YUEH-YANG

formerly (until 1911) Yeh-chou, Pinyin Yueyang, or Yuezhou city in northern Hunan sheng (province), China. The city is situated on the east bank of the outlet from the Tung-t'ing Lake into the Yangtze River, some 5 miles (8 km) from the outlet's confluence with the Yangtze. Its port on the Yangtze is known as Ch'eng-ling-chi. The city is built on a high bluff well above high-water level, in a good defensive position. It was a fortified place called Pa-ch'iu in Han times (206 BCAD 220), and on the partition of China in AD 221 a major military stronghold was built there and named Pa-ling; it was converted into a civil county before 260. In 439 it was made a commandery, and in 589, after the reunification of China by the Sui dynasty (581618), it became the prefecture of Yeh-chou, which name it retained until 1911. Under the Sung dynasty (9601279) it was heavily fortified, with walls some 4 miles (6.4 km) in circumference, and became the seat of the military prefecture of Yeh-yang, whence its present name. In 1368 the Ming dynasty promoted it to the Yeh-yang superior prefecture. During the Taiping Rebellion, its capture by the rebels in 1852 was an important stage in their advance up the Yangtze River valley to Nanking, while its recapture in 1854 secured the control of the central government over the middle Yangtze basin. At the time of the foundation of the Chinese republic in 1911, it became a county, taking the name Yeh-yang in place of its former county name, Pa-ling, even though it continued to be referred to as Yeh-chou. Yeh-yang briefly held municipal status in 196162. The city was opened to foreign trade in 1898 (as compensation by the Ch'ing dynasty for the rejection of a British loan), and a foreign settlement and commercial establishments were set up at the river port of Ch'eng-ling-chi. The railway from Han-k'ou to Canton passes through Yeh-yang, connecting it to Han-k'ou and Ch'ang-sha. Although planned as early as 1898, the section from Han-k'ou to Ch'ang-sha was completed only in 1917, and the final connection to Canton only in 1936. Yeh-yang has a large domestic trade and is a transshipment point for water traffic using the Tung-t'ing Lake, the Hsiang River and its tributaries, and other waterways and lakes in northern Hunan. It exports cotton, grain, beans, and ramie fibre, but its most important trade is in timber. Vast rafts of timber are floated down the waterways to Yeh-yang, whence it is either shipped on down the Yangtze or else shipped elsewhere by rail. The city has little industry but has a medium-sized thermal generating station. Pop. (1990) 302,800.