SHANG-JAO

Pinyin Shangrao, city, northeastern Kiangsi sheng (province), China. It lies along the Hsin River, about 110 miles (180 km) east of Nan-ch'ang, the provincial capital, and is on the main rail and highway route from Nan-ch'ang to the coastal ports of Hang-chou and Shanghai. Shang-jao has been an important route centre throughout historical times. The county was founded in the mid-3rd century AD and, except at brief intervals, remained a county seat until the 20th century. In 758 the T'ang dynasty (618907) upgraded it to be the seat of a prefecture, Hsin-chou (named after the river). It retained this name until the Ming dynasty (13681644), when it became the seat of the superior prefecture of Kuang-hsin. Its strategic importance as the western entry to the Fu-ch'un (Ch'ien-t'ang) River valley and southern Kiangsu has always been great, and one of the crucial battles in the Mongol conquest of South China was fought there in 1275. The city, however, remained little more than a regional commercial centre until the construction of the Chekiang-Kiangsi railway in 1937, when it became a railhead for goods from northwestern Fukien province en route to Hang-chou and Shanghai. This function was largely lost with the construction of other rail links in 1957. Shang-jao is mainly a commercial centre, with little industry except for the production of paper and processing of tea. Pop. (1990) 132,455.