Handan

Handan, Wade-Giles romanization Han-tan, city, southern Hebei sheng (province), China. Handan is situated on the higher ground on the western side of the North China Plain, on the great north-south route between Beijing and Zhengzhou and Luoyang (both in Henan province), where it is crossed by a long-established route from Jinan in Shandong province westward into the mountains of Shanxi province.

The area was already settled in Shang times (c. 1600–1046 bce). Handan is first mentioned about 500 bce, but it achieved its greatest fame when, from 386 to 228 bce, it was the capital of the state of Zhao. It was a centre of trade and was famed for luxury and elegance. In 228 bce it was attacked and taken by the armies of the Qin dynasty (221–207 bce) and became a commandery (district ruled by a commander). Reduced to ruins in the civil wars accompanying the fall of the Qin, under the Han (206 bce–220 ce) it became the seat of an important feudal kingdom, also called Zhao, the city being rebuilt on a site slightly to the north. The remains of the walls and foundations of buildings of both the Zhao capital and the Han city still remain to the southwest of the contemporary city; the walls are almost 4 miles (6.5 km) in circumference. After the Han period its importance declined somewhat. From Tang times (618–907) it became a county town subordinate to Minzhou and later, during the first half of the Song dynasty (960–1279), to Cizhou. In Ming (1368–1644) and Qing (1644–1911/12) times it was subordinate to Guangping prefecture in the former province of Zhili (Chihli). After 1949 it developed into an important industrial centre.

Subsequent growth has depended partly on Handan’s importance as a communication centre. It is on the main railway from Beijing to Guangzhou (Canton), with branchlines running to the nearby iron- and coal-producing areas of Wu’an a short distance to the west and Fengfeng to the southwest. It is also the hub of a network of major roads, and a new airport (opened 2007) has flights to regional urban centres. Industrial development has taken place in the cotton industry, based on the long-established cotton cultivation of the area, but the city has also developed iron and steel mills and other heavy industries. The area has produced iron from an early date. Modern development, however, has been based on the field of coking coal at Fengfeng, which is also used in a major thermal-power-generating plant. Factories at Handan also manufacture petrochemicals, textile machinery, and other light industrial machines. Cixian, to the south of Handan, was the location of the ancient Cizhou kiln, and that city has become one of China’s most important producers of ceramics. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 1,097,802; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 1,631,000.