Liuzhou

Liuzhou, Wade-Giles romanization Liu-chou, formerly Maping, city, central Zhuang Autonomous Region of Guangxi, southern China.

Liuzhou, the second largest city in Guangxi, is a natural communication centre, being situated at the confluence of several tributaries that form the Liu River, which flows southward into a tributary of the Xi River. In contemporary times Liuzhou has become the focus of a highway system and is linked by rail northeastward to Guilin and Hengyang (in Hunan), southwestward to Nanning and the Vietnamese border at Pingxiang, northwestward to Guiyang (in Guizhou province) and Chongqing, northward to Huaihua and Zhangjiajie (both in Hunan), and southeastward to the port of Zhanjiang (in Guangdong province).

Until comparatively recent centuries, the area was occupied by non-Han Chinese peoples. The county of Tanzhong was founded there in the 1st century bce; it was renamed Maping in 591 and became the seat of a prefecture under the Tang dynasty (618–907) and of a superior prefecture (Liuzhou) after 1368. However, during most of the Ming period (1368–1644) it was little more than a frontier garrison and trading post, often used as a place of exile. Only in the 17th century did the area become dominated by Chinese settlers.

Liuzhou has always been a centre for the collection of agricultural products, timber, and vegetable and tung oil from north-central Guangxi and southern Guizhou and has had handicraft industries based on local products. It has been renowned for the production of coffins as well as for papermaking, tobacco curing, and textile manufacturing. There are also plants for oil extraction and grain milling.

Since 1949 there has been considerable industrial expansion and diversification, and Liuzhou has become the most important industrial city and the economic centre of the province. Among the first of these enterprises were large lumber-processing and woodworking factories and chemical plants (extracting sulfur and producing alcohols). Liuzhou developed a large engineering industry, producing agricultural machinery and gasoline and diesel engines, as well as a locomotive repair works. In the late 1950s a steel and iron plant was built, using rich local iron ores and coal from the Heshan mines (on the railway to the south). In the 1960s Liuzhou, in addition to becoming a major manufacturer of tractors, also built a large fertilizer plant and began to produce cement. More-recent industrial development includes plants manufacturing automobiles, textiles, nonferrous metals, food, construction equipment, and electrical machinery. There are a large thermal power station in the city and several hydroelectric installations in the district. In addition to being a rail and highway hub, Liuzhou has daily air service connecting it with other major cities in the country. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 830,515; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 1,497,000.