century BC; renamed Ma-p'ing in 591, it became the seat of a prefecture under the T'ang dynasty (618907) and of a superior prefecture (Liu-chou) after 1368. In the Middle Ages, however, it was little more than a frontier garrison and trading post, often used as a place of exile. Through the centuries it has frequently been a centre of rebellionfor example, in the risings led by Ch'en Chin in 100408, by Chou Chien in the late 15th century, and by Wei Chin-t'ien in the second quarter of the 16th century. Only in the 17th century did the area become dominated by Chinese settlers. Liu-chou has always been a centre for the collection of agricultural products, timber, and vegetable and tung oil from north central Kwangsi and southern Kweichow and has had handicraft industries based on local products. It has been renowned for the production of coffins as well as for papermaking, tobacco curing, and textile manufacturing. There are also plants for oil extraction and grain milling. Since 1949 there has been considerable industrial expansion; new installations include large lumber-processing and woodworking factories as well as chemical plants (extracting sulfur and producing alcohols). Liu-chou supports a large engineering industry, producing agricultural machinery and gasoline and diesel engines; there is also a large locomotive repair works. In the late 1950s a steel and iron plant was built, using rich local iron ores and coal from the Ho-shan mines (on the railway to the southeast). In the 1960s Liu-chou, in addition to becoming a major manufacturer of tractors, also developed a large fertilizer plant and began to produce cement. There is a large thermal power station, and there are also several hydroelectric installations in the district. Pop. (1982) 581,980.