PAO-TING

Pinyin Baoding, city, Hopeh sheng (province), China. It is situated on the edge of the North China Plain at the foot of the Wu-hui Mountains, a section of the T'ai-hang Mountains, and stands on the Tang River, a tributary of the Ta-ch'ing River. Situated on the main road from Peking through western Hopeh, it is southwest of the capital, roughly midway between Peking and Shih-chia-chuang. To the west, a route leads into northern Shansi sheng via the Lung-ch'an Pass. Pao-ting is in an area of old-established settlement. Before the Ch'in dynasty (221206 BC) it was part of the state of Chao. During the period to AD 581, counties of various names were established in the district and formed parts of a variety of higher administrations. In 581 the Sui dynasty (581618) changed the county's name to Ch'ing-yan, which it retained until 1958. The area was of major strategic importance from early times. During the T'ang dynasty (618907) it was the headquarters of one of the armies guarding the northeastern frontier against the Khitan, a Ural-Altaic people, and it later became a key garrison for government forces defending access to Shansi against the autonomous provinces of Hopeh. During the Five Dynasties (907960) and the early years of the Sung dynasty (9601126) it was a military prefecture on the contested border between the Sung and the Liao in the north. Under the Yan (Mongol) dynasty (12791368) the area it administered became Pao-ting Circuit (lu). The transfer of the capital to Peking in Yan and Ming (12791644) times meant a reversal of its strategic role so that it became the chief defensive bastion protecting Peking against attack from the south or incursions over the passes of the T'ai-hang Mountains. Under the Ming it was the administrative centre of the Pao-ting Prefecture (fu), and under the Ch'ing dynasty (16441911) it became even more important. It was both the seat of the provincial government of Chihli and also the alternative seat, with Tientsin, of the military governor of Chihli. The city was heavily fortified, with walls more than 5 mi (8 km) in circumference, enclosing the government offices of the province, the military governor's offices, extensive barracks, and a military academy. Although Pao-ting was primarily an administrative city, with extensive service industries, it was also a notable centre of learning. Under the Ming and Ch'ing it had many well-known schools, and in the reign of the Yung-cheng emperor (172235) a famous library, the Lien-ch'ien Academy, was founded there, which later became the Hopeh Library. As a communication centre, it also had commercial importance. It was the centre of a rather dense road network and in 1905 was joined to Peking and Tientsin, and later to Han-k'ou, by the PekingtoWu-han railway. It was also a commercial centre, collecting grain, wool, cloth, cotton, cottonseed oil, and various agricultural products. The city maintained its administrative importance both under the Japanese occupation before and during World War II and under the Communist government that came to power in 1949. Until 1958 it remained the provincial capital and the seat of the Hopeh People's Assembly. In that year the provincial administration was transferred to Tientsin (and later to Shih-chia-chuang), and the name of the city was formally changed from Ch'ing-yan to Pao-ting. The city has continued to grow, however. There are a number of light industrial plants, mostly small scale, as well as a medium-sized thermal generating plant. In the drive for fertilizer production in the mid-1960s, an ammonium carbonate plant was built there. Pop. (1953) 197,000; (1958 est.) 250,000; (1980 UN est.) 621,000.