P'U-CHOU

Pinyin Puzhou town in east central Shansi Province (sheng), China. It stands on the east bank of the Huang Ho (Yellow River), on the north side of the western spur of the Chung-t'iao Shan (mountains). A short distance to the south is Feng-ling-tu, from which there is a ferry to T'ung-kuan. In ancient times P'u-chou was a place of great strategic importance, controlling the westward route from which any invasion of the Wei Ho Valley had to pass from Shansi. In early times it was called P'u-pan. Under the Han dynasty (206 BCAD 220) it became the chief city of the commandery (district under the control of a commander) of Ho-tung. Under the Northern Chou in the 6th century it received its present name and became a place of importance. In 538 a great pontoon bridge was built across the Huang Ho at this point; it was replaced by a more permanent bridge in 724. Across this bridge and through the customs station at its eastern end passed all the land traffic from Shansi to the capital at Ch'ang-an, now Hsi-an, in Shensi Province. Then the county town was called Ho-tung, and the prefecture of which it was the seat was known as either P'u-chou or (later) Ho-chung Superior Prefecture (fu). These names were kept through the Sung period (9601126) and the following Chin (Juchen) period. Pu-chou's importance declined, however, with that of Shensi, as Ch'ang-an ceased to be a capital city and as the centre of political power shifted first to K'ai-feng, in Honan Province, and then to Peking. Under the Ming dynasty (13681644) the town was renamed San-chou and was made subordinate to the superior prefecture of P'ing-yang. The Ch'ing dynasty (16441911), having seen rebel armies threaten Peking from Shensi and Szechwan provinces by this route in the last days of Ming rule, reestablished it as P'u-chou, building 2 mi (3 km) of defensive walls and making it the seat of Yung-chi County. It again went into decay, however, and in 1912 reverted to county seat status. Later it declined still furtherthe county seat being transferred to Chao-i-chen, farther to the eastthe city itself becoming a subordinate town named P'u-chou-chen. By the 1930s much of the walled area was unoccupied; even the arrival in 1935 of the railway linking it with T'ai-yan did nothing to revive it. The terminus of the line was at Feng-ling-tu, where a steel railway bridge crossed the Huang Ho to T'ung-kuan, and this replaced the crossing at P'u-chou as the major force from Shansi to the Wei Ho Valley. Despite its decline, however, there are still many historic buildings, temples, and sites associated with P'u-chou. Pop. (mid-1970s est.) fewer than 10,000.