Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province

Xuzhou (徐州), also known as Pengcheng (彭城) in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in the built-up area made of Quanshan, Gulou, Yunlong and Tongshan urban Districts and Jiawang District not being conurbated), is a national complex transport hub and an important gateway city in East China. Xuzhou is a central city of Huaihai Economic Zone and Xuzhou metropolitan area. Xuzhou is an important node city of the country's Belt and Road Initiative, and an international new energy base. Xuzhou has won titles such as the National City of Civility (全国文明城市) and the United Nations Habitat Scroll of Honour award.

The city is designated as National Famous Historical and Cultural City since 1986 for its relics, especially the terracotta armies, the Mausoleums of the princes and the art of relief of Han dynasty.

Xuzhou is a major city among the top 500 cities in the world by scientific research outputs, as tracked by the Nature Index. The city is also home to China University of Mining and Technology, the only national key university under the Project 211 in Xuzhou and other major public research universities, including Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou Medical College, and Xuzhou Institute of Technology.

Romanization

Before the adoption of Hanyu Pinyin, the city's name was typically romanized as Suchow or Süchow, though it also appeared as Siu Tcheou ou Hsu-chou, Hsuchow, and Hsü-chow.

History

Early history

The early prehistoric relics around Xuzhou are classified as Dawenkou culture system. Liulin () site together with Dadunzi () site, Huating () site, and Liangwangcheng () site correspond to the initial, middle and late stages of this culture, respectively. While the remains of sacrificial rituals performed to Tudi deity found at Qiuwan () site and Gaohuangmiao () site, both of them are in the outskirts of the city, indicate that Shang dynasty affected the area. History relates that Peng or Great Peng, the transitions from a tribe to a chiefdom contained within the boundary of the city. Peng Zu is believed to be the first chief, while the state was eventually conquered by King Wu Ding of Shang in around 1208 BC.

During the Western Zhou, a chiefdom called Xuyi or Xu rose and controlled the Lower Yellow River Valley. Allied with Huaiyi, Xuyi fought against Zhou and its vassals at irregular intervals. Since its declining, Xuyi once moved the capital to the area of Xuzhou and populated it with people who were migrated southwards.

Pengcheng, a city at the junction of the ancient Bian and Si Rivers, was founded by Lü (annexed by Song later). Chu took the city in the war of 573 BCE, but ceded the city back to Song in the next year, as a coercive measure.

Imperial China

In 208 BC, Xiang Yu and Liu Bang pull their troops into Pengcheng, to where the Emperor Yi of Chu transferred his capital from Xuyi later, after Xiang Liang's death. The Emperor Yi was exiled to the southern China by Xiang Yu in 206 BC, the latter then proclaimed himself the Hegemon-King of Western Chu, and established his capital in Pengcheng too, until 202 BC.

During the Han dynasty, a new Chu Kingdom was established with its capital at Pengcheng. It was ruled by various imperial princes during the Western Han period (202 BC – 9 AD). Liu Jiao, the younger half-brother of Liu Bang, became the first Prince of Chu. In 154 BC, the prince Liu Wu participated in the Rebellion of the Seven Princes. However, he was defeated afterwards and Chu's territories were greatly diminished. By the end of the second century, a prosperous Buddhist community had been settled at Pengcheng.

File:Lacquered Wood Coffin Inlaid with Jade, Shizishan.jpg, Liu Wu's lacquered wood coffin inlaid with jade
File:金缕玉衣 狮子山汉墓.jpg, Liu Wu's jade shroud sewn with gold threads
File:汉画像石 六博1.jpg, A relief depicting two men gambling

At the turn of the second century, Pengcheng changed hands several times among Cao Cao and his rivals before being annexed to Cao Wei in about 200. In the intervening years, the seat of Xuzhou (Xu province) was transferred from Tancheng to Xiapi, which located in the northwest of Suining. While Pengcheng became the seat later than 220.

With the invasions of the Five Barbarians, considerable local households migrated to the south, a Liu clan from Pengcheng ascended to the gentry, its most well known descendant is Liu Yu, the Emperor Wu of Liu Song. Pengcheng was taken by the Northern dynasties later. Liu Yu recaptured the lost territory in the north of the Huai River in about 408. Xuzhou was divided into two parts: Beixuzhou (North Xuzhou) and Xuzhou (with Jingkou as its seat) in 411. North Xuzhou whose seat was Pengcheng bounded on the south by the Huai River. Beixuzhou was restored as Xuzhou a decade later, while its south counterpart was renamed Nanxuzhou (South Xuzhou). Since then, Pengcheng remained being the seat of Xuzhou until it was eliminated in the early Ming.

The raging wars inflicted upon Xuzhou until the Emperor Taizong of Tang's enthronement in 626. Keeping the northern rebellions and warfare a distance gave Xuzhou scope for developing during the most period of the Tang dynasty. According to the ''Old Book of Tang'' and the ''New book of Tang'', in 639, the total population of Pengcheng County, Fei County and Pei County was only 21,768, versus 205,286 in 742.

In 781, Li Na marched south to besiege Xuzhou. Although his revolt was quell soon, the halt of the transport by the Bian Canal impelled the court to secure the area.

The then prefect of Xuzhou, Zhang Jianfeng was designated as the first military governor of Xuzhou–Sizhou–Haozhou () which was headquartered in Xuzhou since 788. The title was restored and renamed Wuning () in 805, after an interval of five years. Wang Zhixing, another military governor of Wuning, established several battalions (the most notorious one among is the Silver Sword) in the Army specifically for select recruits. These soldiers not only defy military discipline but also show defiant towards the successors to Wang. In 832, Li Ting received a threatening letter prior to his induction in there, made him resigned immediately. Then Wuning suffered mutinies in 849, 859 and again in 862. Another two governors were expelled. Wang Shi was appointed, under the circumstances. He put the mutiny down by executing part of the garrison troops and disbanded the rest, which became thugs and loot later. In 864, the court declared an amnesty in the area, and promised that all thugs who willingly re-enrolled would be sent for a tour of duty in the southern, and then, presumably, returned to regular army service in the north.

Three thousand men surrendered and were sent to the south to join the two thousand former Wuning soldiers there. The breached pledge irritated them. Led by Pang Xun, some soldiers mutinied and marched back north. They have unimpeded access to the area by the winter of 868. The local civil governor refused Pang's demand to have the hatred officers removed, and a military confrontation ensued. Thousands of local peasants joined the rebels. They took the prefectural city of Xuzhou, captured the civil governor, and killed those officers. Pang acquired a considerable following. Still, the rebellion was suppressed a year later eventually. Wuning was renamed Ganhua () with admonishment on lest the garrison to revolt again.

After the Yellow River began to change course during the Song dynasty, heavy silting at the Yellow River estuary forced the river to channel its flow into the lower Huai River tributary. The area became barren thereafter due to persistent flooding, nutrient depletion and salination of the once fertile soil.

In the first month of 1129, Nijuhun took the city after a siege of 27 days, and the then governor Wang Fu () was executed for refusing to submit. Wang's inferior Zhao Li () rallied the remains and constructed a local militia. They recaptured the city two months later but withdrew from there strategically soon. Henceforth, Xuzhou was ruled by Jurchen over a century.

In 1232, the general Wang You (), Feng Xian () revolted, they expelled the Jurchen's governor Tuktan. Then the Mongolian army led by Anyong (), a Han Chinese general captured Xuzhou soon. Both the general of the state of Su () Liu Anguo () and the general of Pizhou Du Zheng () yielded their owned city to Anyong. Regarding Anyong's behave as grabbing reputation, the Mongolian general Asuru () irritated and persisted to kill him. Felt panic, Anyong sought refuge from Jurchen. The Jin Dynasty resumed its ruling in Xuzhou, and it was quite transient. The serious disunity made betraying recur. In November 1233, the garrison of Xuzhou welcomed the Mongolian. Meantime, Anyong pledged loyalty to the Song Dynasty. He captured the city again after the Mongolian army left. In the spring of the next year, the Mongolian commander Zhang Rong () attacked Xuzhou, Anyong drowned himself after the final defeat. The Mongolian governor of Xuzhou and Pizhou called Li Gaoge () surrendered to the Song in 1262. Then he failed and was killed after several days.

A rebellion against Yuan rose by Li Er () who was nicknamed Sesame Li in the area around Xuzhou. In the eighth month of 1351, they took the city. Toghon Temür gave an edict that they would be granted amnesty if they surrendered to the authority, in the spring of the next year. The rebels ignored that, so he agreed that Toqto to suppress the unrest. The city fell in the autumn, and the multitudes were killed by Toqto's army afterwards. It may be the symbolically most important victory for Toqto. Thus, Xuzhou was renamed Wu'an (; literal meaning: Restoring peace by force") as a favour for him, and a stone slab celebrating his deed was erected by the court in the city.

Zhang Shicheng occupied Xuzhou as the northernmost city of his domain in 1360. The Ming forces under Xu Da , captured Xuzhou in 1366. Soon Köke Temür sent an army under General Li Er to attack Xuzhou. Fu Youde () and Lu Ju () who held the city raided them outside, most of the enemy were drowned while the remained about 270 soldiers and 500 horses were captured.

Xuzhou had a long period of prosperity during the Ming dynasty. The flourishness largely attributed to the carriage, especially by the Grand Canal, one of seven customs barriers (or customs houses, ) under the Ministry of Revenue was located in Xuzhou. It was retained until the late Qing. Korean Choe Bu affirmed that the city where he travelled by way of, hardly pale by comparison to the Jiangnan region.

As a hub for both the national courier system and the grain tribute system for several centuries, Xuzhou was of vital importance. Thus, the government of Ming established three garrison areas namely guards in the present-day area: Xuzhou guard (), Xuzhou Left guard () and Pizhou guard () for its security.

Yet, the local navigation was considerably constrained by two Rapids: the Xuzhou Rapids (), a kilometer southeast of the city, and the Lüliang Rapids (), another 24 kilometers further south. The remedy provided by the Ministry of Works is constructing the Jia Canal, which paralleled the treacherous stretch of Xuzhou. However, the canal completed in the 1600s ravaged the city. Not only it disrupted the former drainage system, but also depressed the local economy. Prior to the recession, flooding and the famines followed struck Xuzhou frequently. The worst flooding occurred in 1624: it was immersed up to 1 ''zhang'' and 3 ''chi'' (about 4m) within the city.

After the Hongguang Emperor enthroned in Nanjing, the court designated four defense areas along the southern bank of the Yellow River () to repulse the Qing armies. While the former bandit general, Gao Jie () was designated to take the crucial forward position at Xuzhou by Shi Kefa. But the assassination of Gao seriously reduced the court's capacity to deal with challenges from Qing. Gao's successor was Li Chengdong (). Being aware of forthcoming attack, Li deserted Xuzhou in the early summer of 1645. Then Dodo's army captured the city.

The seismic activity of the Tancheng earthquake in 1688 was also involved Xuzhou. "More than half the houses of the city were ruined" and "led to enormous deaths", according to the gazetteer.

In the 1850s, the Yellow River shifted its course from the southern to the northern side of the Shandong peninsula, the process caused serious floods and famine in Xuzhou, and almost made the waterway system within the prefecture defunct.

Modern China

Zhang Xun and his remaining army fled to Xuzhou after the Revolution of 1911. They entered the city on 5 December. The Nanking Government sent three armies to attack Xuzhou. In the middle of February 1912, Zhang evacuated the city and moved north after he was defeated.

Since the Second Revolution began, Xuzhou became a front-line city. The Revolutionary Army fared badly as it advanced from there towards the north, and a rout ensued. Then the Beiyang Army captured the city on 24 July. Thereafter, Zhang Xun made Xuzhou his base. he convened four meetings of the Beiyang leadership. Involved the stalemate among Li Yuanhong and Duan Qirui in 1917, he marched on Beijing with a troop in June. His failure spread and caused a terrible wave of theft and arson committed by his garrisons later in Xuzhou in July.

The Zhili clique dominated Xuzhou by 1924. In the autumn of this year, the Second Zhili–Fengtian War broke out, Zhang Zongchang who supported the Fengtian clique seized the city with his thirty thousand soldiers. Sun Chuanfang led a coalition of forces to sortie the Fengtian Army in October 1925. They occupied the city on 8 November. As the leader of the Northern Expedition, Chiang Kai-shek arrived in Xuzhou on 17 June 1927. He conferred with Feng Yuxiang and other Kuomintang officers on 20 June, Feng was courted by Nanjing. Then Sun Chuanfang and Zhang Zongchang began to fight in unison against the Nationalist government. They captured the city on 24 June. The fall of Xuzhou aroused public outrage, Chiang 's first resignation ensued. On 16 December, Nanjing force took the area again.

The area was the main site both of the Battle of Xuzhou in 1938 against the Japanese Army in the Second Sino-Japanese War and of the battle in the Chinese Civil War, the Huaihai Campaign in 1948–49.

On 19 May 1938, Chiang gave the order to abandon Xuzhou, then Japanese military took control of the city.

The Administrative Commission of the Su-Huai Special Region () was established in January 1942, with its seat at Xuzhou. It was replaced by a new puppet province, Huaihai (). Hao Pengju was appointed as the governor.

After the Second Sino-Japanese War, the troop under He Zhuguo entered Xuzhou on 6 September. The Xuzhou Pacification Commission () was founded in the end of year, and Gu Zhutong was appointed as the Chief. It was disbanded when the Army Command Headquarters of transferred to Xuzhou on 5 March 1947. Meantime, a military tribunal attached to the commission was organized to sentence 25 Japanese soldiers.

Guo Yingqiu as the representative of the CPC went to Xuzhou to negotiate a regional truce, since 10 February 1946. On 2 March, the "Committee of Three", comprising George Marshall, Zhang Zhizhong and Zhou Enlai arrived for the ceasefire in Central China. Still, the KMT and the CPC came into conflict soon. The CPC revealed that Yasuji Okamura assisted the KMT in the local warfare against the PLA.

The Huaihai was the a critical of the trinity of the major campaigns during the Chinese Civil War. Fighting centred around the city of Xuzhou, seat of the Bandit Suppression Headquarters () established on 6 June 1948. It turned into a fiasco, which led to the fall of the Nationalist Chinese capital Nanjing.Battle of Suchow
. ''Life'' Magazine, December 6, 1948. The CPC controlled the city on 1 December.

File:TropasChinasEnHsuchowfu.jpg, Zhang Xun's troops in Xuzhou, the 1910s
File:1927年冯玉祥与蒋介石会面.jpg, Chiang Kai-shek conferred with Feng Yuxiang in Xuzhou, 1927
File:Xuzhou three people.jpg, The "Committee of Three" met in Xuzhou, 1946
File:Mao Zedong at Xuzhou Station 1953.jpg, Mao Zedong at the platform of Xuzhou Railway Station in 1953

Then Xuzhou (the old urban area) was made a part of Shandong province temporarily, together with the rest area of the northern Jiangsu along the Longhai Railway. The city was returned to Jiangsu as the province was restored in 1953.

The railways in Xuzhou bore the brunt of the transporting muddle in the 1970s, Beijing was concerned with the issue in 1974. Thus, the then Minister of Railways, Wan Li went to Xuzhou to inspect and rectify in March. It was deemed as a breakthrough on restoring order later.

On April 22, 1993, Xuzhou was ratified as a "Larger Municipality" with legislative power by the State Council.

Administration

The evolutionary history

The present administrative division

The prefecture-level city of Xuzhou administers ten county-level divisions, including five districts, two county-level cities and three counties.
These are further divided into 161 township-level divisions, including 63 subdistricts and 98 towns.

Geography

Xuzhou is of strategic importance for linking South China and North China. The boundaries of its jurisdiction are adjacent to Lianyungang and Suqian in east; Suzhou of Anhui province to the south; Huaibei to the west; Linyi, Zaozhuang, Jining and Heze of Shandong province to the north.

The area can be divided into four sectors from east to west, constitute the Shandong–Jiangsu Traps (), the Tancheng–Lujiang Fault Zone (), the Xu–Huai Downwarp-fold Belt () and the Fault-block of West Shandong () respectively. Most of the area is located in the Xu-Huai Alluvial Plain, the southeast part of the North China Plain.

The confluence of the former Si River and the former Bian Canal, situated off the ancient Xuzhou city north-eastwards. The city and its hinterland were the areas liable to severe flooding by the Yellow River since the tenth century. In 1194, the river changed its course to join the Si River, the former tributary of the Huai. From then on, it flowed along the north of the walled city until 1855. The city proper is bisected by its ancient course nowadays, while the Yunlong Lake () is located in the southwest. North of the lake is Yunlong Park.

Climate

Xuzhou has a monsoon-influenced humid subtropical climate ( Köppen ''Cwa''), with cool, dry winters, warm springs, long, hot and humid summers, and crisp autumns. The monthly daily average temperature ranges from in January to in July; the annual mean is . Snow may occur during winter, though rarely heavily. Precipitation is light in winter, and a majority of the annual total of occurs from June thru August. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 44% in July to 54% in three months, the city receives 2,221 hours of bright sunshine annually.

The lowest temperature recorded in Xuzhou was , on 6 February 1969, while the highest was , on 15 July 1955.

Demographics

According to the ''1% National Population Sample Survey in 2015'', the total resident population of Xuzhou reached 8.66 million, and the sex ratio was 101.40 males to 100 females.

Economy

Historically, Xuzhou and the surrounding regions were a predominantly agricultural area. Its arable land was severely depleted by the changes in the course of the Yellow River since the mid 11th century, and the drought-resistant crops: wheat, sorghum, soybean, maize and potato, became the local staples. Besides, cotton, peanut, tobacco and sesame also grew in low-yield. The local mining traces it origins to an iron mine, Liguo. It was exploited since Han dynasty, and managed by a particular bureau in Song. And the city had major coal reserves of the province. Local coaling began by the 1070s, according to a lyric of the then governor Su Shi. Copper smelting in this area supposedly started in the Three Kingdoms era.

The city astride the old course of the Grand Canal had been through several transitory periods of prosperity, before the grain tribute system was abolished in 1855. It remained being economically backward in the 1940s for wars, and a few people engaged in industrial sectors.

Later the CPC positioned the city as a region of coal mining and heavy industry. Its dominant sectors are machinery, energy and food production nowadays. The construction machinery manufacturer XCMG is the largest company based in Xuzhou. It was the world's tenth-largest construction equipment maker measured by 2011 revenues, and the third-largest based in China (after Sany and Zoomlion

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