P'ING-HSIANG

Pinyin Pingxiang, city in western Kiangsi sheng (province), China. P'ing-hsiang is situated on the border of Hunan province. It lies in the midst of the Wu-kung Mountains on the upper course of the Lu River, on what has always been a major route between the city of Ch'ang-sha in Hunan province and Nan-ch'ang in Kiangsi. A county was established in the area in AD 267 and has existed ever since, usually being dependent on Yan-chou (now I-ch'un). For a brief period (12951367) it was an independent prefecture. P'ing-hsiang's modern importance began with the discovery of rich coal deposits there at the end of the 19th century by German experts employed by the Han-yang Iron Works in Hupeh province, which was urgently seeking a source of coking coal. A railway was built during 190305 to transport the coal, and coke ovens were installed in the city. The depressed market for iron after World War I, however, led to the decline and eventual closing of the ironworks, so that demand for P'ing-hsiang coal and coke fell dramatically, the mines closing down for a time in 192526. In the 1930s production was only about 20 percent of what it had been during the peak period. After much neglect and destruction during World War II, the mines around P'ing-hsiang were modernized in the 1950s, and by the 1970s the city had again become a major mining centre. In the late 1950s a large iron and steel industry, producing pig iron and ingot steel, was established there. P'ing-hsiang also has a ceramic industry. It is on the main railway line from Nan-ch'ang to Ch'ang-sha. Pop. (1990 est.) 425,579. Pinyin Pingxiang, city in southwestern Kwangsi Chuang autonomous region, China. The city is situated on the border with Vietnam. It was founded as a military outpost under the name P'ing-hsiang during the Sung dynasty (9601279), and under the Ming dynasty (13681644) it became a county and later a prefecture. It was, however, little more than an administrative outpost among non-Chinese tribesmen. The Ch'ing dynasty (16441911/12) made it a subprefecture. P'ing-hsiang's modern growth stemmed from the railway from Nan-ning, which provides a through route from central China to Vietnam, crossing the border a few miles to the south at Yu-i-kuan. Construction of this line was begun in 1938 by the French, who completed it as far as Ning-ming; but, following the Japanese occupation of Nan-ning, work was abandoned in 194344, and much of the track was dismantled. The line was completed in 1951 and linked with the Vietnamese rail system in 1955. After this, P'ing-hsiang rapidly grew into a commercial centre for international trade with Vietnam; it also developed some small-scale industries. A considerable part of Sino-Vietnamese trade passes through P'ing-hsiang because the rail link is superior to the older line that runs through Yunnan province and also provides a direct route to Wu-han as well as connections to Kweichow and Szechwan provinces and to the Canton area. Pop. (mid-1980s est.) 10,00050,000.