Zhengzhou

A prefecture-level city in the north-central part of Henan Province, China, and the capital of the province. It is located on the western edge of the North China Plain, bordered by the Songshan mountain range to the southwest and the Yellow River to the north. The Jialu River, a tributary of the Ying River, and its tributaries run through the city. It governs six city districts, including Zhongyuan District and Erqi District, as well as Zhongmu County, and acts as the custodian of five county-level cities, including Xingyang, Xinzheng, and Dengfeng (as of 2016). Population: 9,724,000 (2016). In 1981, it became a sister city of Urawa City (now Saitama City).

It is an important industrial city in central China, and in addition to its traditional core industries of machinery manufacturing, food chemistry, and spinning, automobile manufacturing, electronics manufacturing, and pharmaceuticals are also developing. The surrounding agriculture is based on a two-year three-crop system with wheat, sorghum, corn, and soybeans as its main crops. It forms the main cotton-growing area in the Yellow River basin in the Yubeihoku region, and has a large production volume.

Zhengzhou is located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and has suffered repeated floods and droughts. In 1938, the Kuomintang forces, facing the invading Japanese army, destroyed the large Yellow River dike at Huayunakou, north of the city, in an attempt to retreat. However, the water flowed south along the Jialu River and Ying River channels, reaching the Huai River, causing the Yellow River to flood over 54,000 square kilometers of land in the three provinces of Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu. As a result, 12.5 million people were affected and 890,000 people died, of which 470,000 died in Henan alone, as is well known. The affected land became uneven and alkaline and saline soil became more prevalent. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the levees were strengthened, an intake using siphons was installed at Huayuankou, and about 1,500 irrigation canals were constructed to supply water to flooded areas, land was leveled, and protective forests were established on each piece of cultivated land. In addition, a water center was built on Mount Yishan in Xingyang City, where water is pumped up to the top of the mountain and then supplied to about 2,700 hectares of cultivated land.

Located in the geographical center of China, Zhengzhou is also the center of the domestic railway network, where the Beijing-Guangzhou Line and the Longhai Line intersect, and the Beijing-Guangzhou Line's Zhengzhou Bridge spans the Yellow River. In addition, high-speed railways such as Beijing-Guangzhou, Zhengxu (Zhengzhou-Xuzhou), and Zhengxi (Zhengzhou-Xi'an) pass through the city, and it is connected to various cities in Henan Province by intercity railways. Expressways also run along the Beijing-Guangzhou and Longhai railways. Furthermore, Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport is located in Xinzheng, and is connected by air to important domestic locations such as Beijing, Xi'an, Guangzhou, and Shanghai, as well as cities in East Asia, making it a key transportation hub in central and northern Henan Province.

In Taihe Village, on the northern outskirts of the city, there are ruins of the Yangshao and Longshan cultures from the end of the Neolithic period, and the remains of an ancient castle from the Yin dynasty (Erligang ruins) have been discovered within the city. In the center of the city, there is the February 7th Memorial Hall and the February 7th Memorial Tower, which commemorate the February 7th strike (February 7th Incident) carried out by workers of the Beijing-Han Railway (now the Beijing-Guang Line) in 1923 in opposition to the warlords.

[Masakazu Komai, Editorial Department, December 12, 2017]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

中国、河南(かなん)省中北部の地級市で、同省の省都。華北(かほく)平原の西端にあり、南西方には嵩山(すうざん)の山系が控え、北部は黄河(こうが)に臨む。市内を潁河(えいが)の支流の賈魯河(かろが)とその支流が流れる。中原(ちゅうげん)区、二七(にしち)区などの6市轄区と中牟(ちゅうぼう)県を管轄し、滎陽(けいよう)、新鄭(しんてい)、登封(とうほう)など5県級市の管轄代行を行う（2016年時点）。人口972万4000（2016）。1981年に浦和市（現、さいたま市）と友好都市となった。

　中国中部の重要な工業都市であり、従来の基幹産業であった機械製造、食品化学、紡績などに加え、自動車製造、電子機器製造、製薬なども発展している。周辺の農業は小麦、コウリャン、トウモロコシ、大豆を柱にした二年三作制が基本である。黄河流域ワタ作区のうち豫西北(よせいほく)地区の主産地を形成し、生産量は多い。

　鄭州は黄河中・下流域にあり、水害や干害が繰り返されてきた。1938年には、侵攻する日本軍を前にした国民党軍が撤退を図るため、市の北方花園口(かえんこう)の黄河の大堤を破壊したが、水流は賈魯河や潁河の河道を南下、淮河(わいが)にまで到達し、河南、安徽(あんき)、江蘇(こうそ)の3省、5万4000平方キロメートルにわたり黄河の水が氾濫(はんらん)した。そのため被災者1250万人、死者は89万人に上り、うち河南だけで47万人の死者を出したことはよく知られている。被災した土地は凸凹になり、アルカリ、塩類土化が進んだ。中華人民共和国成立後は堤防を強化し、花園口にサイフォンを利用した取入れ口を設け、約1500本の灌漑(かんがい)用水路を建設して、氾濫地区へ水を供給、整地を施し、各耕地には防護林帯を設けている。また、滎陽市の邙山(ぼうざん)には用水センターが建てられ、一度山頂に水をくみ上げたあと約2700ヘクタールの耕地に供給している。

　地理的に中国の中心に位置する鄭州は、国内鉄道網の中心地でもあり、京広線と隴海(ろうかい)線が交差し、黄河には京広線の鄭州大橋が架かる。また、京広、鄭徐（鄭州―徐州(じょしゅう)）、鄭西（鄭州―西安(せいあん)）などの高速鉄道が通り、河南省の各都市とは、城際（都市間）鉄道で結ばれている。自動車道も京広・隴海両鉄道に沿って通じている。さらに空路では鄭州新鄭国際空港が新鄭にあり、北京(ペキン)、西安、広州(こうしゅう)、上海(シャンハイ)など国内の要地や東アジアの各都市と結ばれており、河南省中北部の交通の要所となっている。

　市の北郊の大河村(たいがそん)には新石器時代末期の仰韶(ぎょうしょう)・竜山(りゅうざん)両文化の遺跡があり、市内では殷(いん)代の古城跡（二里岡(にりこう)遺跡）が発見されている。また市の中心部には、1923年に京漢鉄道（現、京広線）の労働者が軍閥に反対して行った二・七ストライキ（二・七事件）を記念する二七記念堂や二七記念塔がある。

［駒井正一・編集部　2017年12月12日］

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