SHA-SHIH

Pinyin Shashi city and river port in Hupeh sheng (province), China. It is a large city on the north bank of the Yangtze River near the large Lake Ch'ang. It was a communications centre from a very early date, with routes leading north to Hsiang-fan, east to Han-k'ou, and west to I-ch'ang. Sha-shih was a large city in the state of Ch'u from the 6th century BC onward. The Ch'in dynasty (221206 BC) and their successors, the Han (206 BCAD 220), from the 3rd century BC had a county seat there named Chiang-ling, a name retained until the 20th century. It remained a military, administrative, and commercial centre until the 19th century. Sha-shih grew in importance in the 1850s and '60s, when occupation of many of the lower Yangtze ports by rebels during the Taiping Rebellion (185064) brought it new prosperity. When Sha-shih was opened to foreign trade in 1896, it began to flourish as a commercial centre and transshipment port and subsequently outstripped the neighbouring city of Ching-chou, which had suffered serious damage during the 1911 revolution. With excellent waterway communications in Hupeh, it also drew trade from much of northern Hunan province west of Lake Tung-t'ing, as well as from eastern Szechwan province, and exported quantities of cotton, grain, beans, and oilseeds. Chiang-ling had always been the centre of a handicraft-textile industry, which was developed on a large scale by the Ch'ing dynasty in the 18th century, Chiang-ling satins being especially famous. In the early years of the 20th century, a large cotton-weaving and spinning factory was set up in Sha-shih. Since 1949 this industry has been expanded on a considerable scale. The city produces large quantities of cotton yarn and finished textiles, which supply the local needs of the province and are also shipped elsewhere. Flour milling, food packing, chemical and glass manufacture, and papermaking are also important industries. Pop. (1989 est.) 261,000.