Editing Anshan (section)

==History==
[[File:Old Anshan Cheng Gate.jpg|thumb|left|Anshan old city gate]]
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.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=289}} 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]] (1904–1905). 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.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=29}}

From 1918 to 1945, Anshan was under Japanese colonial control and was a centre for modern iron and steel production.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=289}} 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]].<ref>Yoshihisa Tak Matsusaka, ''The Making of Japanese Manchuria, 1904-1932'' (2001), p.222–3.</ref> Anshan became part of the Japanese puppet state of [[Manchukuo]]. In 1937, [[Puyi]] officially designated Anshan as a city.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=56}} During Japanese colonial control, Anshan was ethnically separated, with Japanese living east of its railway line and Chinese living west of it.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=56-57}} Schools in the city were also segregated.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=57}}

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.<ref name="Beasley 1991">{{cite book
 | last = Beasley
 | first = W.G.
 | year = 1991
 | title = Japanese Imperialism 1894–1945
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | isbn = 0-19-822168-1
}}</ref> It was therefore of strategic importance in the [[Pacific War]], and was subject to several attacks by [[B-29 Superfortress]] [[strategic bomber]]s of the [[United States Army Air Forces|USAAF]]. The Japanese Army detached the 1st ''Chutai'' (unit) of the 104th ''[[Sentai]]'' (squadron) 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 (Manshu Type) Hayate "Frank" fighters, manufactured by [[Manchuria Airplane Manufacturing Company|Manshūkoku Hikōki Seizo KK]], the plant suffered heavy damage from the air raids, losing up to 30% of its capacity.<ref>{{cite book
 | last = Astor
 | first = Gerald
 | year = 2004
 | title = The Jungle War: Mavericks, Marauders and Madmen in the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II
| publisher = Wiley
 | pages = 312
 | isbn = 0-471-27393-7
}}</ref>

After the [[Victory in Europe Day|war in Europe ended]], the [[Soviet Union]] declared war on Japan, as the Red Army simultaneously launched [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|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.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=289}}

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 Communists. The Nationalist Government attempted to revive manufacturing in the area during their period of control from 1946 to 1948.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=|pages=289–290}} The Nationalists withdrew from Anshan in February 1948.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=91}} 

The Communists entered the city on 28 February.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=97}} Upon beginning governing in Anshan, Communist authorities sought to implement [[New Democracy]] by nationalizing some private enterprises with compensation and providing financial support to other private business.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=121}} A significant amount of Japanese remained in Anshan, and they were governed indirectly by the CPC 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 Soviet|Yan'an]], and Japanese Communists recruited and trained by the CPC after 1945.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=122}} 

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 of China|state-owned enterprises]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=1}} Its mining and manufacturing industries had to be rebuilt almost from scratch, however.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|pages=289–290}} During this period, Anshan was given the same status as [[provinces]], although it was reversed after the period ended. In December 1948, the [[Anshan Steel|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 plans of China|Five-Year Plan]].<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|page=290}} Production in the newly repaired steel plant resumed on July 9, 1949. The plant was the largest steel producer in China.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Hirata |first=Koji |title=Making Mao's Steelworks: Industrial Manchuria and the Transnational Origins of Chinese Socialism |date=2024 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-009-38227-4 |series=Cambridge Studies in the History of the People's Republic of China series |location=New York, NY}}</ref>{{Rp|page=1}} Anshan developed the nickname, "Steel Metropolis".<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=1}} 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 (later renamed as the Northeastern Administration Commission) in November 1949.

Anshan is reported to have served as a base for Soviet MIG fighter aircraft and pilots during the Korean War (1950–1953) in air combat operations against US/UN forces.<ref>Zhang, Xiaoming (2002). ''Red Wings Over The Yalu: China, the Soviet Union, and the Air War In Korea''</ref>

In 1954, Indian Prime Minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] visited Anshan.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=1}}

On March 12, 1953, the city became a municipality under the Central Government's direct administration. [[Haicheng, Liaoning|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 Communist Party of China's central authorities issued the ''Resolution on the Anshan Question'' which criticized the CPC Angang Committee and the CPC Anshan City Committee members as [[Capitalist roader|capitalist roaders]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=253}} 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.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=253}} The Committee implemented military control over both Angang and Anshan.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=253}} On 20 March 1968, the city's [[Revolutionary committee (China)|Revolutionary Committee]] was created.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=253}}

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.