WU-HSI

Pinyin Wuxi city in southern Kiangsu sheng (province), China. Wu-hsi is situated along the Grand Canal at that waterway's junction with the Hsi-ch'eng Canal near the northeastern corner of T'ai Lake. The city is the principal route focus of the dense network of canals and waterways that provides the basic transport system of southern Kiangsu. Wu-hsi is one of the older cities in the Yangtze River Delta area. It was originally known as a source of tin; but by the time the county was founded under the Former Han dynasty (206 BCAD 25), the deposits had been exhausted, and the county was named Wu-hsi (Without Tin). From the end of the 3rd century the city was subordinated to the commandery (district under the control of a commander) of Pi-ling (or Ch'ang-chou) and remained so except for a brief interval under the rule of the Yan, or Mongol, dynasty (12061368), when it was made an independent prefecture. Since early times the area around T'ai Lake has been extremely fertile; and after the completion of the Grand Canal in 609, Wu-hsi became a transshipment centre for tax grain destined for the capital. It thus became one of the greatest grain markets in China, handling vast quantities of rice annually, and was the seat of a complex commercial organization of extremely wealthy merchants and middlemen. When the Grand Canal fell into decay after 1850, Wu-hsi retained its importance as a rice market, exporting grain to Shanghai for shipment by sea to Tientsin. The trade in grain increased still further after the completion of the railway link to Shanghai to the east and to Chen-chiang and Nanking to the northwest, in 1908. Wu-hsi has traditionally been a centre of the textile industry, being engaged in both cotton textiles and silk reeling. Textile mills were established there as long ago as 1894 and silk filatures (establishments for reeling silk) in 1904. This development was largely the work of Shanghai industrialists, many of whom were originally from Wu-hsi merchant families. The two cities have had unusually close links, and Wu-hsi was known colloquially before World War II as Little Shanghai. The cotton yarn produced is woven not only in the city itself but also in Ch'ang-chou and Su-chou, whereas the silk reeled in the city is mostly woven into cloth in Su-chou and (in recent times) in Shanghai. Modern Wu-hsi is the greatest silk-reeling centre in China. Cotton textile production is also important and is the city's largest single industry. Other long-established industries are flour milling, rice polishing, and oil extraction. Industrial development has accelerated since the 1950s. The textile and food-processing industries have been modernized and expanded, and the city has become a centre for the engineering industry, particularly for the manufacture of machine tools and diesel engines. It also manufactures electrical equipment and cables and boiler-plant and textile machinery of various types. Since 1949 the city's importance as a commercial centre has declined, although its role as a distribution and collection centre for the T'ai Lake area remains. Tourism is increasingly important. Wu-hsi's surroundings include many well-known beauty spots, carefully preserved together with city parks and historic sites. Industrial development is closely restricted near the lake, the major scenic attraction. New hotels were built in 1961 and 1978. Pop. (1985 est.) 696,300.