Anshan
Anshan is an inland prefecture-level city in central-southeast Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, about south of the provincial capital Shenyang. As of the 2020 census, it was Liaoning's third most populous city with a population of 3,325,372 people, over an area of about spanning from east to the west. Its built-up area encompassing the 4 Anshan urban districts, the 4 out of 5 urban Liaoyang districts and Liaoyang county largely being conurbated, was home to 2,712,789 inhabitants in 2020.
The city's name came from the horse saddle-like shape of a nearby mountain south of the city, which can be seen on the left about five minutes before the northbound train arrives at Anshan railway station. Anshan is home to the Anshan Iron and Steel Group, one of the largest steel producers in China. Anshan is sister city with Sheffield, United Kingdom.
Anshan holds one-third of the world's supply of talcum and a quarter of the world's reserves of magnesite. Anshan also produced the largest ever jade stone, now a local tourist attraction carved as a Buddha statue.
History
The area of Anshan has been inhabited since prehistoric times. It has been a site of iron mining and metallurgy for over 2,000 years. The area remained of little significance, a small city in Liaodong province, overshadowed by neighbouring Liaoyang city, until the mid-20th Century.In 1587 Anshan was fortified by the Ming Dynasty to combat the growing power of the Manchu. The city was burnt down during the Boxer Rebellion, and was destroyed again in the Russo-Japanese War. As a result of this war, Japan had gained influence in Liaoning and was engaged in industrialising the region. Anshan lay beside the new South Manchuria Railway line that ran from the port of Dalian to the major city of Shenyang.
As part of the economic privileges that Japan forced China to cede in 1915, Japan obtained concessions in Anshan.
From 1918 to 1945, Anshan was under Japanese colonial control and was a centre for modern iron and steel production. After the Mukden Incident in 1931, Japan occupied the northeast of China. The mills were turned into a Japanese-owned monopoly. In 1933, the site was expanded to include steel production and the company was renamed Showa Steel Works. Anshan became part of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo. In 1937, Puyi officially designated Anshan as a city. During Japanese colonial control, Anshan was ethnically separated, with Japanese living east of its railway line and Chinese living west of it. Schools in the city were also segregated.
Additional industries developed around the iron and steel mills. Anshan grew significantly in size around this new industrial site, becoming one of, if not the largest producers of iron and steel in Asia. It was therefore of strategic importance in the Pacific War, and was subject to several attacks by B-29 Superfortress strategic bombers of the USAAF. The Japanese Army detached the 1st Chutai of the 104th Sentai of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force, to Anshan, with other air squadrons for industrial defence purposes. Although this unit was equipped with modern Nakajima Ki-84 Ia Hayate "Frank" fighters, manufactured by Manshūkoku Hikōki Seizo KK, the plant suffered heavy damage from the air raids, losing up to 30% of its capacity.
After the war in Europe ended, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, as the Red Army simultaneously launched Operation August Storm. Soviet forces advanced rapidly and soon captured much of Manchuria from the Japanese. In late 1945, the Soviet Red Army occupied a large amount of Liaoning and took major portions of the area's manufacturing and mining equipment to the Soviet Union.
With the defeat of Japan in 1945, Anshan was returned to China along with the rest of the Chinese Manchuria. Civil war continued between the Nationalists and the Chinese Communist Party. The Nationalist Government attempted to revive manufacturing in the area during their period of control from 1946 to 1948. The Nationalists withdrew from Anshan in February 1948.
The CCP entered the city on 28 February. Upon beginning governing in Anshan, CCP authorities sought to implement New Democracy by nationalizing some private enterprises with compensation and providing financial support to other private business. A significant amount of Japanese remained in Anshan, and they were governed indirectly by the CCP through an intermediary group of Japanese Communist cadre, which included members of the Japanese Communist Party who had been in the region before 1945, former Japanese soldiers who had been reeducated in Yan'an, and Japanese Communists recruited and trained by the CCP after 1945.
The northeast of China was marked out to become a major industrial centre for the new People's Republic of China. Anshan became a key part of China's approach to "socialist industrialization" which, modeled after the Soviet approach, focused on the development of heavy industry state-owned enterprises. Its mining and manufacturing industries had to be rebuilt almost from scratch, however. During this period, Anshan was given the same status as provinces, although it was reversed after the period ended. In December 1948, the Anshan Iron and Steel Company—also known as Angang—was founded. It was a centre of industrialization as part of China's First Five-Year Plan. Production in the newly repaired steel plant resumed on July 9, 1949. The plant was the largest steel producer in China. Anshan developed the nickname, "Steel Metropolis". Other industries set up alongside the steel plant including mining for coal, iron and other minerals.
Anshan became a formal administrative region under the Northeastern People's Government in November 1949.
Anshan is reported to have served as a base for Soviet MIG fighter aircraft and pilots during the Korean War in air combat operations against US/UN forces.
In 1954, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru visited Anshan.
On March 12, 1953, the city became a municipality under the Central Government's direct administration. Haicheng County and Xiuyan County were subordinated to Liaodong Province. Tai'an County was subordinated to Liaoxi Province. On August 22, 1954, the central government decided that Anshan should be administered by Liaoning Province.
During the Cultural Revolution, on 17 August 1967, the CCP's central authorities issued the Resolution on the Anshan Question which criticized the CCP Angang Committee and the CCP Anshan City Committee members as capitalist roaders. Three days later, the Anshan City Military Control Committee was established by the People's Liberation Army with Zhang Feng and Chen Shaokun as the Committee directors. The Committee implemented military control over both Angang and Anshan. On 20 March 1968, the city's Revolutionary Committee was created.
The State Council confirmed that Anshan should be in charge of Xiuyan County and Haicheng City in 1985.
The furnaces of the steel plant were changed in the 1980s to designs which blow oxygen in from the front. This increased the production and also reduced pollution. In the 1990s, they were additionally altered to blow oxygen in from the top as well. This further increases production and reduces pollution. In December 2000, all three production lines of Anshan Iron and Steel Company switched from mould-casting to continuous casting. This new technology has significantly reduced the dust and other pollution in the city. The new plant equipment is also much less labour-intensive. This has meant a reduction in the workforce has caused an unemployment problem in the city. A new drive to market Anshan as a tourist destination is hoped to help bolster the city's economy.
Geography
Sited north of the Liao River plains, Anshan has wide flat lands in the west and central regions that develop into hilly and mountainous terrain on the southeastern fringes, which is bounded by the Qian Mountains and contains the famous Qianshan National Park. The region is rich in minerals including iron ore, coal, magnesite, talcum and jade. The plains of western Anshan have large flat fertile fields ideal for agriculture, with of arable land accounting for 26.4% of its total land area. One such agricultural product that Anshan has become renowned for is the Nanguo pears, nicknamed the "king of pears". Anshan was used as a travel post with motels during the Ming Dynasty for travellers who passed by on work duty.Climate
Anshan has a monsoon-influenced humid continental climate characterised by hot, humid summers, due to the monsoon, and rather long, cold, and arid winters, due to the Siberian anticyclone. The four seasons here are distinctive. Nearly half of the annual rainfall occurs in July and August. The monthly 24-hour average temperatures ranges from in January to in July, while the annual mean is. Sunshine is generous and amounts to 2,595.4 hours annually, while relative humidity averages 55%, ranging from 44% in April to 71% in July and August. Extreme temperatures have ranged from up to.Administrative divisions
Anshan is divided into four districts, one city, one county and one autonomous county.Economy
The north east of China is a major industrial zone and Anshan is one of the key sites of the north east. Anshan is in the midst of a at least a quarter of China's iron and coal resources. The city is renowned as "China's capital of iron and steel". Prior to the development of the Iron and Steel industries, Anshan was a relatively small city of little importance. As the steel mills expanded, so to did the city. Spin off industries developed alongside the steel plant making the area a centre of heavy industry.As a joint Sino-Japanese venture, Anshan Zhenzing Iron Ore Company Unlimited was started in Anshan in 1918. When Japan occupied Northeast China in 1931, these mills were turned into a Japanese owned monopoly. Anshan subsequently became part of the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo and additional industries developed around the iron and steel mills. Due to its mills, the city became a significant strategic industrial hub during World War II and as such, was subject to constant Allied bombing during the war.
Total production of processed iron in Manchuria reached 1,000,000 tonnes in 1931–32, of which almost half was made by Shōwa Steel in Anshan. Iron production grew to 7,000,000 tonnes in 1938 and by 1941, Shōwa Steel Works had a total capacity production of 1,750,000 tonnes of iron bars and 1,000,000 tonnes of processed steel. By 1942, Anshan's Shōwa Steel Works total production capacity reached 3,600,000 tonnes, making it one of the major iron and steel centers in the world.
In 1945, the steel plant was looted by Soviet forces. The Republic of China government partially repaired the site, but it was destroyed again during the Chinese Civil War that saw the CCP forces victorious. The mills were once again repaired and Anshan Iron and Steel Company was founded in 1948. From then to 2001, the company produced 290 million tons of steel, 284 million tons of pig iron and 192 million tons of rolled steel. Until the opening of a new steel plant in Shanghai, Angang was the largest steel producer in China. Today, Angang consists of three steelworks with 13 rolling mills plus supporting plants which produce coke, refractory materials and machinery for the steel plants. The company has an annual production capacity of 10 million tons of pig iron, 10 million tons of steel and 9.5 million tons of rolled steel. A quarter of China's total iron ore reserves, about 10 billion tons, are located in Anshan, ensuring that the city will remain an important steel producer well into the future.
Anshan is rich in other mineral wealth too. The southern and south eastern areas of Anshan are rich in magnesite, with reserves equivalent to a quarter of all worldwide reserves. Anshan also has the world's largest reserve of talcum, accounting for fully one third of the entire world supply. The Xiuyan area of Anshan is known for the production of jade. The largest single jade stone ever found came from Xiuyan, now carved into the form of a Buddha, it is a major tourist attraction in the area.
Anshan is serviced by Shenyang airport, about to the north, and by two major highways linking it with Shenyang and Dalian.
The government of Anshan established a five-year plan in 2000 with the aim of turning the city into a strong modern industrial city with plenty of tourism. It also aimed to make the city GDP reach 100 billion RMB by 2005 and to build a modern industrial city by using advances in technology to transform the traditional industries. Attracting foreign investment is also another main idea in the plan. The Anshan government anticipates the foreign investment assets would be around 80 billion RMB by 2005.
Anshan has been identified by the Economist Intelligence Unit in the November 2010 Access China White Paper as a member of the CHAMPS, an economic profile of the top 20 emerging cities in China. The opportunities for engaging Anshan's consumers have been documented by the ethnographer and cultural sociologist Michael B. Griffiths.