NAN-NING

formerly (191345) Yung-ning, Pinyin Nanning, or Yongning, city in south-central Chuang autonomous ch' (region) of Kwangsi, China. Nan-ning is the provincial capital. The city is located on the north bank of the Yung River, the chief southern tributary of the Hsi River, and lies some 19 miles (30 km) below the confluence of the Y and the Tso rivers. The Yung River (which later becomes the Y River) affords a good route to Canton and is navigable by shallow-draft junks and motor launches, even though it is obstructed by rapids and sandbanks. A county seat was first established at the site in AD 318; called Chin-hsing, it also became the administrative seat of a commandery. In 589 the commandery was suppressed, and the county was renamed Hsan-hua. Under the T'ang dynasty (618907) the prefecture of Yung was established there; it was garrisoned to control the non-Chinese districts in Kwangsi and on the YunnanKweichow provincial border. In the mid-9th century the T'ang and the Yn-nan state of Nan-chao fought over it, and after 861 it was briefly occupied by Nan-chao. It remained a frontier prefecture throughout the Sung dynasty (9601279), being the scene of a rebellion led by Nung Chih-kao in 1052 and thereafter a garrison town. Under the Ming (13681644) and Ch'ing (16441911) dynasties, it was a superior prefecture, Nan-ning. Opened to foreign trade by the Chinese in 1907, it grew rapidly. From 1912 to 1936 it was the provincial capital of Kwangsi, replacing Kuei-lin. Early in the 20th century the city spilled over from the old walled city into a southern suburban area. In the 1930s Nan-ning became the centre of a model provincial government under the warlord Li Tsung-jen, and a spacious modern city was laid out. During the Sino-Japanese War (193745), Nan-ning was temporarily occupied in 1940 by the Japanese. It subsequently became an important U.S. air base supporting the Chinese armies in Kwangsi, but during 194445 it was again under Japanese occupation. In 1949 Nan-ning again became the provincial capital, first of Kwangsi province and then (1958) of the Chuang autonomous ch' (region) of Kwangsi, which replaced it. Until then Nan-ning had essentially been a commercial centre dependent on Canton and on the Hsi River system. In the late 1930s a railway was begun, joining Heng-yang in southern Hunan province with Kuei-lin, Liu-chou, Nan-ning, and the Vietnam border, while another was begun from Liu-chou to Kuei-yang in Kweichow. The construction of the Nan-ning section of this line was halted in 1940 by the Japanese advances, however, and was not completed until 1951, after which Nan-ning was directly linked with central China; completion of a branch line to the port of Chan-chiang (in Kwangtung) in 1957 gave it a direct outlet to the sea. During the French war in Indochina (194654), Nan-ning was the chief support base in China for the Vietnamese forces, and during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and early 1970s it again became a staging post for the sending of supplies southward to North Vietnam. It was also an important military supply centre during the Sino-Vietnam confrontation in 1979. Formerly an essentially commercial and administrative centre, Nan-ning from 1949 experienced industrial growth. The city is surrounded by a fertile agricultural region producing subtropical fruits and sugarcane; food processing, flour milling, sugar refining, meatpacking, and leather manufacture are important in the city. Nan-ning is a centre for printing and paper manufacture, and it is also important in heavy industry. After the recognition of the Chuang ethnic minority in 1958, Nan-ning became the chief centre for the training of Chuang leaders. Kwangsi University, a large medical school, and a school of agriculture all date from the 1920s. A cavern at Iling, 12 miles (19 km) to the northwest, has a 3,600-foot (1,100-metre) passage through picturesque stalactites. In the 1970s coloured lights were installed and the cavern was developed as a tourist attraction. Pop. (1985 est.) 564,900.