SHAO-KUAN

formerly Shao-chou, or Ch'-chiang, Pinyin Shaoguan, Shaozhou, or Qujiang city in northern Kwangtung sheng (province), China. Shao-kuan lies along the Pei River where it is formed by the junction of the Wu River, flowing southeast from the borders of Hunan, and the Chen River, flowing southwest from the borders of Kiangsi province. Shao-kuan thus commands not only the principal overland route from Canton to central and northern China but also the major route via the river systems into Hunan and the other route via the Mei-ling Pass into Kiangsi. It thus remained a major transportation centre both when the Hunan route predominated (i.e., before the 6th century and after the construction of the Han-kouCanton railway in 1937, which passes through Shao-kuan) and when the Kiangsi route was more important during the intervening centuries. Under the name Ch'-chiang, the site was a county founded under the Han dynasty (206 BCAD 220) in the 1st century BC. It became the seat of a commandery in AD 265 and received the name Shao prefecture in 618. During the Ming (13681644) and Ch'ing (16441911/12) periods, it was a superior prefecture named Shao-chou and reverted to county status in 1912. Its greatest period of prosperity was in the 18th and early 19th centuries, when Canton monopolized all foreign commerce, and trade by the overland route was at its height. After the Taiping Rebellion (185064), which badly affected this and neighbouring areas in the early 1850s, the trade diminished. Shao-kuan again experienced a period of somewhat artificial growth during the Sino-Japanese War (193745), when it became the provincial capital after the Japanese occupation of coastal Kwangtung cities in 1938. Shao-kuan remains primarily a commercial and communication centre; the timber, livestock, tobacco, tung oil, and other natural products of the mountains of northern Kwangtung are collected there, and manufactures from Canton are shipped through it into Kiangsi. A small coalfield is in operation in the area, and the surrounding mountainous districts are rich in minerals, particularly iron ore, tungsten, and antimony. Under the Second Five-Year Plan (195862), there were ambitious designs for the development of Shao-kuan as a centre of heavy industry. A heavy machinery plant (capable of producing metallurgical equipment for iron and steel plants, as well as cranes and docking equipment) was built. Pop. (1990) 350,043.